Scarlet and Violet will let you send your Pokemon out to auto battle on their own
The auto battles will let your Pokemon earn exp without you
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are getting a new feature called 'Let's Go,' which will let you send out your creatures on their own fight, earn experience points, and collect items without your supervision.
You'll be able to send a Pokemon out in a direction of your choice, and they'll gather items and automatically fight wild Pokemon without your input. As the official site explains, "When your Pokemon is out and engaging in Auto Battles, you can do what you want - stay by its side to watch over it, or try looking for items nearby. By defeating wild Pokemon in auto battles, your Pokemon can also earn items and experience points!"
A similar feature was introduced in Legends Arceus, though it was much more limited there. In that game, you can send out a Pokemon to collect an item from a nearby gathering spot while you continue moving, though your creature immediately returns to its Pokeball as soon as the item is collected. Bizarrely, despite the name, the feature does not have any apparent connection to Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee.
The feature was announced alongside a new trailer for the games, focused on the multiple story paths you'll be able to pursue, including bunch of school troublemakers you'll be doing battle against. It also introduced a few new additions for the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pokedex. Nintendo also announced a new Scarlet and Violet-themed edition of the Switch OLED, launching a few weeks ahead of the games.
Here are all the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet version differences you need to know about.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.