Pokémon Sword & Shield Previews

Previews for Pokémon Sword & Shield have started to appear online and bring a few new details about the games.

Press have recently gotten a hands-on session with Pokémon Sword & Shield and Played roughly the first hour and a half of the games. Overall the previews seems very positive, with most agreeing Sword & Shield are step towards the future of the Pokémon series.

We’ve embedded a few video previews below for everyone to watch. Please feel free to share any more you read or watch in the comments. Just a few new tidbits of information discovered so far:

  • New locations confirmed:
    • Slumbering Weald
    • Wedgehurst – the starting town
    • Motostoke is one of Galar’s major cities
  • In the Wild Area Pokémon can glow a faint yellow, indicating they have one or more IVs at max values, or have Egg Moves
  • The PC can be freely accessed in the Wild Area
  • Watts are a currency used in the Wild Area that can be exchanged for camping gear, items and curry ingredients
  • It appears Milo may not be the first Gym Leader in Galar
  • Nicknames can be changed and moves deleted in Pokémon Centers

Note: all of this information is based on written/visual previews provided by press. It may turn out to be slightly different upon release.

In addition to video previews, several written previews have also been published. Check out a few below:

  • Game Informer“I love how different Pokémon appear in the tall grass through random encounters than do as creatures that roam in the environment. This not only gives you a sense of a living world, but also the mystique of being surprised when an encounter starts without you having initiated it
  • The Verge – “It may not appease diehard fans, but it’s shaping up to be a bold step forward for the series
  • VG24/7 – “Pokémon Sword and Shield has been having a bit of a rough time of it online. But, listen: I’ve finally played a substantial chunk of it, and it’s brilliant
  • Eurogamer – “The take-away from it all, though is that Pokémon Sword and Shield haven’t really been done justice with the Pokémon Company’s apparent desire to keep much of it a secret

We will continue to update this post with information, for now come chat on our official Discord server and follow us on Twitter for the latest Pokémon news.

Stick around for the next day of content in our Path to Sword & Shield countdown!