Future Pokémon games being open-world...

[Greninjaman]

Since we are 3 days away from the release date, and we know that these games will be open world, I have to ask: Will every main series game from now on (assuming there will be future games) be open-world like Scarlet and Violet?

 

[Stef50S]

I think the vast majority of them will be open world because the groundwork was being laid since at least Sword and Shield. Maybe there might be a remake of a past Pokemon game where the map is the same as the original because of faithfulness or some other reason. Then again, if we ever get more Pokemon Legends games that will change how remakes are made and handled.
With all that said, the open world format makes perfect sense for Pokemon as it not only has a lot of fans that enjoy it but also has been requested for years as a new evolution for the series. If there's any format that facilitates going on your own journey in a brand new region to discover what's out there, it's the open world format.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

I would personally assume so, I know I for one would see it as a step backwards/downgrade if they weren’t in the future. Even them not adding some mechanics from Legends already feels like a downgrade for me.

Personally I wouldn’t mind if they were more like Legends with loading screens if that meant better performance, but if that wouldn’t make a difference I’d prefer a full open world.

 

[Sakuraa]

I'd assume so.

 

[a230]

For me, gen 8 was a prototype for generations to come. They tried so many new things during the 3 years generation. Wilds areas, roaming pokemon,crafting, quality of life improvement, multiplayers,raids and a bunch of other things. I really think those thing will be in all the generations going forward, but they'll improve thoses things every games.

 

[Palamon]

At this point, I'm going to have to go with yes. I really don't think that S/V will be the only fully open world game. Pokemon started moving towards open world with Sword/Shield's wild area, took some baby steps with Legends Arceus (which wasn't fully open world) and have probably solidified it with Scarlet/Violet. Once you go open world, there's no going back. I doubt they'll go back to linear unless it's remakes of older games.

 

[Bolt Strike]

For me, gen 8 was a prototype for generations to come. They tried so many new things during the 3 years generation. Wilds areas, roaming pokemon,crafting, quality of life improvement, multiplayers,raids and a bunch of other things. I really think those thing will be in all the generations going forward, but they'll improve thoses things every games.

Not only was it a prototype generation, but it was a prototype generation for open world. Most of what they were experimenting with were things that they needed to get right in an open world game, and each release aside from BDSP was a step further in the direction of open world (SwSh was mainly linear but had an open field, the SwSh Expansion Pass experimented with bigger, more open, and more diverse open area environments, LA was 5 sets of open areas, now SV is fully open world). So yeah, they've been planning to go open world for years, and considering that open world is highly popular right now, I don't see them reversing course anytime soon, maybe not ever. I definitely think all non-remake games are going to be open world for the foreseeable future.

 

[Beer&Nyquil]

Seems pretty obvious at this point that they’re not going back to super structured, super linear gameplay

 

[Harryghost]

I think so. Game Freak doesn't really introduce a QOL change and remove it so soon. so I am gonna say the open-world theme stays for a few games, at least.

 

[stunning_cyan]

Unfortunately I think that it's here to stay and also unfortunately, it doesn't work all that well. Frankly, they should just separate the series into two types of games: one for traditional fans, one for lovers of open world . Hopefully, they will put actual effort into BW remakes so they will scratch that itch for me.

 

[RexMissingno]

I can see them keeping the open world or at least open world-adjacent style. I think there's still a chance that they may do something again like what they did with PLA where the game has open world segments but you unlock new areas in a linear way, but it's probably more likely that they keep the full open world like in ScarVio and if they do hopefully retweak it.

 

[Silktree]

I prefer the PLA approach and want it to be kept for Legends games, except each biome should have a town as a hub.