Pokemon Scarlet and Violet might not let you sneak up on wild Pokemon anymore

Pokemon fans think catching mechanics will be reverting to the standard formula in Scarlet and Violet, despite the new games' open-world approach.

A post on the series' subreddit pointed out a line in the blog post released alongside the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet announcement, stating that "you'll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokemon series - battling alongside wild Pokemon in order to catch them."

To some, including the Reddit user behind the post, the wording implies that "we are back to traditional gameplay." That 'traditional' is presumably in contrast to the way catching works in Pokemon Legends Arceus. In that game, while it's possible to catch a wild Pokemon by whittling down their health in battle, sneaking up behind an unsuspecting 'mon with a Pokeball is an equally valid approach to catching 'em all.

The blog post seems to suggest that the latter strategy won't feature in Scarlet and Violet, which, as a main-series game, is likely to drop the research elements that set Pokemon Legends Arceus apart from other titles. The idea has been met with a mixed response by the community.

One of the top comments on the Reddit post reads "I'll miss being able to catch Pokemon by just stealthing up to them." Another says that "the way to catch Pokemon in Arceus is a huge upgrade over the classic gameplay."

Other players, however, don't think that the new post confirms specific mechanics. One comment points out that "the sentence just says that you can battle wild Pokemon to catch them. That's also true in Legends." Perhaps both approaches to catching will feature in the final game, but we're unlikely to know that for certain until Nintendo itself confirms one way or another.

While we wait, here are all the Pokemon confirmed for Scarlet and Violet.

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I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.