Since 1996, GameFreak has given aspiring Pokémon trainers, champions, and masters the chance to do so through their many games within the series. With each new generation, the series tended to introduce new features; Pokémon Gold and Silver were the first games that allowed Pokémon to hold items, later Ruby and Sapphire introduced 2v2 battles and let you build camps and homes for your character. Sword and Shield, of course, introduced Dynamax and Gigantamax, which caused your little warriors to not be so little and perform devastating moves for a brief period of time.
In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the open world and four-player co-op are the big game-changers. No more having to follow a single route, instead, we have the opportunity to choose our own path...to a point. But are these changes meaningful enough? I'd argue 'no,' and that if the series really wants to evolve then it should learn from Digimon Survive - a game that tells a darker story involving a group of teenagers who are transported to a Digimon-filled world after getting lost on a school camping trip.
But it's not about making Pokemon have a darker story, it's about the fact that in Digimon Survive, the choices you make as a tamer throughout the game have an actual impact on the story, the ending, and the Digimon themselves. The Digimon are extensions of their tamer, so their personalities often reflect those of their tamer. If a tamer is well-rounded and level-headed then when it's time for their Digimon to Digivolve, their Digimon will take on the Vaccine line of Digivolutions which fall into the hero category.
If in battle a tamer decides to throw caution to the wind and be more aggressive, then their Digimon will branch off and go from Vaccine to Virus - a more violent and chaotic type of Digivolution that is focused on destruction rather than providing aid and saving the world.
In Pokémon games, it is just a straight ladder up to the next evolution - unless you are evolving an Eevee who has eight different evolutions. In Digimon video games, tamers and Digimon both have the ability to level up and increase their stats and abilities by gaining experience points after winning battles. In Digimon Battle Online once you reach level 21, you become a Silver Tamer and gain access to the Dungeon of Darkness. In Digimon World Dusk and Digimon World Dawn, you can up your tamer's rank by either passing an in-game test or by defeating a tamer that has been marked 'special' in an arena. Your tamer's rank/level also affects the type of items that are available to you through both purchases and exploration.
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Digimon having this feature puts an even bigger emphasis on winning fights. Placing the ability to obtain certain items behind certain levels makes using and collecting those items feel well-earned and more special - you should be as excited about your tamer being able to use an item as you do when your monster learns a new move. Pokémon doesn't offer you the same rush when it comes to collecting items and their usage. Finding a Master Ball or an Ultra Ball in the wild provides the same level of excitement as finding a penny on the street because they can be found almost anywhere in the games at almost any point.
Pokémon games rarely give the feeling that an item outside of a gym badge has been earned. You do not need to be at a certain level to find or use an item. The same can be applied to losing battles; in Digimon, if you and your Digimon continuously lose fights, your tamer rank drops.
In Pokémon, the worse that happens is you lose a couple of bucks, black out, and wake up in a Pokémon Center where your whole squad is all healed up, and off you go on your merry way again. Digimon games have in-battle risks that have in-world consequences, there aren't any in Pokémon. Having these risks is also why it will take you 80 to 100 hours to unlock all of the story paths in Digimon Survive, because its choice-based story format and 'Karma' system will affect your Digimon's Digivolution. There will be 113 Digimon in the game and using this system and implementing risks allows you to carve out so many paths you can set them on.
How you treat and view your Digimon and how you act during fights will affect their story and the game's story, whereas with Pokémon the story is unaltered by how you evolve yours. In the animem Ash's Charmeleon wouldn't obey him because its skill level is higher than his, whereas in the game your Pokémon will obey you no matter what. There is no ranking or levelling system for your trainer, there is no feature that causes your Pokémon to willingly disobey your commands.
In short, Pokemon is a little shallow in this area - content to slowly evolve its 'safe' formula, where instead it could be a deeper, more fruitful experience just by taking some inspiration from its rival. Digimon is not as popular as Pokémon, but there is a lot GameFreak can learn from the digital champions and how their digital worlds operate.