Pokemon Sword

 Switch
User Score
4.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 5909 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,997 out of 5909
  2. Mixed: 852 out of 5909
  3. Negative: 3,060 out of 5909
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  1. Nestrooo
    May 5, 2022
    4
    the graphics are bad, the story is bad, dynamax is bad. this game is bad and i STILL spent 1000 hours on it
  2. Jofe
    Apr 30, 2022
    1
    The worst entry in the Pokemon series. The scenario does not exist, the characters are all mediocre. The roads are just straight lines without any level-design. The game is immeasurably ugly, though being pretty wouldn't change much at this point. Galar is the most insipid region in the series.
  3. Colyn97X
    Apr 18, 2022
    0
    This is by far, the most underwhelming Pokemon game ever made. From lack of content, bugs, laziness, performance, immersion, lies from the devs reused content, I did not have any fun or any intrest in the game, in over 60 hours of gameplay. The worst part has to be the fact that all Pokemons are not even here, even tho the one in the game are… direct rips from the USUM game ??? To sell DLCThis is by far, the most underwhelming Pokemon game ever made. From lack of content, bugs, laziness, performance, immersion, lies from the devs reused content, I did not have any fun or any intrest in the game, in over 60 hours of gameplay. The worst part has to be the fact that all Pokemons are not even here, even tho the one in the game are… direct rips from the USUM game ??? To sell DLC where all Pokemons are not there ???… Expand
  4. Darkred401
    Mar 31, 2022
    4
    Gamefreak cant decide if they want pokemon to be a high end or casual experience and this is the ultimate result, it isnt bad as a casual budget experience however they expect you to pay a full $60 and pressure you to double dip with shield for a complete experience. Reusing the old Pokémon models isn't necessarily bad however gamefreak lied about them not reusing models and didn't includeGamefreak cant decide if they want pokemon to be a high end or casual experience and this is the ultimate result, it isnt bad as a casual budget experience however they expect you to pay a full $60 and pressure you to double dip with shield for a complete experience. Reusing the old Pokémon models isn't necessarily bad however gamefreak lied about them not reusing models and didn't include all of them to pressure you to buy other games, the dlc, and the premium plan for home. If they used new models the lack of a national dex would be completely acceptable… Expand
  5. Flounder
    Mar 29, 2022
    5
    Ehrlich gesagt ist das Schlimmste an diesem Spiel, wie generisch und langweilig es ist. Ich habe Mühe, etwas für dieses Spiel zu empfinden.
  6. Toasttt
    Mar 26, 2022
    7
    meh .
  7. Shhana
    Mar 25, 2022
    10
    This game is so fun!! The Dynamax features were smartly implemented. It has a lot of replay value. I have played it for more than 300 hours! Would recommend
  8. Mandulum
    Mar 14, 2022
    5
    After 5 hours, I'm bored. It has been a good reminder of why I stopped buying Nintendo consoles decades ago. Graphics that indie games put to shame, generic audio, no voice acting, and a boring, bordering on non-existent, story.

    Date Dropped: 2022-03-14
    Playtime: 5h
    Enjoyment: 5/10
    Recommendation: I'm sure the Nintendo fanboys love it. It's far too repetitive for me.
  9. Mangrove
    Mar 6, 2022
    8
    I'm now playing this game, 5 years later, after also having played Brilliant Diamond and now seeing Legends Arceus. I'm quite a big Pokemon fan and I did agree on some factual criticism the game got in it's early stages (removing parts of the Pokedex to be released as DLC later and some lack of graphical effort). But honestly, when I play Pokemon these are not even things I care about. TheI'm now playing this game, 5 years later, after also having played Brilliant Diamond and now seeing Legends Arceus. I'm quite a big Pokemon fan and I did agree on some factual criticism the game got in it's early stages (removing parts of the Pokedex to be released as DLC later and some lack of graphical effort). But honestly, when I play Pokemon these are not even things I care about. The things that make pokemon fun are all there. Fun Gym challenges, creating and training your own team (tons of replayability there because you can catch so many different Pokemon in the wild area after just a couple badges). The wild area is just wonderful. No more needing to trade to get a Gengar or a Dusknoir, just get enough badges and find one flying around. The move relearner being in every Pokemon Center, amazing change. I think BDSP, which I did enjoy but had some pretty big flaws as well, put these games back into perspective for me. I thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough and with how addicting the wild area is I will definitely be catching them all before moving on to Legends Arceus… Expand
  10. Black_S
    Feb 28, 2022
    3
    Not acceptable. Many bugs, lies, DLCs etc.
    It is 3DS like game at switch for full price.
    Gamefreak is burned.
  11. eroenR8knight
    Feb 28, 2022
    5
    This game is overhated. Yeah it sucks that the national dex is gone and that Game Freak ''lied''. But the game is not bad, in some areas it could be improved but it is fine. Review bombing a game is super dumb to do, play the game and then form your opinion please. Still not better then a 5 tho
  12. Whoopin
    Feb 27, 2022
    1
    Shameless cash grab from a billion-dollar franchise.
    Game is a one and done within 3-4 hours. Nothing really feels fleshed out, neither fights nor the amount of Pokemon added to the game, nor does the story which to be fair nobody cares for in Pokemon games. The character optimization this game delivers is poor at best with very limited choices to optimization, again we are talking about    Shameless cash grab from a billion-dollar franchise.
    Game is a one and done within 3-4 hours. Nothing really feels fleshed out, neither fights nor the amount of Pokemon added to the game, nor does the story which to be fair nobody cares for in Pokemon games. The character optimization this game delivers is poor at best with very limited choices to optimization, again we are talking about a billion-dollar franchise. The "open world" is a straight line the new feature gigantamax was a boring oversize with very limited special pokemon models. Low effort and even the shiny remain a simple switch of color pallets that you are supposed to grind for hours. Not my kinda game and really disappointed that game freak is shamelessly reselling the same boring concept for over 20 years now.
    To top it all off, they added paid dlc to this, though I can't report about the dl's contentc because I refuse to spend a single cent until they stop producing these shameless cash grabs.    … Expand
  13. GreenMenace
    Feb 22, 2022
    8
    I liked Pokemon Shield so much that for the first time (and probably the only time I’ll ever do this) I purchased its partner game. I did so because I’ve really enjoyed shiny hunting in these games—and plan to get a shiny living dex someday. This review is for people deciding between Pokemon games available on the switch. I won’t review any game I haven’t played. If you want a detailedI liked Pokemon Shield so much that for the first time (and probably the only time I’ll ever do this) I purchased its partner game. I did so because I’ve really enjoyed shiny hunting in these games—and plan to get a shiny living dex someday. This review is for people deciding between Pokemon games available on the switch. I won’t review any game I haven’t played. If you want a detailed review of Pokemon Sword, please review my Pokemon Shield review.
    Without further ado, here is my take on the following Pokemon games:
    Pokemon Let’s Go—This game has the highest odds of finding an overworld shiny Pokemon. Generally, players are unable to single out Pokemon in a shiny hunt. As for the Pokedex, it sticks to the first generation of Pokemon which allows the game to make the graphics a little more pleasing to the eye. If you own this game, you can easily obtain Meltan and Melmetal in Pokemon Go. It intends to take players back to Red, Yellow, and Green, but they made several changes. The partner pokemon are refreshing, but the changes to all game antagonists are not. Pokemon Let’s Go has players catch Pokemon like Pokemon Go and it offers a coop system that makes both catching and battling Pokemon significantly easier. EVs are replaced by candies.
    Pokemon Sword/Shield—This game is the eighth generation of Pokemon. It boasts the ability to make Pokemon battle ready quickly. Pokemon raids are a fun addition, considering how much XP you get in addition to the rare items and Pokemon obtained. Raids allow the postgame (ie collecting Pokemon and making them powerful enough to challenge other players) to go quicker than ever before. It’s not exciting per se to participate in a raid, and it can also be incredibly frustrating if you go with AI teammates since certain Pokemon do their absolute best to do nothing during the raid. Players can change Pokemon natures and obtain hidden abilities through items, which previously was impossible. It’s also easy to reset EVs. Finally, and most importantly for myself, there are a variety of methods to shiny hunt. In addition to shiny Pokemon, there are marked Pokemon, which are Pokemon with ribbons that allow for a title to follow after their name. The introduction of the wild area allowed players to encounter a lot of Pokemon early in the game. This title’s flexibility is what has me coming back to play it years later.
    Pokemon Home—This app is important since it is key to trading Pokemon over the GTS.
    Pokemon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl—A nostalgic nod to Pokemon’s 4th generation. It includes some features of Platinum, but not all of them. The most efficient way to shiny hunt is through Poke Radar, but it’s possible to “mess up” your streak if you encounter Pokemon the wrong way. Other than that, this game has the worst odds to encounter shinies. On the plus side, though, the ai actually puts up a little bit of a fight. Gym leaders use viable strategies seen in online ranked play. The underground acts as a simplified wild area which addresses a former weakness of the limited Pokedex entries of the old games.
    Pokken Tournament DX—A fighting style game. I played the demo and had fun with it, but it was too expensive for me personally to justify purchasing it.
    Pokemon Unite—A kid friendly moba. Still has plenty of toxic moments, but for better or worse, players have a hard time communicating to each other. It’s a fun free to play game that’s relatively easy to pick up.
    Pokemon Snap—This is a more casual approach to Pokemon, where you take pictures of Pokemon in their natural habitat. You can toss things at them to try to get a better angle. It’s shorter than other Pokemon games, and it looks a lot nicer to boot.
    Pokemon Legends Arceus—The latest Pokemon title (with the longest tutorial). You either love its game design or you don’t. I really like how it focuses on catching Pokemon out in the open. Typically, encountering Pokemon is a random encounter from a set encounter table. As I played the game, I felt like I was memorizing where different Pokemon hung out. I don’t know why it gave me such joy to hear an alpha Blissey roar out a challenge to the world, or to hear the cry of surprise when a Pokeball hit them out of the blue, or to hear the cry of outrage when they broke out and spotted me. This is really the only game where shiny hunting could be dubbed as “fun” since this is another game that allows overworld shinies as you ride a Pokemon roaming the world. Another thing worth mentioning is that I enjoyed the characters in this one as some of them were as goofy as the Pokemon Gale of Darkness and Colosseum era. I would have liked more variety in the research tasks, and the graphics would have been well received during the Gamecube era. Contrary to what you might have heard, it is not an open world game. It’s more like five large wild areas plus one hub.    … Expand
  14. Salt_addict
    Feb 14, 2022
    5
    Long term pokemon player: maybe i've out grown pokemon or i'm fatigued with the series but it didn't do it for me.
  15. reneatseyes
    Feb 13, 2022
    3
    The game is alright. Fundamentally it’s a pokémon game, however the new pokémon feep like re-textured old ones, and the wild area makes it horrendously easy to find and catch previously rare and over-powered pokemon very early. Good enough i suppose, but easy battles, uninteresting characters and pokemon make a somewhat boring game. Battle animation is also horrendous. It’s a shame.
  16. Youtin
    Feb 6, 2022
    4
    Too easy. There is no challenging difficulty.

    Artistically you can tell it was made without motivation. The soundtrack is fine. But it doesn't compare to other pokemon games. The models of many NPCs or characters are repeated. Everything is very repetitive and constant, there is nothing that stands out with originality. The world feels very poor, it feels made without any    Too easy. There is no challenging difficulty.

    Artistically you can tell it was made without motivation.

    The soundtrack is fine. But it doesn't compare to other pokemon games.

    The models of many NPCs or characters are repeated. Everything is very repetitive and constant, there is nothing that stands out with originality.

    The world feels very poor, it feels made without any essence.

    I tried to enjoy it, but there is really almost nothing that can entertain you, because you can complete the whole game without losing a fight. That's just too easy.

    And despite that, this game sold 20 million copies. Even if they develop you a piece of **** nintendo is still going to sell a lot because people still buy them.    … Expand
  17. fanmadeendings
    Feb 4, 2022
    4
    It's about as entertaining as any cookie cutter pokemon game, but never more than that. By far the most disappointing entry in the series, made by technically incompetent developers, and devoid of any meaningful content.
  18. llamaboy
    Feb 3, 2022
    4
    The game is not good. Poor story, poor graphics, poor gameplay. The only reason I don’t rate it lower is because there is still fun to be had in competitive.
  19. Timberx2
    Feb 1, 2022
    9
    I genuinely don't understand the hate for this game. This game was a great addition to the franchise, they let you explore and catch whatever pokemon you want, the first few areas aren't the dumb "why catch anything here" areas for once, and the tutorials are basically GONE. By the end of the game, I caught myself having the level of fun i had with Pokemon Crystal+Pokemon Sapphire as aI genuinely don't understand the hate for this game. This game was a great addition to the franchise, they let you explore and catch whatever pokemon you want, the first few areas aren't the dumb "why catch anything here" areas for once, and the tutorials are basically GONE. By the end of the game, I caught myself having the level of fun i had with Pokemon Crystal+Pokemon Sapphire as a kid. 10/10 recommend this game, while the weather and a few other things are janky, the core game is still a blast.… Expand
  20. Franc15
    Jan 30, 2022
    6
    While 400 (200 by the DLC release) Pokémon being absent from the games code is disappointing, there are tons of great features like Max Raid Battles, the Wild Area, and encountering Pokémon in the overworld as well as tall grass. The QoL changes like the Ability Patch (released with the second DLC) are also very good, but even the base game had Mints to effectively change your Pokémon'sWhile 400 (200 by the DLC release) Pokémon being absent from the games code is disappointing, there are tons of great features like Max Raid Battles, the Wild Area, and encountering Pokémon in the overworld as well as tall grass. The QoL changes like the Ability Patch (released with the second DLC) are also very good, but even the base game had Mints to effectively change your Pokémon's nature, and Exp Candy was a welcome addition to level up Pokémon after beating the game.… Expand
  21. Federx
    Jan 30, 2022
    2
    the only good thing that can be said about this game is that it's not set in unova.
  22. 32fromdiscord
    Jan 29, 2022
    0
    Pokémon Sword and Shield are by far the worst entries in the series. There's not even a debate to be had about it. Anyone defending these games should reconsider their life decisions.
  23. SnorlaxGeek
    Jan 29, 2022
    4
    Um jogo feio e pouco original. Um absurdo o que a Gamefreak está fazendo com a franquia Pokémon.
  24. I_Trust_In_GF
    Jan 29, 2022
    10
    Beautiful and precious, is the only way to describe the Galar region
    User evaluations in general give a very distorted view of this game. It really very fun and ideal for hanging out with the childrens.
  25. GenkiYokota
    Jan 27, 2022
    10
    One of the best modern generations of Pokémon, much better than the distant and mythical X and Y.
    Unfairly criticized, the video game press did appreciate the game. Since it has a great story, a very varied and fun world to explore, as well as one of the best multiplayer ever seen.
  26. Equiixxx
    Jan 26, 2022
    2
    where can i start? this is a total disapointment. Pokemon games being mediocre at best, and the game is easier than Peppa pigs games. Can i even call this a game? Even pokemon go offers a better experience and its really bad, but at least you can walk and exercise.

    " we worked on better animations" Jesus christ. Gamefreaks laughs at you people.
  27. Joeymeca
    Jun 12, 2020
    2
    juego por debajo de mediocre, llevo 20 años jugando a la saga y apoyando el juego en sus altas y bajas pero este es el colmo del minimo esfuerzo. graficos pesimos para una switch, historia inexistente, contenido imperdonable retirado (60% de la pokedex) va a 10 fps en el area salvaje, falta de contenido propio como una gts interna y todo con el fin de vender DLC para completar un juego quejuego por debajo de mediocre, llevo 20 años jugando a la saga y apoyando el juego en sus altas y bajas pero este es el colmo del minimo esfuerzo. graficos pesimos para una switch, historia inexistente, contenido imperdonable retirado (60% de la pokedex) va a 10 fps en el area salvaje, falta de contenido propio como una gts interna y todo con el fin de vender DLC para completar un juego que vino fraccionado de manera intencional. como fan de esta saga fue mi mayor decepcion en cuanto a videojuego se refiere en toda mi vida, lamento que una empresa como gamefreak y nintendo hayan caido tan bajo teniendo las herramientas para hacerlo infinitamente mejor.… Expand
  28. Seyta
    Jan 25, 2022
    0
    Really bad game, way too easy, the wild areas are completely empty, it's just bad overall.
  29. Ryu003
    Jan 18, 2022
    10
    È molto divertente. I nuovi pokemon aggiunti sono molto belli e ben fatti.
  30. Sitheral
    Jan 16, 2022
    8
    The game is fine and user reviews are greatly exaggerated, you know what you getting here before you even start it and it does just that - it very much looks and plays like X/Y, just at higher resolution. There is a wild area which is sort of a bridge to full 3d title we are getting soon and yes it lags in online mode, besides that the world is mostly linear, but with a fair amount ofThe game is fine and user reviews are greatly exaggerated, you know what you getting here before you even start it and it does just that - it very much looks and plays like X/Y, just at higher resolution. There is a wild area which is sort of a bridge to full 3d title we are getting soon and yes it lags in online mode, besides that the world is mostly linear, but with a fair amount of detail. Not every pokemon made it, even after the expansions and that sucks but you still have plenty to play with. I would say go for it if you had a long break and need to scratch that itch, otherwise its not a must play.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

79
#79 Best Switch Game of 2019
1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 87 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 87
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 87
  3. Negative: 0 out of 87
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 30, 2020
    80
    Sword & Shield stumble in a few areas and history may not be kind to them, but they're setting up a future that I'm excited to see. [Issue #44 – January/February 2020, p. 73]
  2. GameCritics
    Feb 6, 2020
    75
    I enjoyed my time with Pokemon Sword and Shield, but I ended feeling conflicted. I appreciate many of the changes and felt that it generally respected my time, but I almost felt like a passive participant. The more complex gym challenges had a meatier role, but the narrative shouldn’t have been shoved to the side. Overall, I would recommend it to players who want to have a Pokemon experience, but this one won’t stick with me the way the older ones have.
    Read full review
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Jan 14, 2020
    78
    Pokemon Sword/Shield is uncharacteristically user-friendly: now there’s no need to backtrack half across the world to heal your entire team of pokemon or to get to a particular city, for example. [Issue#242, p.66]
See all critic reviews »