A rogue Lycanroc appears to be stalking one Pokemon Scarlet and Violet player. However, while it sounds like the beginning of an internet ghost story, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fans came up with a simple explanation for this creepy occurrence.
Developer Game Freak released Pokemon Scarlet and Violet for the Nintendo Switch on November 18th, 2022. The latest installments of the long-running Pokemon series were unsurprisingly a massive commercial hit, setting a new record for Nintendo releases by selling over 10 million copies in just three days. However, the games have not gone without criticism for their rushed development and buggy release, making Scarlet and Violet the lowest-rated mainline Pokemon games on Metacritic.
Reddit user Mr_Night78 was playing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet when he noticed a Midnight Form Lycanroc flowing him around. He shared four screenshots to the Pokemon subreddit, showing how the vulpine Rock Pokemon seemed to be stalking his character across the Paldea Region. Unfortunately, even entering battle wasn’t enough to get the Lycanroc off Mr_Night78’s back, with the rogue Pokemon showing up in the middle of his fight with a Cufant.
The comments were full of people jokingly comparing the odd occurrence to horror movies and internet urban legends. A few people referenced infamous Creepypastas like “Ben Drowned” and “Sonic.exe,” both of which told stories about haunted video games. Another person commented with a link to the music video for the 1984 R&B song Somebody’s Watching Me.
However, other Reddit users eventually came up with a less humorous and more mundane explanation. The stray Lycanroc is most likely a placeholder object that the game loaded in instead of whatever was supposed to be there. Typically, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would do this with the first Pokemon from the player’s party, which would appear inside its poke ball. However, specific circumstances can cause the placeholder to take the form of the actual Pokemon. Another suggested that it may be a glitch related to the ridable Pokemon. However, there appear to be multiple Pokemon Scarlet and Violet glitches that will make the player’s Pokemon follow them around.
And it’s not as if Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet have a shortage of bugs and glitches. Some of them are even quite creepy. For example, a video went viral on TikTok last year showing a crowd of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet characters T-posing as they stared directly into the camera. In addition, another player reported having their in-game selfie ruined when their character’s head clipped through the camera bizarrely and horrifyingly. Unfortunately, this Lycanroc incident seems to be just another result of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s seemingly rushed development.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available on Nintendo Switch.
Source: Mr_Night78/Reddit
