Can You Change The Time of Day? Answered – Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

In past Pokémon games, the time of day became an important factor when hunting down certain Pokémon. When Pokémon Gold & Silver first introduced the real-time clock function, it was quite the marvel, as we really felt like we were our Trainers. Things are a bit different this time, however. Today, our Pokémon Scarlet & Violet guide will answer the question: Can you change the time of day?

Changing the Time in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Like the previous main line Pokémon games, Scarlet & Violet feature an in-game day and night cycle, where time passes as you journey through the Paldea region. Regardless of what you’re doing, time is always moving.

However, unlike the previous games, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet does not run on your console’s internal clock settings. Instead, the games utilize their own in-game clocks to progress time, which unfortunately means that you cannot change the time of day manually in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet.

If you need to do something time sensitive, you’ll have to simply wait for time to pass naturally. One in-game day lasts roughly about half an hour, so the wait isn’t too long, thankfully. There’s plenty of stuff to do in the Paldea region to keep you busy.

Just to be sure, we tried sleeping in our dorm room at Uva Academy to see if that had any effect on time, and it doesn’t seem to be the case. If worse comes to worst, you can just set your Switch down and go do something else while you wait for time to pass.

Some time-sensitive things that come to mind are Pokémon that only appear during certain times of the day, or Pokémon that evolve at specific times. You’ll have to be careful and keep an eye on the clock to make sure you don’t miss your chance.

Speaking of which, you can roughly tell what phase of the day it is by simply looking at your map. The icon in the top center of the map will tell you what part of the day it is. This is useful in specific situations, for example when you’re trying to get a specific form of Lycanroc.

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A yellow sun with a blue background is dawn, an orange sun with an orange background is dusk, and a yellow moon with a purple background is nightfall. The icon in the top right corner will also tell you of any current weather conditions that might also affect Pokémon spawns.

We hope that answers your questions about whether you can change the time of day in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. If you have any other questions or tips, let us know in the comments below!