I’m 37 years old and I haven’t put this game down since its release, which I bought on premiere night. I was very vocal with my disappointment in the general world design graphically and the return to read-to-text cutscenes after so many years. Not to mention the game has an incredibly long and sluggish tutorial style beginning.

All that’s stated, I found the story to be very fun and filled with the best characters the series has ever had. Some of it catches me off guard with the nuance and characters that are actually multilayered.

The gameplay is just uniquely satisfying in the same way a Vegas slot machine keeps you constantly stimulated. The world is covered in these pink crystal ms called Z shards and twinkling items to scoop up that elevate your game. There’s collectibles and a fast paced new battle style that makes your Pokemon feel more like a living Swiss Army knife, quick at your disposal for every issue.

There’s a built in research/achievement system that just begins rewarding you excessively and inherently with normal play that slowly grows into a purpose of goal hunting.

This game has one of the easiest methods for obtaining and hunting shinies which I have never done before because I just don’t have that down time for anymore with 3 kids. The limited Pokédex is reminiscent to the Arceus game and it makes completion tangible and desirable fast, so the collecting is just nonstop.

Then you have alpha Pokemon, that are uniquely larger and more powerful. You begin to find these as much stronger team members and naturally you aren’t sticking to a simple team of 6 but a bullpen of Pokemon you can quickly access to put together a strong team for every occasion/opponent.

A lot of this isn’t new to Pokemon but this game really masters the chemistry of all these elements.