Why Pokémon: Scarlet and Violet’s Academy Setting Could Work (But Probably Won’t)

Now that we’re three years out from Sword and Shield, it’s (hopefully) easier to have a more measured appraisal of it; it’s a mediocre game and a disappointment for most, certainly, but more a symbol of the increasing impracticality of the franchise, which seems to have met its saturation point in terms of labor and interest. Though Sword and Shield remains the fifth best-selling Switch game to date, its reception has become synonymous with its name and could put its follow-up in a precarious position. So what’s a good trend to chase in 2022?

Based on the trailers for the next installment so far, it seems like Game Freak landed on a school setting, which isn’t a terrible idea. Academic settings have been popular in Young Adult media for decades, in particular having a spark in interest since the start of the pandemic, perfectly encapsulating the years in between Sword and Shield and Scarlet and Violet. For all my doubts, the recent trailer certainly sold a lot of the elements I’d expect from a setting like this: a squad of delinquent rivals, school traditions and events, and a colorful cast of upperclassmen and faculty. Despite the game’s reliance on the gym progression system, the trailer implies there are new, nonviolent tasks the player will have to complete to challenge each gym. Scarlet and Violet has staked much of its appeal on its true open world, a pointed improvement on Sword and Shield’s Wild Area.

If Game Freak was smart, they’d take some inspiration from Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Persona’s calendar systems, which protract the respective games over several months to mirror a school year. Though many find this idea played out at this point (myself included), simulating a school year would address several complaints leveraged at Sword and Shield, namely the lack of content and short story. Stretching the game across a calendar year runs the risk of making a game feel artificially extended, but allows the opportunity for several unique, dynamic events to take place across the game’s playtime, and could retain players of Scarlet and Violet long enough for Game Freak to roll out updates and DLC that don’t feel awkwardly released after the game’s natural life cycle. If Scarlet and Violet truly is as open of a world as Game Freak seems to be marketing it as, it would also allow for events to be spread out across the world in a logical way, preventing the world from feeling empty or undynamic. A day and night cycle could help with this, too, allowing for encounters to be dictated by a time of day that makes them feel serendipitous or unique.

When I think of high school settings in anime, I think of the high stakes and social dynamics many often present, whether that be the melodrama of Ouran High School Host Club or the exaggerated thrills of Kakegurui. These are tropes everyone is familiar with, and a good base that can easily be extrapolated on in almost any direction. There’s sufficient evidence to suggest Scarlet and Violet are focused on innovation, given what we’ve seen of the new multiplayer features, automatic battling and gathering, and the “three stories” in the game The Pokémon Company has referenced. Many were satisfied with the advancements made in Legends: Arceus, which now reads as a proof of concept for the ideas reused in Scarlet and Violet.

Despite the promise the game shows, I can’t quite shake my initial hesitancy about the game. One of the three stories previously mentioned is, of course, the Pokémon League, a task that’s become more and more tedious with each entry and even superfluous with how simple the process became in Sword and Shield. In theory, I enjoy the combat of Pokémon, but many of these games need significant, weighty side content to support the more formulaic elements endemic to the series, content that should do its best to merge itself with the game’s primary campaign.

Pokémon has abruptly gone from a series I buy on launch to one I might consider picking up if several of my friends recommend it. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Pokémon is that I—and many others, as I’ve noticed—have a hard time vocalizing what we really want to see happen with the IP. It’s far from being a dead franchise, but Pokémon may soon be a series unsustained by its original fans. Maybe its most curmudgeonly followers would do well to move on. Sometimes cute critters just aren’t enough.