A good step forward for the Pokémon franchise, and a gameplay shakeup it sorely needed after so long. The story is compelling, the gameplay is refreshing, and the watercolour artstyle is quite nice!

However, it gets a bit long in the tooth quite fast, and once the credits rolled I didn't feel much drive to return to it, given how much of a slog the traversal and Pokédex completion grind felt in the lategame.