Pokemon fan creates “breathtaking” Diamond & Pearl remake in Unreal Engine

One very talented Pokemon fan has recreated two Diamond & Pearl locations in Unreal Engine, and it’s given fans a peek at what the future of the series could look like.

Now that Pokemon Sword & Shield has been out on Nintendo Switch for over a year, attention is starting to turn to the next release from developers Gamefreak, largely rumored to be remakes of Nintendo DS games Diamond & Pearl.

While it’s likely that any Pokemon remake in the near future will resemble the style and gameplay of Sword & Shield, one creative fan has shared their own idea of what the Gen 4 remakes could look like if they used the Unreal Engine.

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl remade in Unreal Engine

Reddit user papabeard88 took to the Pokemon subreddit to share their recreations of two locations from Diamond & Pearl: The player’s hometown Twinleaf Town, and the game’s first wild area Route 201.

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The two areas have been given a modern makeover that looks far more realistic than the pixelated graphics that fans are used to from the 2006 games – although the artist shot down hopes that a game that looks like this could appear on Nintendo Switch.

“I tried to go for a mix between Pokemon Sword and Shield and World of Warcraft with a little bit of Breath of the Wild,” they explained of their design. “This version of Twinleaf Town would definitely NOT run on a Switch.”

They may not be able to run on Switch, but papabeard88’s designs have given fans an idea of what a super-realistic open-world Pokemon game could look like on a future console.

“That’s actually breathtaking! THIS is what we expect for Gen 9 graphic wise! Godly work man,” wrote one fan, while another joked: “I’ve waited long enough for a Diamond/Pearl remake. I’ll take whatever you can give OP. You are now Gamefreak.”

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The concept images also got fans debating whether or not they’d actually like to see a game featuring this hyper-real style of graphics. Some loved the idea, while others argued it looks too different from the Pokemon games they know and love.

“Honestly I wish Nintendo and Gamefreak would just go balls to the wall with at least one installment of a Pokémon game already,” a Reddit user wrote. “Something like this with a 3D open world, real-time battles, and Pokémon in plain view. My heart yearns for this.”

We probably won’t get a Pokemon game that looks like this for a long time, due to a combination of both creative choices and the Switch not being powerful enough. But it’s something fans definitely want to see.