Should you be excited for Pokemon GO's upcoming changes in April 2024?

After substantial Pokemon GO testing, Niantic has announced the "Rediscover GO" April 2024 revamp for its landmark mobile title. The update promises improved in-game visuals for the world map and encounter screens, improved avatar customization/graphics, and enhancements to AR gameplay. But are these enhancements worth getting excited about? Sure, but with a grain of salt.

It's no secret that Pokemon GO has progressed its core gameplay mechanics and the game's presentation quite slowly since its 2016 release. New features have come and gone, and improvements have been made, but the bulk of Niantic's content releases have centered on events and new Pokemon.

While there are certainly reasons to have some excitement for the GO April 2024 revamp, fans should temper their expectations until they can take in all of the improvements themselves.

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Why fans should get excited, but not too excited, about Pokemon GO's April 2024 revamp

More trainer customization is coming in Pokemon GO's April 2024 revamp (Image via Niantic)

While the arrival of more customization options and the improvement of some of Pokemon GO's core mechanics sounds like a win-win for Niantic and the fanbase, players may want to avoid getting their hopes up too much. Enhancement to visuals, augmented reality, and the world map/encounter screens are certainly welcome, but only if they're well implemented, and there are still other problems with Pokemon GO.

Early impressions of Pokemon GO's avatar update during its testing were mixed, to put things lightly. While trainers certainly hoped for the ability to customize their character beyond what they wore and the small number of available body settings, fans weren't exactly in love with the testing phase of the avatar graphic update. The official launch may be better, but players are skeptical.

Moreover, while improving the game's visuals and augmented reality is fine, there are still plenty of issues with the game that have yet to be addressed and seemingly won't be in the April 2024 revamp. A better-looking and functional game is nothing to be upset about (although some players have debated whether it will truly be better-looking), but other criticisms remain.

Pokemon GO's April 2024 revamp is introducing improved visuals for the world map and encounter screens (Image via Niantic)

From the nerfing of Remote Raid Passes to limited timeframes of Community Day events, to an outbreak of Discord botters and tankers in GO Battle League PvP, this mobile title has a lot of problems that the April 2024 revamp won't fix.

All in all, updating GO's visuals and some of its main gameplay features should be appreciated, but with a hefty grain of salt. These improvements certainly don't absolve Niantic of past criticisms, and because of those criticisms, it's best to look forward to the April 2024 revamp with tempered expectations. Until all the update's features are rolled out, fans can't know for sure how well they'll pan out.