Pokémon Gen 10 Concerns Raised Following New Game Trailer

1 week ago 17

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Every new Pokémon game released since the dawn of the Nintendo Switch has come with one question from fans: why doesn't it look better? Games like Pokémon Sword & Shield and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet have been widely criticized when held up against titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

The reason is, of course, obvious. Relatively weaker hardware coupled with ridiculously short development times. That's why Pokémon games on Nintendo Switch never look or run as well as we'd like, and I fear it's going to be the same story on Nintendo Switch 2. Now we've had our first look at GameFreak's brand-new Xbox RPG Beast of Reincarnation? We can safely say the problem was never a lack of talent at GameFreak.

GameFreak's Latest Game Has Pokémon Fans Concerned

What does Gen 10 have in store for us?

Pikachu looking worried in Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu.

The reaction to GameFreak's latest game has been entirely predictable. Fans are more annoyed than ever now that we know what GameFreak can deliver when they're given actual time to cook. Beast of Reincarnation looks absolutely beautiful, and could end up being one of 2026's best surprises.

"This looks so sweet," one fan wrote on X. "Why can’t they do this for Pokémon? I’m just shocked at the disparity between graphics, presentation, and gameplay with ZA. What gives?!"

Another added: "This proves there is absolutely no reason they should ever be putting out a sub-par Pokémon game ever again with how good this looks."

That second comment isn't entirely fair, of course. It was confirmed that Beast of Reincarnation has been in development for around six years now, which is significantly more time than any Pokémon game has ever had in the oven.

Given we can already assume Pokémon Gen 10 is coming in 2026 or 2027, it will have had two or three years in development at most. So yeah, don't expect it to look as impressive as Beast of Reincarnation.

Pokémon Games Need More Time In The Oven

It really is that simple

"Dude Gamefreak with how many times you mentioned that you are using your Pokémon gamedev experience to make this game," wrote on Reddit user. "I beg you to now use the experience from making this game to make proper Pokémon game."

Another fan pointed out: "In the time frame it will have taken them to make this game, GameFreak will have made a total of 4 Pokémon Games across 2 teams (so 2 Games each per team). Pokémon is 'ugly' by proxy of them not having enough time and not because they can't make a beautiful-looking game."

The simple fact is, I think we'd all happily wait a few more years for Pokémon Gen 10 if it meant we were getting something unambiguously more polished than the last few open world adventures. Unfortunately, it's unlikely the Pokémon machine will ever be allowed to slow down that much. Pokémon's next mainline games are expected to be announced next month for the series' 30th anniversary, so... expect lots of comparisons to Beast of Reincarnation.