10 FANTASTIC Video Games (You Should Never Play)

Just play Palworld instead.

Mostly a jest, but The Pokémon Company and Nintendo could stand to learn a thing or two from a game that makes no secret of what globally popular franchise it's aping. Pokémon doesn't need guns, base building or, well, any of the trappings of a survival game - that's not what it wants to be, nor should it. What TPC (and, by extension, Game Freak) should do, though, is not be so stubbornly opposed to innovation or change.

The reluctance is understandable to a degree. Why bother with reinventing the wheel when the core formula, largely unchanged since the '90s, still generates nine-figure sums with every new generation? Scarlet and Violet, despite the outroar over its offensive performance issues, are proof enough that forgiveness is in good supply for Game Freak when its competitors would be spat out like used gum if it dared to ship anything so glaringly unfinished.

Despite all of this, the central loop of catch, train, battle, and repeat is still oh-so-alluring to multiple generations of gamers. Every Pokémon game, as a standalone experience, is worth playing but if you've dipped your toes in the franchise even as far back as Black and White, there's nothing Gen 9 can offer that you won't have seen before just presented in a slightly prettier manner.