I started playing Pokemon Violet this week!

Backstory Time.

Recently, I had been playing more Fortnite with my son and found my Switch Lite increasingly uncomfortable to play on. There was also an issue with the right stick and my frustrations were building.

So, in an effort to play more with my son (and for no other reason…) I opted to pick up a Nintendo Switch OLED. I figured the larger screen would be easier to play on and the Joy-Cons are larger so my fingers don’t start to ache from gripping them.

I think the purchase triggered the Switch 2 announcement from Nintendo, as within days oh look, here’s an entirely new console!

It wasn’t long before I realised I could hook up the dock to my desk monitor and so I now have a full gaming setup at my desk! I have yet to add my Xbox Series X to the mix -it’s still connected to the TV- but it’s only a matter of time.

In line with buying the Switch OLED, I felt it was a requirement to pick up a few new games to go along with it. I jumped back into Pokemon Legends: Arceus in the meantime as well as tried out my daughter’s once-played Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I quite enjoyed it but what are you supposed to do?

I also grabbed Stardew Valley (see: Animal Crossing) and Hellboy as they were on sale digitally.

Then came the tough decision. Pokemon Violet. I read the reviews. Mixed. A lot of complaints about the graphics but great gameplay.

I had actually decided not to get it and then I was looking to get Paper Mario for my son’s birthday. He’s been asking for it for a while. Very had emailed me an offer and so I thought I’d pick it up through them along with Kirby, another game he had been after.

However, between selecting the games and deciding to make the purchase the following day, Kirby had now vanished. But Pokemon Violet was right there …

So the complaints about the graphics are somewhat nonsense. I think it looks great. The shadows go a little iffy but then I found Arceus to struggle with the lighting too. There was a strange outline around the character at times which was a little off-putting.

Violet is much better. Gameplay is fun too. It takes the Pokemon are wandering around aspect of Arceus and simplifies it. Instead of being able to throw pokeballs at them you have to battle them to catch them.

The ability to throw pokeballs at Pokemon hanging from trees could do with some work though. I’ve had to position myself just right to make the throw accurate.

My first stretch of gameplay is available below, with a write-up coming soon!

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