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Pokemon Scarlet & Violet picnics let you cook up temporary benefits for your squad

From extra experience to heightened catch rate, Pokemon picnics sound like something players will want to experiment with to gain special advantages.

TJ Denzer

October 6, 2022 6:52 AM

Image via The Pokemon Company

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Pokemon has been a solid series of RPGs across many decades, but one of the few features it hasn’t explored is cooking. Where other games like Final Fantasy 15 and Xenoblade Chronicles have let players prep food in the wild to benefit their party, Pokemon hasn’t really had anything like that yet. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will, though. The latest trailer introduced picnics, which are a great place for your pokemon to play, as well as for you to make food that gives them a variety of special effects.

Pokemon picnics were introduced in the latest Pokemon Direct for Scarlet and Violet on October 6, 2022. In this video, we got to see how picnics play out. It looks like you can start a picnic pretty much anywhere safe in the open world. You can decorate your picnic table with fun plates, cups, and other accessories you find along the way, and even let your pokemon play nearby as you watch them. However, the real benefit comes when you get to the meal. Here, you can make sandwiches that heal your pokemon and grant them special benefits.

Sandwiches can be made with a multitude of ingredients you’ll find throughout the game and can be mixed and matched to create various recipes. The ingredients you find impart special bonuses for both you and your squad. You might give your pokemon extra experience for a duration, raise the encounter rate of a type of pokemon, or increase your ability to catch said type. These were just a few of the effects we saw in the trailer and there are sure to be plenty more.

Pokemon picnics are part of a delightful array of new features like co-op play and Terastillization coming to Pokemon Scarlet & Violet on November 18. Be sure to stay tuned for more reveals and details as we get closer to the release date.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.