I was very cynical about the existence of this game. Only a year since the last Pokémon game, and they’re already pumping out another one? Good god, we don’t need this! Take a break!

When the game launched, the wide showcase of impressive and hilarious technical issues seemed to vindicate me. Of course this rushed game wasn’t functioning properly, what did anyone expect? I was content to let my experience with this game be laughing at it from afar.

And then, I unexpectedly got the game as a present, and decided to check it out. And it turns out those technical issues… are really the only major issue this game has. The rest of the game, though not without flaw by a long shot, is actually really fucking good.

The more open world is surprisingly fun to explore, although it is frustrating how limited your progress is at first. I was skeptical about how open world pokemon would work, but it ended up functioning surprisingly well. This may be the most I’ve ever cared about the story and characters in a Pokémon game, they’re all delightful and the story’s surprising conclusion worked for me.

Ultimately, I don’t feel like I can give the game a higher score, despite how thoroughly I enjoyed myself. I would have been fine waiting for this game to give it some time to breathe, and there’s no excuse for a game with this much money behind it to have such an array of technical issues. But ultimately, this is the most fun Pokémon has been in a long time. I just wish it had the time it needed to turn into a fully fledged video game.