NintendoThe eighth generation of Pokemon games have officially been announced as Pokemon Sword and Shield, and are set to release on Nintendo Switch in 2019.
It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting the open world games we crave just yet, and the brief trailer suggests the traditional battling/capture mechanics that have been a staple of the series since the beginning will remain largely unchanged.
Check out the trailer below:
Pokemon Sword and Shield will be set in a brand new (and it has to be said, terribly pretty) region called Galar. It looks to be the biggest region we’ve seen in a Pokemon game, with vast countryside, industrial cities, lakes, and mountain regions.
The new region does seem to have a bit of a UK vibe, which makes sense. Previous Pokemon regions have taken inspiration from Europe, the US, and Japan, so it’s time to give Blighty a go in the spotlight.
A new Pokemon game brings with it a new batch of Pokemon of course, and while it was confirmed that the Galar region will be packed with new critters, today we only got a quick look at the three new starters.
Grookey is a grass type, and a cheeky little monkey by the looks of it. Scorbunny is our fire type and is (obviously) a bunny, while the water type is a funny lil’ critter called Sobble.
Going from the trailer it also looks like character customisation is making a return, but beyond that it’s not clear what other new features will make their way to the game.
Nintendo GameFreak did say during the announcement that the team is looking to push themselves and try new things with this new generation of Pokemon, while staying true to what people love about the franchise.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.