The Paldea Region: Pokémon's First Open World, Its Three Storylines and Area Zero

Paldea is the first Pokémon region you can explore in whatever order you like. No corridors, no mandatory route: an elliptical region surrounded by ocean, eight Gyms you can take on in any order, and three storylines running side by side. At its center lies a crater that should never have existed — and whose depths hold creatures from another time.

Contents

• An Ellipse, an Ocean and a Hole in the Middle
• Mesagoza, the Academy and the Gym Towns
• Eight Gyms, in Whatever Order You Want
• A League with Several Champions
• Team Star, or Victims Turned Troublemakers
• Area Zero, the Paradoxes and the Missing Professor
• Terastal and Three Stories Told at Once
• Paldea in the Anime
• Where to Explore Paldea Today
• Paldea at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

An Ellipse, an Ocean and a Hole in the Middle

Paldea is shaped like an ellipse surrounded by a vast ocean, and it's divided into four large areas — North, South, East and West — rather than numbered routes. It's the first time the series has completely dropped the route system since Kanto.

The terrain is rugged from end to end. Vast rocky plains dotted with lakes cover most of the land, with mountain ranges in the north — including Glaseado Mountain, the highest peak — and arid land to the east and south. You cross the region on the back of a Legendary Pokémon, which learns to climb, glide and swim as the adventure goes on.

At its center opens the Great Crater of Paldea, a huge, tiered circular depression ringed with waterfalls. You can see it from the very first minutes of the game, and the entire story is about descending its levels down to Area Zero, at the bottom.

Paldea's ground is rich in Terastal energy, and that's what makes Terastallization possible anywhere in the region — unlike previous regional phenomena, which were confined to certain places. The crystals jutting out of the ground mark the shrines and the raids.

Mesagoza, the Academy and the Gym Towns

Mesagoza is Paldea's largest city, set in the heart of the region. The other towns without a Gym are Cabo Poco, Zapapico, Los Platos and Porto Marinada, the last of which runs an auction market where you can win rare items.

The region's institutional heart isn't a League but a school. Naranja Academy in Pokémon Scarlet, Uva Academy in Pokémon Violet: it's the Academy that sends the hero off on an "independent study trip," and it's there that the game's three storylines take shape.

🎒 Naranja Academy in Scarlet, Uva Academy in Violet: in Paldea, it's a school that sends the hero off on an "independent study trip." Our Pokémon backpacks and schoolbags set off with you on yours, the one that starts over every morning at the same time.

Every Gym town has its own identity. Cortondo, Artazon and its half-timbered houses, Levincia and its futuristic architecture, Cascarrafa, Medali, Montenevera, Alfornada and Glaseado Mountain — eight locations spread across the whole ellipse, in no set order.

The region has one professor per version, which is a first for the series: Professor Sada in Scarlet, Professor Turo in Violet. It isn't just a name change — their research, the era they focus on and their role in the story are all different.

Eight Gyms, in Whatever Order You Want

This is Paldea's most tangible break with tradition: you can challenge the Gym Leaders in any order. And the game doesn't cheat — their Pokémon's levels don't scale to your progress, so the order you pick genuinely determines the difficulty. Our Gym Leader guide puts this format in context alongside the other circuits.

Every Gym sets a test before the battle, and no two are alike: gathering olives, finding hidden Pokémon, passing a test at the auction market, racing down a slope. The Gym battle is now only half the challenge.

Katy holds Cortondo with the Bug type, Brassius Artazon with Grass, Iono Levincia with Electric and Kofu Cascarrafa with Water. Larry defends Medali with the Normal type.

Ryme holds Montenevera with the Ghost type, Tulip Alfornada with Psychic, and Grusha brings up the rear at Glaseado Mountain with Ice. Each victory earns you a TM and raises the level cap for traded Pokémon.

A League with Several Champions

Paldea doesn't have one Champion but several. Champion is a rank that several Trainers hold at the same time, and you meet a number of them over the course of the adventure without any one of them being "the" Champion of the region.

The Elite Four brings together Rika, Poppy, Larry and Hassel — specialists in the Ground, Steel, Flying and Dragon types. Above them stands Geeta, the Top Champion, the only holder of that title.

Larry has a quirk the series had never dared to try before: he holds two seats. The Gym Leader of Medali with the Normal type, he's also a member of the Elite Four with the Flying type — so the player faces him twice, with two different teams, on two different levels of the hierarchy.

Team Star, or Victims Turned Troublemakers

Team Star didn't come from outside: it was born inside the Academy. Its members are former students who were bullied, eventually stopped going to class and set up their own bases, each one run by a squad boss.

It's the saddest antagonist in the series. Its members don't want to conquer or destroy anything: they just don't want to go back to class. Starfall Street, one of the game's three storylines, is all about dismantling their bases — and understanding why they formed in the first place.

Each base ends with a race against the clock rather than a standard battle, before you face the squad boss and their oversized Pokémon. The five squads are named after stars.

Area Zero, the Paradoxes and the Missing Professor

Paldea's mystery lies at the bottom of the Crater. Area Zero is home to an abandoned lab, a machine that's still running, and creatures that shouldn't exist here or now.

Those creatures are Paradox Pokémon: prehistoric versions of known species in Pokémon Scarlet, futuristic and mechanical versions in Pokémon Violet. Each version contains only one set of them, which makes the two cartridges genuinely different.

The region's Legendary serves as a mount before it ever serves in battle. Koraidon in Scarlet, Miraidon in Violet: the player travels with them from the first chapter to the last, and only discovers late in the game what they really are.

🚗 Climb, glide, swim: Koraidon and Miraidon serve as mounts long before they're used in battle. Our Pokémon rearview mirror charms swing inside the ride you drive yourself, the one that doesn't glide.

Paldea has six Legendaries, and one of the most debated endings in the series awaits at the bottom of Area Zero — it involves the professor of the version you picked. The full classification is explained in our guide to Legendary and Mythical Pokémon.

Terastal and Three Stories Told at Once

Terastallization changes a Pokémon's type for the length of a battle, and tops its silhouette with a crystal crown. It's the most flexible regional phenomenon the series has ever produced: it doesn't make you stronger, it makes you unpredictable.

It also powers Tera Raid Battles, where four Trainers team up against an oversized Pokémon.

💎 Tera Raid Battles: the crystal crown only lasts as long as the battle, then it's gone. Our Pokémon earrings keep that sparkle at your ears once the console is switched off.

The three starters are Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly. You'll find the details of each regional trio in our feature on the starters.

The real structural innovation is the three parallel storylines: Victory Road for the Gyms, Starfall Street for Team Star, Path of Legends for the Titan Pokémon. You can tackle them in any order you like, and they come together at the end.

Paldea in the Anime

Paldea is the first region that doesn't appear in any season of Ash's series. The Journeys series had ended before its release, and the anime switched protagonists in the meantime — so the region escaped the format that had come with every previous one.

It is, however, the starting point of Horizons. Liko, one of the two protagonists of the new series, comes from Paldea, and the first season spends time there alongside Kanto and Galar.

The region's Academy even plays a central role there: season 2 of Horizons sets its first half at Naranja Academy, where Liko, Roy and Dot learn to master Terastallization. All the seasons are covered in our guide to all the seasons.

Where to Explore Paldea Today

You can explore Paldea in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, on the Nintendo Switch. It's the first fully open-world game in the main series, with no closed-off areas or set progression.

Two expansions have extended the map. The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero adds Kitakami, a Japanese-inspired land, then Blueberry Academy — a battle school built out at sea off the coast of Unova and twinned with Paldea's Academy.

Your choice of version matters more than usual: a different professor, a different academy name, a different Legendary, and above all two families of Paradox Pokémon that don't overlap. The full order of the saga is traced in our guide to all the games.

Paldea at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can you really take on Paldea's Gyms in any order?
  Yes, and it's a first for the main series. The game puts no locks in your way, and it doesn't scale the Gym Leaders' levels to your progress either: the order you choose genuinely determines how hard your playthrough is.
• What are Paldea's three storylines?
  Victory Road, which follows the eight Gyms; Starfall Street, which is about dismantling Team Star's bases; and Path of Legends, where you help Arven defeat the Titan Pokémon that guard the Herba Mystica. You can tackle them in any order you like, and they come together at the end.
• What is Area Zero?
  The bottom of the Great Crater of Paldea, home to an abandoned lab, a machine that's still running and the Paradox Pokémon. It's the setting of the generation's most debated ending.
• What's the difference between Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet?
  The professor, the academy's name, the Legendary — Koraidon or Miraidon — and above all the family of Paradox Pokémon: prehistoric in Scarlet, futuristic and mechanical in Violet. The two cartridges are genuinely different, beyond the usual version exclusives.
• Why does Terastallization work everywhere in Paldea?
  Because the region's ground is rich in Terastal energy. Unlike previous regional phenomena, which were confined to certain places, Terastallization can be used anywhere in the region. It changes a Pokémon's type for the length of a battle.
• Who is Larry?
  The only character in the series to hold two official posts at once: Gym Leader of Medali with the Normal type, and member of Paldea's Elite Four with the Flying type. So the player faces him twice, with two different teams.
• Does Paldea appear in the anime?
  Not in Ash's series, which had already ended: it's the first region in that situation. It is, however, the starting point of Horizons, the series that followed — Liko comes from there, and Paldea's Academy takes up the first half of the second season.

In short

Paldea is the region that handed the map back to the player. No set order, no locked doors, three stories told at once and eight Gym Leaders who won't wait for you: it's the deepest structural overhaul since the first generation.

It's also the first region whose mystery is visible from the very first minute — that crater in the middle of the map, which takes dozens of hours to descend. To see where it fits among the others, our overview of the regions of the Pokémon world; to explore it, our guide to all the games.