I have a weird relationship with this game. I had a lot of fun with it when I played it, and some of the things it did are exactly what I'd been hoping for with Pokemon. The way the story is broken up is pretty interesting, and though it has the same basic structure as any other Pokemon game, it's enough of a break in the formula to be refreshing. Plus the climax is miles ahead of any other Pokemon game's. Compared to Sword and Shield, which I could barely bring myself to beat, this game is miles ahead.

However, there's also a lot of things that suck about the game. You can see ways that it was rushed, bordering on unfinished, even from a casual playthrough. Even if you don't encounter any major bugs or crashes (which I did), it still feels hard to call this a finished product. And though the game does try to give you things to do once you beat the main story, I pretty much lost interest as soon as my Pokedex was complete. There's just not really any reason to continue raising Pokemon if you're not interested in online battling.

As for the new Pokemon, I generally like their designs a lot. The past paradox Pokemon, especially, are a great combination of the concepts behind Ultra Beasts and regional forms (I find the future paradox mons pretty uninteresting). I also like the evolutions for old Pokemon, like Dudunsparce and Kingambit. I sorely missed these types of mons in generations 6 and 7. It's my preferred way to give more spotlight to mons from previous generations.

Overall, I can't say I would "recommend" this game. But I did have fun with it. But it's not worth the price. But........you see what I mean?