Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Show Off Their 3 Major Stories [IGN]

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet have shown off the three separate stories that make up the core of the new games, including the expected gym battles, the new Team Star to take down, and a journey to discover mystical plants (and taking on Titan monsters).

Revealed in a new trailer (below) and explained more on the Pokémon website, the three questlines are grouped by a single prompt – you’re attending a school in the new Paldea region, and have been handed a special independent study project with the theme “A Treasure Hunt”.

You can find that treasure through three different questlines, which can be taken on in any order. Victory Road is the most familiar of the three, challenging you to defeat the leaders of eight Pokémon gyms then pass “the Champion Assessment” at Pokémon League headquarters. However, you’ll also need to complete unique Gym Tests to get to those battles – the one we see involves collecting Sunflora hidden around the area.

Starfall Street is Scarlet and Violet’s space to introduce a villainous group, in this case Team Star. Made up of rebellious students from your school – “Each squad is led by its own boss, each with their own base scattered across the Paldea region.” You’ll be heading into bases, where Team Star will send “a relentless barrage of Pokémon to get in your way,” asking you to defeat a set number within a time limit. Complete that, and you’ll need to take on a boss riding their own custom Starmobile, which needs to be defeated alongside their squads of Pokémon.

Finally, the third story strand is the Path of Legends, a story set around collecting Herba Mystica, rare ingredients “which are said to immediately restore health once eaten.” You’ll be accompanying a new character, Arven, to collect the Herba – and battling the Titan Pokémon that guard them. In the trailer, we meet Klawf, an enormous crab-like Pokémon.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet launch on November 18, bringing full 4-player co-op multiplayer into the series, among several other brand new features. The fully-open world games will add rideable legendaries for the first time, and introduce the new Terastallizing mechanic.

Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.