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. Kemmo_ado
    Nov 21, 2019
    0
    Litrally all the things that the dexers said about the game is now true 60% of the pokmeons are gone Reusing the same models and animations we’ve seen for the past 6 years

    The world is just a bunch of hallways with nothing much to do in it The story is none existing and has the same cookie cutter formula The graphics look mediocare all the way down to the N64 trees Only 81 new pokmeons    Litrally all the things that the dexers said about the game is now true 60% of the pokmeons are gone Reusing the same models and animations we’ve seen for the past 6 years

    The world is just a bunch of hallways with nothing much to do in it The story is none existing and has the same cookie cutter formula The graphics look mediocare all the way down to the N64 trees Only 81 new pokmeons and only 400 mons in the entire game And the problems keep on piling on and on and on. So much for a 60$ game. “But it said the footage is not final” now all I can do is laugh about that sentence... all in all buying a 60$ game that doesn’t have that much content is a waste of money and time as you can use said 60$ to buy other games. Not only that but buying this game would mean that you’re supporting game freak with their laziness and supporting TPC with yearly releases and getting less content.    … Expand
  2. Demien
    Nov 21, 2019
    10
    Für mich ein richtig gutes Spiel
  3. SilverScale
    Nov 18, 2019
    10
    This game is incredible, I dont know how people dont like it, this game is a masterpiece and is a good step of Game Freak on Nintendo Switch
  4. LuGaMi
    Nov 21, 2019
    10
    Un gran juego, entretenido de principio a fin, es una gran evolución a la franquicia de Pokemon, Esto es un videojuego a toda regla, sin pretenciones.
  5. goldenjonnie
    Nov 21, 2019
    4
    Insufficiente in ogni singolo aspetto, dalla grafica all’online. L’unico aspetto decente è la caratterizzazione e lo stile dei nuovi Pokemon.
  6. Kjoagamer
    Nov 21, 2019
    7
    É um bom jogo mas tem seus problemas, como a mecânica de gigantamax confusa e mau explicada, pouca variedade de pokemons, sistema on-line confuso e pago, wild áreas com clima sem nexo de geografia e pouca capacidade de modificação de personagem tanto em altura e forma física mas de resto é um jogo bem regular
  7. Paladean
    Nov 21, 2019
    8
    German/Deutsch

    Ich für meinen Teil, habe richtig Spaß an/mit diesem Pokémon Spiel. Endlich sind wieder Arenen da, neue coole Features wie das Camping, die Naturzone, neue Möglichkeiten zu leveln usw. Das Post Game könnte etwas ausgebauter daherkommen, aber alles bis dahin ist in sich genommen so stimmig, wie eh und je. Mindestens 30 Stunden Spielspaß.
  8. nafechinde
    Nov 21, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. this game does not deserves your hard earned money, save it for much much better indie games on pc… Expand
  9. Ohmmega
    Nov 21, 2019
    3
    What to say... the game doesnt meet a switch game quality, it’s nothing more than a 3ds game with high resolution texture. The world feels small and empty, the new pkmn are ugly , overall its a very boring game
  10. Potasticpunda
    Nov 21, 2019
    7
    So... let's begin with the good things of Pokemon SS:
    It has a good OST, loved the changes in the battle theme when you dynamax your pokemon. And it has a track from Toby Fox so... yeah, great. :)
    The Wild area is a good change but I kinda feel like... it's not that big and the weather is very unrealistic, it totally breaks the inmersion. The visuals are quite good, I loved the grass,    So... let's begin with the good things of Pokemon SS:
    It has a good OST, loved the changes in the battle theme when you dynamax your pokemon. And it has a track from Toby Fox so... yeah, great. :)
    The Wild area is a good change but I kinda feel like... it's not that big and the weather is very unrealistic, it totally breaks the inmersion.
    The visuals are quite good, I loved the grass, characters and overall the cities I think they really nailed that UK thing but didn't lose the fantasy part. The wild area still has the blurry tree of death that everyone hates tho.
    Totally hate that the characters and pokemon kinda pop up out of nowhere from time to time.
    And totally loved that you can change the skin color of the character and that the character's mom will have the same skin tone. Kudos to Game Freak for that.
    Another great thing about the game is the character customization, it has so many hairstyles and clothes to pick up for and that is something that helps the game feel a little bit more immersive.
    The story is not that great, it's the same old portable pokemon story. Would love to see something different like with Pokemon Colosseum.

    I can totally understand why everyone is so pissed off with Game Freak, they lied. Reused models and... for being one of the greatest IPs the game just feels kinda disappointing and I would rather have to wait a little bit more for a better product. But as a person that hasn't played a pokemon game since 2010 I truly had fun. You should totally give it a try. : )    … Expand
  11. Franco2000
    Nov 21, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. National Dex is not in the game this make me sad y grow up with the games and I want to catch em all… Expand
  12. cobradactyl
    Nov 21, 2019
    10
    Bought the double pack! Innovative for the series. All new pokemon on a grand scale. Love the game for what it is.... not what it isn't! The game is simply fun to play. My daughters love it!
  13. eikku89
    Nov 21, 2019
    7
    It´s middle of road pokemon game.

    +Pokemons look good +Towns look good +New pokemon looks great +Calm lands are big and great +/- Story is same old pokemon story nothing new +/- Some battle animations looks amazing, but there too little of them -Pokemon looks good but lack animation -You can see rushed/lazy grapichs -too easy - lack of internet optimation in trades and    It´s middle of road pokemon game.

    +Pokemons look good
    +Towns look good
    +New pokemon looks great
    +Calm lands are big and great

    +/- Story is same old pokemon story nothing new
    +/- Some battle animations looks amazing, but there too little of them

    -Pokemon looks good but lack animation
    -You can see rushed/lazy grapichs
    -too easy
    - lack of internet optimation in trades and dynamax battles
    -need more routes and bigger routes especially in the before
    -lags in game when online

    I had fun playing this but it could to more time in devoloping.
    I have no problem with nat dex, but they´re better make colosseum game with all pokemon for competite pleyers.
    I liked how they did league battle, but it really needed more people to battle.
    Exp. candies make game too easy, i wished usage of them were limited somehow and i wished
    i could turn of exp.share. It would better game if it were at least harder to play, enemy trainers lvl were lower than wild pokemons and it annoys me.
    So its playable but not for hardcore pokemon players who wants decent challenge, i hope next one they make is more balanced in diffuculty.    … Expand
  14. Aerialslayer
    Nov 21, 2019
    8
    At first I was hesitant on actually playing Pokemon Sword due to all of the negativity surrounding it. But I decided to dive in myself and create my own opinion. Overall it is a pretty solid game. My only real issue with the game is the wild area can have some pretty significant frame drops when it's raining or hailing. The other thing is it would have been nice to of coarse have all ofAt first I was hesitant on actually playing Pokemon Sword due to all of the negativity surrounding it. But I decided to dive in myself and create my own opinion. Overall it is a pretty solid game. My only real issue with the game is the wild area can have some pretty significant frame drops when it's raining or hailing. The other thing is it would have been nice to of coarse have all of the Pokemon included in this version. but nonetheless, it still holds up. Enjoying the new generation of Pokemon and the gym battles. Voice acting would be a cool thing to have added as some of the cut scenes have the characters really expressing themselves.… Expand
  15. Matforadocomun
    Nov 21, 2019
    0
    O jogo cortou mais da metade dos pokemon das gerações anteriores e oferece uma história pífia e superficial. Não recomendo.
  16. RepentantSky2
    Nov 21, 2019
    10
    Far beyond my expectations. Sword is a beautiful game, with amazing gym leaders, fantastic music, and endless fun. Despite people's complaints, these two new games might be the best ever made for mainline Pokemon, and review bombing be dammed, I will stand by that.
  17. Ulle
    Nov 21, 2019
    9
    Great world, great story, great characters. I play pokemon for almost 20 years now, this gen is the best since d/p. Only thing is the missing pokemon and attacks, but hey we have new ones. Try it!
  18. Madarame
    Nov 21, 2019
    1
    Simply lazy work from GF, the game have many objective shortcomings. The biggest issue is that it simply does not live up to the performance of a switch/home console game. Many of the friend favourite features were cut (whether in general arear, pokemon following/ Mega and z-move/ secret base) and replaced with very little additional content. GF promise the removal of the national dex willSimply lazy work from GF, the game have many objective shortcomings. The biggest issue is that it simply does not live up to the performance of a switch/home console game. Many of the friend favourite features were cut (whether in general arear, pokemon following/ Mega and z-move/ secret base) and replaced with very little additional content. GF promise the removal of the national dex will bring about improvement in other area and that's simply untrue to those that have play the game.… Expand
  19. gargom
    Nov 21, 2019
    0
    Esto es absurdo, un juego a medio hacer con las texturas a 144pixeles y repitiendo exactamente lo mismo que en nintendo ds pero en switch, innovación cero. Un juego hecho con prisas y sin novedades, no pienso comprarlo, no parais de reiros de vuestros fans, game freak porfavor dejad de querer hacer dinero fácil sin esforzaros lo más mínimo.
  20. Shayneros
    Nov 21, 2019
    4
    Perspective from someone who's been playing since OG Red.
    A lot of potential but lazily wasted. First off the Wild area is a great idea and practically the only area of this game that's fun. Even then though it's super bare bones. Nothing to explore, a bland landscape, and the trees. My god the trees are ugly. Also any time it rains or snows be prepared for your FPS to drop below 20.    Perspective from someone who's been playing since OG Red.
    A lot of potential but lazily wasted. First off the Wild area is a great idea and practically the only area of this game that's fun. Even then though it's super bare bones. Nothing to explore, a bland landscape, and the trees. My god the trees are ugly. Also any time it rains or snows be prepared for your FPS to drop below 20.
    -Raids are fun but incredibly broken. They provide such a ridiculous amount of XP that if you do a couple when they introduce you to them at the beginning of the game you're going to be vastly over leveled for the whole game ruining the already bland experience.
    -XP share being non-toggleable is flat out ridiculous. Game Freak was really too lazy to spend 15 minutes coding an option to turn it off
    -Story. There is no story. Literally EVERY TIME something significant happens the "adults" take care of it and tell you to go get gym badges. That's the whole game. There literally is no story until the very end. The whole game is literally just walking gym to gym, nothing inbetween. There's nothing to do even in the routes. The routes are the worst they have EVER been in Pokemon. They're insanely short and there is absolutely NOTHING to explore. It's just a 20 second walk down a single path. The writing is atrocious and "cut scenes" feel like they're never ending. Also Hop, your rival is the worst rival yet. He's ridiculously annoying and just doesn't shut up. Be prepared to hate him with a passion.
    -No dungeons/caves which are usually the most challenging part of the games. The only cave you go through in the game only has 1 alternate path that only takes you about 5 seconds off course. No multiple dead ends. No various caverns with hidden secrets, nothing.
    -Overworld Pokemon is still great. It's grown on me and I do like it better than the OG random encounters    … Expand
  21. lucasts02
    Nov 21, 2019
    0
    Holy Jesus, 100 dollars on the bundle for a trash game. Cant even play 5 hours of the game, it is a disguting gameplay.
  22. AsusCrafter
    Nov 21, 2019
    8
    It's a good Pokemon Game
  23. Reaper2187
    Nov 21, 2019
    5
    Awesome game it could have done a few things differently but overall definitely worth playing! I have played every pokemon since red and blue and this did not disappoint. Ignore the low score it's just butthurt fans complaining they didn't get exactly what they wanted.
  24. hamele
    Nov 21, 2019
    8
    Muy buen juego. Con diferencia el juego de pokémon más inmersivo hasta la fecha, el mundo se siente muy vivo y te crees lo que ves
    Un punto muy a favor es que han dejado atrás a algunos pokémon y movimientos, dando importancia a las nuevas incorporaciones y dando un giro de 180º a todo el meta-game casposo vigente en entregas anteriores.
    Efectivamente, gráficamente es mejorable en muchos    Muy buen juego. Con diferencia el juego de pokémon más inmersivo hasta la fecha, el mundo se siente muy vivo y te crees lo que ves
    Un punto muy a favor es que han dejado atrás a algunos pokémon y movimientos, dando importancia a las nuevas incorporaciones y dando un giro de 180º a todo el meta-game casposo vigente en entregas anteriores.
    Efectivamente, gráficamente es mejorable en muchos aspectos, pero el arte está bien conseguido y consigue atenuar este factor.    … Expand
  25. nicoshiii
    Nov 21, 2019
    9
    I LOVED the game. It has an interesting story with ties to British mythology, a lot of great characters, which I all love (in exception of maybe 2 people). The soundtrack also isn't "weak" compared to Toby Fox' song and especially the late game music is absolutely great. The graphics also look, maybe not technically, but art style wise really good. It only took me 25 hours to finish theI LOVED the game. It has an interesting story with ties to British mythology, a lot of great characters, which I all love (in exception of maybe 2 people). The soundtrack also isn't "weak" compared to Toby Fox' song and especially the late game music is absolutely great. The graphics also look, maybe not technically, but art style wise really good. It only took me 25 hours to finish the game but that doesn't really matter to me since I pretty much enjoyed every second of it, and I still sink a lot of additional time. The only two things I didn't really like (also why it's not a 10/10) were the wild zone and some Pokemon being shiny locked (legendaries and starters). The wild zone is too empty and really slows down the game if the switch isn't docked. The Dynamax raids are great though and also really good for shiny hunting. I honestly didn't really notice the absence of the National Dex when playing, so I can't really subtract points because of that.… Expand
  26. rayy07
    Nov 21, 2019
    10
    Game was pure fun and amazing! Love every second and enjoyed that it took 36 for me to beat the game while enjoying all its content on the way.
  27. Nudie
    Nov 21, 2019
    1
    Lazy, lazy lazy game design, where should I start?
    This game is a 3ds game ported over to the switch with some enhanced features. The textures, battle mechanics, animations, lack of Pokémon from other generations, lack of puzzles and an extremely underwhelming story have made this game lacklustre to say the least. The game suffers from ageing in all aspects and even has been rated lower    Lazy, lazy lazy game design, where should I start?
    This game is a 3ds game ported over to the switch with some enhanced features. The textures, battle mechanics, animations, lack of Pokémon from other generations, lack of puzzles and an extremely underwhelming story have made this game lacklustre to say the least. The game suffers from ageing in all aspects and even has been rated lower than shadow of darkness, which is decades older... Unfortunately this game missed a huge opportunity to showcase what Pokémon could look like on a modern day console, for example, Zelda breath of the wild had some of the most beautiful textures in a large map we’ve ever seen in any Nintendo game, which, we were eager to see in Pokémon. This was not the case obviously, as the textures are pixelated and unbearable. The greatest thing about this game is the fact that it is still some what of a Pokémon game, but that’s not enough in this day and age, I feel like I literally purchased a. 3ds game..... I would miss this one for sure, or try and buy it for under $20

    There is no excuse for not bringing all the Pokémon over all voicing the characters. Look at fire emblem, all cut scenes voiced to perfection, great textures, many characters and classes, long game (played 250hours). Come on don’t lie to us game freak this game was pumped out to get in before Christmas.    … Expand
  28. Evenstar1985
    Nov 21, 2019
    9
    I find it sad how on the 2 previous 3DS games the user score was less than 1000 people, now you see those fake negative scores/reviews on a really good game.
  29. ali2828
    Nov 21, 2019
    8
    Good game with many things to do. Don't understand all the hate reviews. Please give this game a chance it's really fun
  30. Another_user
    Nov 21, 2019
    10
    Honestly this is by far one of my favourite pokemon games i was genuinely afraid i was going to hate sword and shield but getting into the game i found myself to love this (sure they removed half the Pokémon every hates that and thats why it got some die ahed fans to hate this game) but don’t let that be the reason you dont pick up this game, in the wild area and in other routes pokemonHonestly this is by far one of my favourite pokemon games i was genuinely afraid i was going to hate sword and shield but getting into the game i found myself to love this (sure they removed half the Pokémon every hates that and thats why it got some die ahed fans to hate this game) but don’t let that be the reason you dont pick up this game, in the wild area and in other routes pokemon are wondering around and it actually feels like the galar region is inhabited by pokemon for once and its amazing. The gym battles and the championship battles are amazing it actua Feels like these battles are important for not just you but everyone in the region and i love that about these new games when the crowd start chanting and screaming its the best pokemon game I’ve played… 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]
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