Pokemon Scarlet and Violetplayers are reporting that the newestPokemongames are experiencing some problems with performance. BeforePokemon Scarlet and Violetofficially released, reviewers with early access are saying that they are experiencing some fairly significant problems while playing the new games.
The two newest games in the popularPokemonfranchise have been much anticipated, which is nothing out of the ordinary for the series. And whileScarlet and Violetare not the firstPokemongames to release on the Switch, they are the first traditionalPokemongames on the Switch to feature open-world gameplay and different paths that the player can choose. Earlier games in the franchise were more linear in nature. While there have beenPokemon Scarlet and Violetleakers, these early access reviewers are some of the first people to actually play the games.
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Multiple reviewers received early access toPokemon Scarlet and Violetand reported that they experienced several gameplay bugs and performance issues. Some were relatively minor, like visual clipping and invisible Pokemon, while others were much more serious, like heavy frame rate drops or the games crashing. According to the writers, the major issues were infrequent and problems were mostly restricted to non-game-breaking graphical errors. It seems that a lot of this is due to the Switch’s inability to properly keep up with the performance requirements forPokemon Scarlet and Violet. These performance issues are likely a big contributor to thelow reviews forPokemon Scarlet and Violet.
WhilePokemongames are practically guaranteed to sell well, there is always some apprehension when a developer decides to make changes to a tried and true formula. This was demonstrable with the first open-world game in thePokemonfranchise,which wasPokemon Legends: Arceus.Arceuswas generally well received, which boded well forScarlet and Violet. These performance problems could put a serious wrench in the works, though, especially when combined with the surprisingly low reviews that the two newest additions to the franchise are receiving. The Pokemon Company has announced a 1.01 launch day update, but unfortunately, this patch did not fix the performance issues that players are experiencing.
Having such glaring problems come out so early in the games' history is definitely not a great thing, and might hamper sales or cause some people to return their copies. There is a strong and well-established fanbase for thePokemonfranchise, though, and while these sorts of gameplay and graphical issues might put off some players.Pokemon Scarlet and Violetfanshave been waiting for a long time, so it’s unlikely that something like this will scare them off.
Pokemon Scarlet andVioletare available now for Nintendo Switch.
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