This morning’s Pokémon Presents revealed more about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s gym leaders and the story players will be able to experience in the Paldea region.
The first gym leader revealed is Grusha, who leads the Glaseado Gym. A former professional snowboarder, Grusha has ice-blue hair and uses primarily Ice-type Pokémon. In the trailer, he can be seen throwing out a Cetitan, an Ice-type Pokémon that specializes in physical attacks and freezes everything that gets close to its horn.
In Scarlet and Violet, players will take the role of a student at an academy in Paldea, the expansive new region. Depending on the version they purchase, players will be a part of either Naranja Academy or Uva Academy. During the course of the open-world game, they’ll attend class, go on an extracurricular treasure hunt, and take on Paldea’s gym leaders, including Grusha, in any order they see fit. Gym leader levels won’t scale with the player. Instead, they’ll all have set level ranges, as in previous games. If the player wants to challenge the hardest leader first, they can do so.
Much of the supporting cast was also revealed in the Pokémon Presents. The academy’s staff includes Clavell, the director of the academy who acts as a mentor to the player, and Jacq, the player’s homeroom teacher who helped develop the Pokedéx app for Rotom phones, which are making a return. The player will also have to contend with classmates, including Arven, an upperclassman who enjoys cooking, and Penny, a shy fellow student.
Fans got their first look at Scarlet and Violet’s gym leaders when a handful of their designs were leaked in early July. One leaked gym leader design appears to correspond to Grusha. Leakers have run amok with supposed new Pokémon, evolutions, gameplay mechanics, and more. Prior to the Pokémon Presents, several waves of leaks occurred over the course of a week, purporting to share more about the game than Game Freak had yet to reveal.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will be released on Nov. 18.
