- Genres: Open-World, Crafting, RPG
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
- Start: 2022-1-27
- End: 2022-2-08
- Rating: 8/10
This game breaks the mold. Pokemon has felt as if its stuck in a rut for the last several generations - in fact most games followed the same formula. Gamefreak decided to throw that up in the air. The most fun Pokemon game in at least a decade.
An updated Pokedex includes challenges for each Pokemon as well as a knowledge level for each Pokemon. Once you reach level 10 your Pokedex displays a Pokeball icon to inform you that you have done sufficient research.
The world is divided up into a main home-base city and five rather large wild areas to explore. You can fast travel within these wild areas to various base camps set up either at the start or via quest lines.
The story is not centered around gyms at all - there is not a single gym in this game. Instead your big fights are boss Pokemon, with combat that feels almost Souls-Like with how you need to keep doing your dodge roll.
This was a needed refresh from Pokemon, and I am excited to see where the franchise goes from here.