SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers regarding the plot and post-game content of Pokémon Sword and Shield. 

Pokémon Sword and Shield are the first eighth-generation Pokémon games, as well as the first original Pokémon games to come to the Nintendo Switch (excluding remakes). Releasing on November 15th, Sword and Shield had a rocky release due to a variety of criticisms and controversies such as Dexit. Despite the controversy, to date, the game has sold over 2 million copies in Japan and continues to do well around the world. As a longtime Pokémon fan, I found Shield to be a pleasant experience that had a great balance of new features and nostalgic content.  

Galarian Pokémon Designs

Honestly, I could go on about the new Pokémon forever. Sword and Shield included 81 brand new Pokémon, as well as 13 Pokémon with Galarian forms. Many of the Pokémon possessed unique type combinations, such as the dark/fairy Grimmsnarl and the electric/poison Toxtricity. One of my favorite Pokémon that stuck around with me until the end of the game was Frosmoth, the series’ first ice/bug Pokémon (minus its adorable pre-evolution, Snom). But aside from type combinations, the physical designs of many of the Pokémon are truly one of the game’s major highlights. Dragapult, the series’ first dragon/ghost Pokémon, launches its pre-evolution out of its horns at Mach speeds. And Cursola, the evolution of Corsola’s Galarian form, is designed to mimic coral bleaching. Coral bleaching occurs when ocean water becomes too warm. The warm water makes coral polyps expel the critical algae that live endosymbiotically in their tissues. As a result, they turn white as if they were bleached. Basically, climate change has taken its toll on the Pokémon universe. This isn’t the only environmental crisis that’s addressed in Sword and Shield, but I will get to that when we discuss its plot.

Additionally, the Galar region features contemporary cities that contrast the countryside. Over 30% of Sword and Shield’s Pokémon are at least half steel type. They match this sort of “Industrial Revolution aesthetic” that is present throughout the game. There are also many Pokémon that fit cavalier themes to match the game titles. Escavalier possesses lancing swords, Bisharp is an armored commander of warriors, and Aegislash is a sword and shield meshed into one single Pokémon. I understand feeling bummed if your favorite Pokémon not being included in the Galarian Pokédex. But many of the Pokémon they chose to include in Sword and Shield were fitting, at least.

Inteleon, Frosmoth, and Grimmsnarl are intrigued by the Poké Toy.

Soundtrack

In my opinion, the Pokémon series has always had an impressive soundtrack. From the Gameboy’s 8-bit tunes to the absolute bops on the 3DS (I’m looking at you, Guzma), the series has always had memorable tunes to make your battles even more fun. Sword and Shield’s gym design was already hype-inducing thanks to the sports arena you fought in, but the gym leader battle theme is easily the highlight of this game’s OST. Between the cheering crowd and the low tones when your Pokémon faints, this tune did an amazing job synchronizing with your battle experience.

Not all of the vocals in the soundtrack were crowds of people cheering. I thought Oleana’s theme was savage, but boy was I in for a treat. The aggressiveness of Chairman Rose’s theme and its ominous chanting made his fight all the more intense. (The vocals definitely reminded me of Ghetsis’ theme in Black and White.) Honestly, this game made me reflect on the Pokémon series’ soundtracks. Its tunes were already exciting and catchy, but goodness. We’ve come so far. 

Chairman Rose, at the beginning of Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Solid Story 

Simply put, Sword and Shield’s story was straightforward. After running into the legendary with your hometown rival, Hop, you join the Gym Challenge and meet a myriad of characters that appear later in the story. Once the Championship begins, the story flip-flops between addressing Macro Cosmos’ antics and fighting your way to Champion Leon. When you defeat Chairman Rose, you prevent history from repeating itself by catching Eternatus to stop the Darkest Day. Of course, Hop, Zamazenta, and Zacian are there to help you out. Once you’ve saved the world, you fight Leon and become the Champion of the Galar region. The plot doesn’t vary too much from past games, Macro Cosmos is yet another organization where one of its members has an ulterior motive.

But Sword and Shield had a solid story. And thanks to things like the sports arenas that you fight gym battles in, I feel as though the games possessed a great balance of new qualities and nostalgic content from past games.

Champion Leon was happy to pass on the torch.

Dynamax Concept

Upon first seeing Dynamax Pokémon in action (months before the game released), I thought it was ridiculous. I mean, it is ridiculous, but it is significantly more fun than I expected it to be. When Pokémon are Dynamaxed, their HP is increased, but their remaining stats stay the same. Their moves also turn into Max Moves instead of using the moves in their original moveset. These Max Moves are based on the elemental types of the initial moves and have additional effects. Dynamax Pokémon can only keep their Dynamax form in battle for three turns (with the exception of Pokémon you encounter in Max Raid Battles). Despite the fact that the Dynamax form doesn’t last long, it’s still extremely satisfying to defeat a Gym Leader with a Godzilla-sized Pokémon and watching their Dynamax Pokémon literally explode. 

Gigantamax Snorlax, as seen in a Max Raid Battle.

Game Difficulty

Thanks to features like an EXP Share that applies battle experience to all Pokémon, driving through the game’s main story was an easy task. None of the regular trainers were particularly difficult to fight, as per usual, but neither were any of the story-relevant characters. I think it’s important to note that I didn’t go out of my way to fight every route trainer I encountered – if I didn’t feel the intense need to level up my Pokémon, I attempted to avoid a handful of them. I don’t want to refer to older Pokémon games too much in this review, but none of the battles were particularly intimidating. They didn’t require much effort to complete, which naturally makes completing the game less satisfying. 

Sure, the ominous chanting in Chairman Rose’s theme didn’t alleviate the situation… and Eternatus’ unconventional design made me anticipate an extremely difficult fight. But even with casually waltzing through the story and taking my time with it, I didn’t find a single battle to be grueling. You’d expect that to be the case with the Macro Cosmos villains, but it really wasn’t in the slightest. The concept behind Chairman Rose and his desire to provide infinite power to Galar has enough potential for an intense story, let alone a fierce Pokémon battle. On a scale from 1 to 10, if Ghetsis and Cynthia’s fights were 10’s, Chairman Rose and Champion Leon’s fights were a 6 or 7 at most.

Of course, there are ways to manually make Sword and Shield harder games. In the Options menu, you can turn off autosaving and change the Battle Mode from Switch to Set. But I think it’s about time for the Pokémon series to include a difficulty mode like the Zelda games. Perhaps a “hard mode” could change the movesets of pertinent characters’ Pokémon in the story, change the Pokémon that characters have all together, and increase the levels of the Pokémon you have to battle. Honestly, it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a veteran, but players that are interested in a challenge can feel more satisfied after completing the game.

Piers, the first Dark Gym Leader in the series, after being defeated.

Post-Game Content

Returning to the story aspect of Sword and Shield, players have the option to complete the Legendary Quest after becoming Galar’s Champion. You meet two characters named Sordward and Shielbert, and God, do I wish I was kidding when I say that. At this point in the story, Zamazenta and Zacian are referred to as the sword and shield-wielding protectors and true rulers of Galar. But Sordward and Shielbert accuse the post-games’ professor, Sonia, for publishing inaccurate information regarding the kings of the region. Since Sordward and Shielbert descendants of Galar’s royal family, they’re obviously more suited for the job. (If that were the case, why weren’t the kings in the first place?) Anyways, these “celebrity” brothers claim to be the true kings of Galar, steal artifacts directly associated with the legendary Pokémon, and run off to do God knows what. In short, these two characters experiment on Pokémon by forcing them to Dynamax, leaving you with the task of defeating them all.

Once you think their chaos is finished, you find out their true plan: corrupting Zamazenta and Zacian for taking the title of “King” over their ancestors. If they can turn Galar’s new heroes into villains, then they’re the only ones left to claim the title, I suppose. Basically, you battle the legendary beast that isn’t associated with your version of the game, and the legendary beast from your game arrives to help you calm it down. Hop chases after the beast you fought and you finally have the opportunity to catch the remaining one. Since I played Shield, Zamazenta was the Pokémon I was able to catch. 

Sorry, Shielbert – Joseph Joestar did it better.

It’s not that the stories in Sword and Shield were “bad,” but they weren’t all that moving. And that’s honestly a huge disappointment to me. Again, it’s not that the stories were “bad,” but the idea of a company’s corrupt president willing to risk ending the world to save his country from an environmental crisis has so much potential to be an impactful story. To add to that, the idea of a royal family trying to regain control of a region has crazy potential.

Cyrus’ megalomaniacal thinking and nihilistic views made him a force to be reckoned with. Ghetsis’ manipulative tendencies and ruthless intentions made him a genuinely terrifying character. When I defeated these villains, I felt a sense of relief and triumph that gave their games’ stories meaning. They felt well-rounded. To me, if a story flops, then a game flops. And while Sword and Shield’s story wasn’t a total flop, I feel as though it missed out on a lot of great opportunities. 

Wild Area

The Wild Area is easily one of the most fun parts of Sword and Shield. Running around and catching the many different Pokémon available is a blast. However, Max Raid Battles against Dynamax Pokémon are even more exciting. Winning battles against Dynamax/Gigantamax Pokémon can give you an array of goodies from EXP candies to TRs (TMs that break like the good ol’ days). 

Max Raid Battles are one of my favorite things to do with friends and other members of the Pokémon community. Unfortunately, that’s one of the only things you can currently do with your friends in the Wild Area. When you connect to the internet in the Wild Area, plenty of players from all around the globe are visible. You can approach them and “talk to them,” but you cannot directly interact with another player. Basically, if you do talk to someone’s character sprite, they can give you treasure or ingredients for cooking in your Pokémon Camp. In theory, as long as you’re connected to the internet, you should be able to see trainers on your friend’s list and interact with them. But that’s not the case. I was looking forward to meeting up at my friends’ Pokémon Camps and cooking with them. Right now, you’re only able to connect with random players who come and go in the blink of an eye. I don’t know if this is how the Wild Area will continue to operate and I’m unsure if it’s buggy due to server overload, but between its lower-quality online structure and inability to meet up with players that matter, the Wild Area is a feature that’s fun but certainly lacking in substance.

The bottom half of the Wild Area, as seen on the Town Map.

Conclusory Words

There are some very understandable criticisms surrounding Pokémon Sword and Shield. As a longtime Pokémon fan, it’s impossible to deny some of its blatant flaws. However, there are many aspects to the game that are refreshing, playfully ridiculous but undoubtedly fun. At the same time, it certainly appealed to the nostalgia I have for this series. Are these games mind-blowingly innovative? Did they utilize the Nintendo Switch’s potential to its fullest? Definitely not. But regardless, Pokémon Shield was a pleasant experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s charming, entertaining, and sentimental, similar to previous games. I would highly recommend it to all Pokémon fans, beginners or veterans.