In a month that has seen a nigh-unprecedented amount of accidental and unauthorized leakage of insider game information, it’s hard to imagine any franchise owner intentionally releasing as much as possible about their upcoming titles asNintendois withPokémon. And while the gameplay trailer footage forPokémon Scarlet & Violet, shown this week at the press-only Nintendo Virtual Holiday Tour, has already been available to the public for weeks, company representatives are pointing to the open-world aspect of the pair of games as yet another reason to get excited about the future of the franchise.
Specifically, a presenter at the event played up theopen-worldnature of the region of Paldea, the setting for Scarlet and Violet, and the individuality it will offer to each player’s preferred style. Drawing on the previously releasedtrailer, she pointed out that the Path of Legends, where trainers will square off against titanic opponents; returning gym challenge, and new generation of grunts on Starfell Street, can be tackled in an order that the player sees fit.
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Open-world functionality isn’t completely new for the franchise, as the last generation of games, Pokemon Sword & Shield, included a massive central Wilds Area where monsters roamed free, no longer confined to hiding in the tall grass. But this generation of games extends that freedom to the entire Paldea region, pulling away from the strictly linear storytelling aspect that has held strong with the main series of games since the mid ’90s.
Even with all the information already available, it seems Nintendo is still keeping a few secrets, as we have learned at the showcase that the company has additional plans for online functionality in its new pair of games, but the specific details of that information are not yet ready for release.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet are scheduled for release on November 18 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. Additionally, Nintendo is planning to release a new Switch console design featuring an aesthetic style themed to match the newest Pokémon games, although that console will not be available in the current game bundles the company is offering.
