Pokemon is one of my favorite series, and I was excited for the series first new mainline entry on the Switch. Sword and Shield retain the series gameplay, but I came away disappointed by the missed potential.

I feel like Game Freak often phones it in in the modern era because they know people will buy Pokemon regardless. They could have done so much more with this generation and all we got was a generic Pokemon game, full of linear routes and tiny, dead towns. The GBA and DS games were loved for their exploration and open elements, you never knew what you were getting into when you went down a new route or into a cave.

In Sword and Shield, every route is a hallway. There's no exploration, no mystery, and no postgame. Previous games would have tons to do after you beat the Champion. These games have nothing, instead saving the postgame for an expensive DLC. The Wild Area was a nice evolution, and the game had some other quality of life features, but it wasn't enough to make up for the lack of innovation a new home console should bring.

Verdict: Finished

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