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When Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were first revealed, many were quick to draw parallels between the upcoming Switch games and 2022's Pokemon Legends Arceus. After all, it's not often that we see multiple Pokemon releases in the same year, and it makes sense that Game Freak would build on the features found in the latest iterations. As such, you might find yourself wondering if Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be like Arceus?
There are certainly some similarities in particular respects, with select mechanics and features that share the same kind of DNA. But there are also some notable differences that set them apart. Below, we've outlined all of the key features we know about in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet so far, and detailed how they share similarities or differences with those found in Pokemon Legends Arceus.
Open-world
Pokemon Legends Arceus features open areas that you're free to explore, but it wasn't strictly speaking an open-world experience. The adventure very much felt like it was building on the open wild areas found in Pokemon Sword and Shield, with larger contained spaces you can roam. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, on the other hand, promise to be "an evolutionary step" in the long-running critter catching series as the first truly open-world RPG in the series. With the freedom to explore the entirety of the Paldea region, rather than select areas on the map, Scarlet and Violet looks set to be a real step up from Arceus.
Story structure
While Pokemon Legends Arceus does afford freedom in terms of exploration, the structure of its main campaign is fairly linear. Certain areas, for example, won't open up until you've completed particular quests. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is reportedly opening up its world to you from the outset and letting you steer your own adventure, with the chance to "explore at your leisure and not in an order that's dictated by the story." Arceus shook things up by moving away from the traditional badge collecting gym formula in Pokemon games past. The gyms will be making a return in Scarlet and Violet, only this time you can do them in any order and there will also be three main stories to discover.
Traversal
The way you navigate around the Paldea region in Scarlet and Violet is not unlike Arceus. As you make your way through quests in Arceus, you begin to unlock Pokemon that serve as mounts, with each one helping you reach different parts of the landscape and progress through the story in different ways. From reaching areas separated by water with Basculegion, to traveling far distances with Wrydeer, and eventually being able to climb with Sneasler and fly with Braviary. The upcoming adventures in the Paldea region are taking a slightly different approach, with the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet legendaries serving as mounts instead. Scarlet's Koradion and Violet's Miraidon can assume different forms, which allow you to explore the world in similar ways to the various mounts in Arceus – from taking to the skies by gliding to sprinting across the land and going across bodies of water.
Free-roaming Pokemon in the wild
Pokemon Legends Arceus followed in the footsteps of the wild areas found in Sword and Shield, where wild Pokemon roam about in the overworld instead of being encountered in tall grass. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are set to continue in this direction. The critters will once again be visibly roaming around the landscapes of the region for you to encounter and find.
Catching mechanics
Arceus introduced new catching mechanics that allowed us to throw Pokeballs directly at critters roaming the wild. This meant that we didn't always have to engage in battle like past iterations to catch the Pokemon we need to fill out our Pokedex. It's not entirely clear if Scarlet and Violet will follow suit, but that latest trailer suggests it will go in the traditional route of catching pokemon during battles. We'll still be able to go right up to Pokemon we encounter in order to begin a battle, but we've yet to see any evidence of the catching mechanic that's unique to Arceus make a return.
Region specific Pokemon variants
Just like the Hisiui region in Pokemon Legends Arceus and the Galar region in Pokemon Sword and Shield, the Paldea region will be home to unique variants of familiar critters. Paldean Wooper, for example, is one region specific variant that we'll be trying to add to our Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pokedex when the adventures arrive this November. The region specific variants are all Pokemon who adapted to their environments in unique ways, which resulted in new forms, and it'll be exciting to see what other new forms we'll encounter.
Character customization
From everything we've seen so far of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, we'll once again able to customize our trainers just as we could in some of the most recent iterations. Not unlike Pokemon Legends Arceus, Scarlet and Violet will let you select the appearance of your character. In the latest trailer we got to see a host of different customization that will be available to us, including a salon with a vast selection of different hairstyles and colors. You can also change up a variety of facial features, right down to the shape and style of your eyelashes.
Multiplayer
While past mainline Pokemon games have been largely single-player affairs, with the option to trade or battle other players, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is really ramping up its multiplayer options. Pokemon Legends Arceus allowed you to trade captured Pokemon with other players, while Scarlet and Violet are set to support full four-player co-op – meaning you'll be able to explore and capture with your friends for the very first time.
Look back over the series so far with our ranking of the best Pokemon games.
