Game Freak Needs To Take More Time With Its Pokemon Games

thegamer.com:

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet being announced mere weeks after the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus caught me and many others by surprise.

The regular release schedule of a main series title followed by a Legends' successor seems to have been cemented, allowing Game Freak to continually explore its ambitious open world formula without leaving behind the dual titles it has specialized in for decades. It makes perfect sense, offering two fairly distinct takes on the hugely popular franchise that each have room for rampant experimentation.

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Yet I can’t help but feel that the established development pipeline is a little tight, giving each new game a production time of roughly two years to continually iterate upon themselves with new mechanics and worthwhile ideas that push the series forward. As we’ve seen several times throughout history, Pokemon is reliant on a familiar introduction of new creatures alongside a themed region that all inspire creativity and feel completely new, yet the foundations they are built upon are always the same.

It isn’t out until the end of 2022, but from looking at the debut trailer, I can already tell how Scarlet & Violet will play in terms of combat and exploration, building on the foundation of Sword & Shield instead of trying something new. And that’s okay, if anything Sword & Shield felt like Game Freak was still experiencing teething issues as it developed a mainline duo of titles on a home console for the first time, with its portable origins proving abundantly clear in almost every aspect of its design.

Scarlet & Violet could see that vision reach its full potential for the first time, offering a more cohesive open world with a