Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

The first open-world adventure in the Pokémon series

Generation 9Game Freak

Overview

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet launched worldwide on Nintendo Switch on November 18, 2022, opening Generation IX with the series' first true open world. The Paldea region, drawn from the landscapes of Spain and Portugal, is one continuous map with no level scaling, so any mountain, sea cave, or city is fair game from day one. Trainers attend an academy (Naranja in Scarlet, Uva in Violet) and head out as part of an independent study program called the Treasure Hunt.

The Treasure Hunt is really three stories running in parallel. Take on Paldea's eight gym leaders on Victory Road, hunt giant Titan Pokémon for rare herbs on Path of Legends, or dismantle the school's truant army on Starfall Street. Order does not matter, and progress on Path of Legends unlocks new traversal moves for your rideable legendary, Koraidon (Scarlet) or Miraidon (Violet).

The headline battle mechanic is Terastallization, which crystallizes a Pokémon into a "Tera" form and overrides its typing with a new Tera Type. Tera Raid Battles let up to four trainers team up against a Terastallized boss in real time, and the Union Circle puts a full party of friends into the same open world together. Finish the three story paths and a fourth chapter, The Way Home, opens up the mystery at the bottom of Area Zero.

Story

On the gym side of the Treasure Hunt, called Victory Road, trainers chase a Champion Rank by clearing all eight Paldean gyms. The roster runs from the Bug leader Katy and the Grass artist Brassius to the Ice climber Grusha, with a steady difficulty curve as you visit more cities. The Elite Four (Rika, Poppy, Larry, and Hassel) wait at the Pokémon League in Mesagoza, and beating them leads to a final match with Top Champion Geeta.

Path of Legends follows Arven, a gruff classmate searching for a cure for his ailing partner, Mabosstiff. Each chapter is a hunt for a Titan: an enormous Pokémon that grew huge by eating a Herba Mystica. Defeating a Titan lets Arven cook the herb into a sandwich for Mabosstiff, and sharing it with your legendary restores a traversal ability such as dashing, swimming, gliding, or climbing.

Starfall Street tackles Team Star, a group of truant students holed up in bases around Paldea. Each raid on a base opens with a Star Barrage, a timed auto-battle where your Pokémon take on a horde of grunts' Pokémon, before you face the base's boss, whose single-type team ends with a souped-up Revavroom called a Starmobile. Finishing all three paths converges into The Way Home, the trip down into Area Zero where Paradox Pokémon (ancient and future variants) appear and the truth about Professor Sada or Turo finally surfaces.

Key features

Open-world Paldea

Paldea is one continuous, seamless map. No loading screens between routes, no level scaling, and few hard gates. Head for a distant peak the moment you leave the tutorial, or wander into a high-level zone and run for your life. Wild Pokémon roam in the overworld, weather changes the spawn pool, and most ledges, rivers, and walls become traversable as your ride unlocks new moves.

Terastallization

Each Pokémon has a Tera Type, often matching its original typing but sometimes diverging. Terastallizing crystallizes the Pokémon into a jeweled form, replaces its typing with the Tera Type for the duration, and grants a steep damage bonus to moves that match. A Dragon-type with a Steel Tera can suddenly tank Fairy hits. A Charizard with a Normal Tera Type gains a 1.5× same-type bonus on Hyper Beam, a move it gets no bonus on otherwise, while a Fire Tera Type lifts its Fire moves from 1.5× to 2×. Trainers can Terastallize once per battle, and the choice cascades into the metagame.

Three story paths and the Treasure Hunt

The Treasure Hunt frames the whole game. Victory Road covers gyms, Path of Legends covers Titans and traversal, Starfall Street covers Team Star. You can swap between paths freely, and the map marks every Gym, Titan, and Team Star base so you can choose your next stop. Each path has its own companion (Nemona, Arven, Penny) and its own finale.

Co-op multiplayer (Union Circle)

Up to four trainers can join a Union Circle and explore Paldea in the same instance. You see each other's avatars in the field, explore and catch Pokémon in the same world, and take on Tera Raid Battles together. Co-op is built around shared exploration, not shared story progress.

Tera Raid Battles

Up to four trainers gather around a glowing crystal and battle a Terastallized boss in real time, with simultaneous attacks instead of turn order. Higher star ratings (up to 6-star raids in regular play and 7-star raids in limited-time events) bring tougher bosses that raise Tera shields and wipe out your stat boosts. Beating a raid is the main way to harvest Tera Shards and farm Pokémon with rare Tera Types.

Version differences

Pokémon Scarlet stars Professor Sada and the legendary Koraidon, and leans on the past: its Paradox Pokémon resemble ancient, prehistoric versions of familiar species (Great Tusk, Brute Bonnet, Sandy Shocks). Pokémon Violet stars Professor Turo and the legendary Miraidon, and leans on the future: its Paradox Pokémon are sleek, mechanical-looking variants (Iron Treads, Iron Bundle, Iron Moth). A short list of regular Pokémon are also version-exclusive (among others, Larvitar, Stonjourner, and Skrelp in Scarlet; Bagon, Eiscue, and Clauncher in Violet), and a few uniforms, academy themes, and minor cutscene framings differ between the two.

New Pokémon

The base games introduce more than 100 new Pokémon, including starters Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly, plus their evolutionary lines (Meowscarada, Skeledirge, and Quaquaval). New mascots Koraidon and Miraidon double as your rideable legendary. Paldea adds new regional forms (Paldean Wooper, Paldean Tauros) and a roster of Paradox Pokémon: ancient lookalikes in Scarlet, future lookalikes in Violet. Standouts include Lechonk and its evolution Oinkologne, the hammer-swinging Tinkaton, the Electric-type mouse line from Pawmi to Pawmot, and the Dragon/Ice pseudo-legendary line from Frigibax to Baxcalibur. The DLC adds the Kitakami and Blueberry Pokédexes, bringing back returning favorites such as Ninetales, Whimsicott, and Milotic.

The Paldea region

Paldea is anchored by Mesagoza, the academy city at its center. To the north lie Casseroya Lake and the snowy peaks of Glaseado Mountain. To the west are the Asado Desert, the oasis city of Cascarrafa, and the port town of Porto Marinada. To the east is the seaside city of Levincia, and to the south is Cabo Poco, the village where the adventure begins. The world is built for traversal: your legendary learns to dash, climb, swim, and glide as you clear Titan fights, and each new ability quietly redraws the map.

Three storylines and the Treasure Hunt

The Treasure Hunt is the school's name for "go out and find what matters to you," and the three paths line up with three classmates. Nemona, a Champion-ranked rival, leads Victory Road. Arven, a classmate searching for a cure for his ailing Mabosstiff, leads Path of Legends. Penny, a hacker hiding behind a code name, leads Starfall Street. Beat all three storylines to open the fourth chapter, The Way Home, where the three companions hike with you down into the great crater at the heart of Paldea.

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (Teal Mask and Indigo Disk)

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero rolled out across 2023 and early 2024 in three parts. The Teal Mask (September 13, 2023) sends trainers on a school trip to Kitakami, a rural region inspired by the Japanese countryside, with a folklore-driven plot around the Loyal Three and the legendary "ogre" Ogerpon. The Indigo Disk (December 14, 2023) opens the Terarium, a four-biome dome inside Blueberry Academy, and brings back hundreds of returning Pokémon. The free epilogue Mochi Mayhem (January 11, 2024) ties the two arcs together with a final Mythical Pokémon reveal.

Reception and the launch performance issues

Critics praised the open world, the Treasure Hunt structure, and the writing on Penny's and Arven's storylines, but the launch builds shipped with severe frame-rate drops, model pop-in, and crashes that drew refund requests and a public apology from The Pokémon Company. Metacritic settled at 72/100 for Scarlet and 71/100 for Violet, the lowest scores ever for a mainline Pokémon release. Patches 1.1.0 through 1.3.0 and later DLC updates smoothed many of the worst issues, but never fully fixed the frame rate. None of that slowed sales: the games crossed 10 million units in three days and reached 28.28 million lifetime by March 2026, second only to the original Red/Green/Blue/Yellow titles.

FAQ

Which version should I buy, Scarlet or Violet?

Pick by aesthetic and Paradox roster first, then by exclusives. Scarlet gives you Koraidon, Professor Sada, ancient Paradox forms, and a slightly warmer school uniform. Violet gives you Miraidon, Professor Turo, sleek mechanical Paradox forms, and a cooler school theme. The campaigns are otherwise the same. Trainers happy to trade for exclusives can grab whichever cover Pokémon appeals to them.

Are Pokémon Scarlet and Violet open-world?

Yes. Paldea is a single, seamless map with no loading screens between routes and no level scaling. Wild Pokémon roam in the overworld, weather affects spawns, and your rideable legendary unlocks new traversal moves (climbing, swimming, gliding, sprinting) as you progress through Path of Legends.

How does Terastallization work?

Each Pokémon has a Tera Type, usually matching its base typing but sometimes different. In battle, Terastallizing crystallizes the Pokémon and replaces its typing with the Tera Type. Moves that match the Tera Type get the 1.5× STAB boost, and if the Tera Type also matches one of the Pokémon's original types, moves of that type climb from 1.5× to 2×. You can Terastallize once per battle, and you need to visit a Pokémon Center to recharge after.

What does the DLC add and is it worth getting?

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion adds two new regions (Kitakami and the Terarium inside Blueberry Academy), the legendary Ogerpon and Terapagos, more than 230 returning Pokémon, and the free Mochi Mayhem epilogue with Pecharunt. It is worth it for trainers who want a meatier post-game and a much fuller Pokédex, and the Indigo Disk in particular reshapes the endgame raid scene.

Scarlet

Mascot: Koraidon

Violet

Mascot: Miraidon