Are Pokémon Scarlet and Violet open world?

After Pokémon Legends: Arceus was released, many were excited to jump into the first fully open-world Pokémon game after players got a taste of what an open-world could be in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

A new video for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has revealed a little bit about what the world will look like, and how players will move around the world. There wasn’t a whole lot of new information about exactly how seamless an open-world would be in the new games, but Pokémon social media has said that it is the first open-world RPG in the series, and you’ll be able to explore the game at your leisure.

This likely means that there will be a less linear configuration to the map, and will allow players more freedom to move wherever they’d like to go instead of being locked out of certain areas until a story milestone is reached.

In a press release that was published when the game was first announced on Feb. 27, The Pokémon Company alluded to the fact that there may be no or few loading screens at all in the game.

“Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet take a new evolutionary step in the Pokémon main series,” according to the press release. “Trainers can explore an open world where various towns with no borders blend seamlessly into the wilderness.”

This could mean Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will differ from Legends: Arceus in terms of loading screens. In Legends: Arceus, players would have to load into different maps by choosing them from the starting town, but it seems Scarlet and Violet might enable players to travel to various locations without having to go back to a town or encounter any loading screens.

Scarlet and Violet will release on the Nintendo Switch on Nov. 18. More information about new Pokémon, new features, multiplayer, and more about the open world will be revealed as we get closer to the launch date.