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. Kingmercyles
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    Great game, I recommend it to everyone it's like the old days and even better
  2. Fresh972
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    400 pokemon...
    The new pokemon are not beautiful. The game is too simple. The worst pokemon.
  3. manolo0
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    pokemon deserves more than this. poor graphics for a switch, the story is nonsense and boring,
    the difficulty is a joke and for sure the pokedex cut.
  4. Igorchagas
    Nov 15, 2019
    0
    little innovation, massive game. outdated graphics and bizarre pokemon. à game freak needs to reinvent itself.
  5. Mabegotchi
    Nov 16, 2019
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bestial poppin, 30 fps, not national pokedex, Game Freak promised reward that including best animations and quality content. The post-game is null, the story mediocre, and this worth 50-60 dollars?… Expand
  6. GeekFrank
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    After removing all the Pokemon I love, there isn't much you get to replace them. Less content, and just a cheap way to change the meta. I was hoping so much more from this "real" Pokemon game after Pokemon Lets Go, and I'm really disappointed.

    Bare bones game that got pushed out just because Nintendo needed something for Christmas.
  7. Ampha
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    A disappointment of Wailord proportions.

    Although, Wailord has been reduced to being no larger than your trainer, as Sword and Shield fail to correctly scale each Pokemon. This is just one of the many shortcomings in this new generation of mainline Pokemon games that have left long time fans like myself unsure of the future of Pokemon. The removal of over 50% of much loved Pokemon is a    A disappointment of Wailord proportions.

    Although, Wailord has been reduced to being no larger than your trainer, as Sword and Shield fail to correctly scale each Pokemon.

    This is just one of the many shortcomings in this new generation of mainline Pokemon games that have left long time fans like myself unsure of the future of Pokemon.

    The removal of over 50% of much loved Pokemon is a difficult decision to understand, when it seems that no additional content has been added to compensate for this, with the exact same models being used from the 3DS games. Battles feel as dated as ever, the over world is still confined to corridors and linear routes pathways and fly/surf/riding Pokemon has disappeared completely. Add this to the dismissal of previous game mechanics, a lack of post-game content and graphical issues, sadly all adds to the underwhelming experience.

    The only positive new feature is the addition of the wild area, which finally touches upon the open-world environment that so many fans have dreamed off. It is of course impossible to not compare this to other games with open worlds and unfortunately the novelty quickly wears off. Perhaps the next generation will build upon this and create a truly impressive and fully developed open world Pokemon game.

    Despite my love of Pokemon for over 18 years, I cannot bring myself to rate this as a stand alone game highly and I can only hope that the next generation of Pokemon games will be their very best.    … Expand
  8. Duelz96
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Words cannot describe how disappointed I was while playing this game. On my 6th gym I decided I couldn’t force myself to finish it. From poor animations to terrible graphics, this completely ruins the atmosphere of the game. Many successful features have been removed. The new content is not the best either.
    This is the worst entry in the Pokémon series by far. Save your money and by a game    Words cannot describe how disappointed I was while playing this game. On my 6th gym I decided I couldn’t force myself to finish it. From poor animations to terrible graphics, this completely ruins the atmosphere of the game. Many successful features have been removed. The new content is not the best either.
    This is the worst entry in the Pokémon series by far. Save your money and by a game that’s been polished and has actually been made with care.
    Pokémon sword was the worst thing that could happen to Pokémon.    … Expand
  9. ryan-g-82
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    I picked up Pokémon Sword on launch day entirely because it was blue, and my knowledge of the game was incredibly limited, not having kept up with the social media posts and news that is absolutely everywhere. The decision to ignore it and block everyone who talked poorly of the game was the best decision I ever made!

    Starting the game, I was blown away how great the intro cutscene is.    I picked up Pokémon Sword on launch day entirely because it was blue, and my knowledge of the game was incredibly limited, not having kept up with the social media posts and news that is absolutely everywhere. The decision to ignore it and block everyone who talked poorly of the game was the best decision I ever made!

    Starting the game, I was blown away how great the intro cutscene is. The lifelike and smooth animations that Rose exhibited is unlike anything I've ever seen from Pokémon X and Moon, the games that I had previously played that look like this Pokémon game. GAME FREAK really stepped up their game by completely changing the introduction since the last game I played. Getting to see a Pokémon I had never seen before at the beginning of the game was one of the more exciting moments.

    While I'm on the intro cutscene, I'll talk about the character designs. The new Pokémon Champion character, named "Leon" in the English release, has such a drastic change from the previous game, Pokémon Moon, where the champion wasn't even present until the end of the game. (To be honest, I don't even know who the champion of the Alola region was, I got stuck halfway through the game.)

    The level of detail and openness the game provides from the first moments to the next first moments is phenomenal, I get to go outside to meet my player character's friend Hau and watch as he scolds a Wooloo for doing his rolling animation into a gate which doesn't budge. It's an immersive world that I get to walk a small amount and learn a new thing every few minutes! I love how straightforward and simple Pokémon is, I always felt that the previous games I played in the series, like Moon, didn't tell me what to do nearly as often, and I hated not knowing what to do at every point in the game. It makes the experience so much better when I'm taught how to catch a Pokémon within the first half hour of the game! It really makes you feel like a Pokémon Trainer.

    I did hit a really big hitch though. Late in the game, you get to the Wild Area, a place where the game lets the player go in a direction other than forward with no roadblocks. What's with this place? I honestly can't get out of it because all the Pokémon there are extremely high level. Come on GAME FREAK, a level 30 Onix in the first hour of the game? How am I supposed to avoid this? IT MOVES RIGHT TOWARDS ME AT A LEISURELY PACE! (btw I play with joycons, sometimes the drift leads me directly into a Pokémon I was going to run directly into anyway. Whenever it does drift, I usually put the controllers down and ask my big brother what to do.)

    Anyway that's as far as I got, but I'm LOVING the game so far! I've spent approximately 8 hours 12 minutes 55 seconds playing this game and almost the entirety is trying to figure out my way around the Wild Area. I keep finding new things to explore and Pokémon I can't catch since I ran out of Pokéballs and don't know where to get them. The game didn't explicitly tell me where everything is and that's really disappointing. I'm hoping GAME FREAK will develop the game better next time, maybe they can highlight where I'm supposed to go next and make it absolutely unavoidable. I'm really good at moving directly forward!

    I'll check back later when I figure out how to dodge that Onix that keeps one-shotting my poor Sobble, but for now the game is perfect!    … Expand
  10. AlexTheAwesome
    Nov 15, 2019
    4
    It's the first time I tried to stay far away from a Pokémon game but someone sent me a copy so I had to play it. It is a game that I will despise for years to come but the thing is though: If we keep buying these more mediocre Pokémon games then Game Freak won't fix a damn thing. So it's sorta our fault for this but that doesn't mean people aren't unhappy. It looks like an N64 game most ofIt's the first time I tried to stay far away from a Pokémon game but someone sent me a copy so I had to play it. It is a game that I will despise for years to come but the thing is though: If we keep buying these more mediocre Pokémon games then Game Freak won't fix a damn thing. So it's sorta our fault for this but that doesn't mean people aren't unhappy. It looks like an N64 game most of the time and it has many framerate issues and glitches. I replayed Let's Go recently and while I don't think it's a good game I can respect it for what kind of game it is. I can't be easy on this game though as it is meant for the hardcore Pokémon fans (like me) and it is just a slugfest when it works and a train-wreck when it doesn't work (which is most of the time). To think that IGN gave this game a 9.3/10, a higher score than Uncharted 4, Doom 2016, The Outer Worlds, and plenty of other fantastic games (including older Pokémon games) is baffling and it isn't just IGN that I'm throwing under the bus. GameSpot, Kotaku and many more critics are all to blame for the bad information. In fact IGN lied that you can for the first time skip tutorials but that's not true. In Pokémon Gold And Silver you could skip tutorials and those games are considered the best by many hardcore fans. The big problem is that national dex though and it's not because it is there (remember Sun and Moon didn't have it either) but in Sun and Moon you could still bring any Pokémon you wanted which you can't do anymore. The big issue though is the fact that they lied about the animations which is why they said they removed it. When I saw that video on twitter of Zamazenta I cringed so hard that I was about to cancel my preorder. No matter how much you love Game Freak you can't deny that they lied and were maliciously trying to bank off of people's nostalgia which is gone because you can't even catch them all. 2019 has been a mess for gaming with the Doom DRM crisis, Modern Warfare exclusivity deal with Sony, Anthem sucked so bad, Blizzard banning Blitzchung and the list just goes on and on. This is the cherry on top of the cake finishing off a terrible year in gaming and this is a mistake that Game Freak will not catch because the game has already sold like 6 million copies. Seriously I can't believe we got a bad Pokémon game on the same day as an actually not terrible and pretty decent Star Wars game from EA of all things. Save your money and tell Game Freak this is not what we want and I wasted my own $59.99 to tell you this. Game Freak has made plenty of great games in the past and even recently but this just isn't one of them.… Expand
  11. Riksey
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    bad graphics, half pokedex cutted, no promised cool animations etc etc. Low effort game
  12. Jeryr
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Not for True Pokemon fans,

    The Dex cut was an insult to most as their favorite Pokemon were excluded, the animation and model has not change since the previous games, Gamefreak made an attempt to lie to us by saying the Pokemon cut was to improve quality but there models and animations are EXACTLY the same as the previous games. It was a amateur attempt on lying and a amateur attempt    Not for True Pokemon fans,

    The Dex cut was an insult to most as their favorite Pokemon were excluded, the animation and model has not change since the previous games, Gamefreak made an attempt to lie to us by saying the Pokemon cut was to improve quality but there models and animations are EXACTLY the same as the previous games.

    It was a amateur attempt on lying and a amateur attempt of making a new game with no innovation, hope they improve the next game even better.

    Refunding/reselling the game after completing it is a good choice as $60 is unjust price for this beta version.    … Expand
  13. mr_gem_guy
    Nov 16, 2019
    4
    This is the worst game in the series. The animation and graphics are too inconsistent. The story is a rehash of Sun ans Moon. If you are looking for a new pokemon game, avoid this and wait until Gamefreak gets their act together.
  14. betobeto95
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Un retroceso en la saga quitando pokemones, cristales z, mega evoluciones, gráficas que dan mucho que desear para lo que ofrece la consola.
  15. Syperis
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Im a long time fan, I played every pokemon while growing up, upon getting pokemon sword, I was amazed by how it looked, i always wanted a pokemon game on a home console. Upon getting to my first gym, for some reason my game crashed and just keeping me an orange screen, now whenever i turn my switch on thats all i get. I looked it up online and turns out pokemon just brick'd my switchIm a long time fan, I played every pokemon while growing up, upon getting pokemon sword, I was amazed by how it looked, i always wanted a pokemon game on a home console. Upon getting to my first gym, for some reason my game crashed and just keeping me an orange screen, now whenever i turn my switch on thats all i get. I looked it up online and turns out pokemon just brick'd my switch console. I have never had this happen when i played other games like smash, Mario cart, or even pokemon lets go pickachu. Upon calling nintendo support they told me i have to send my console in for repair and i need to pay for it, a console that was working 100% fine eariler is now dead weight because of 1 game,

    I was looking forward to this game, but it breaking my console is unacceptable, how does gamefreak or nintendo even let something like this be released????

    Never buying another pokemon game again unless GF reimburses me the money i have to pay now to fix their screw up.    … Expand
  16. Cosmic06Star
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Awful game made by awful developers. This is not a current gen game, this barely qualifies as a PS2 game at best. Don't support this game so that maybe the devs learn and actually decide to put effort into Pokemon.
  17. Amfibios
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    This could have been the best game ever made but it's a shameless cash grab instead. The graphics are from the PS2 era, the models are copy/pasted from X/Y and the gameplay is the same as the original games that came out in the 90s only without the exploration. For this and all the other reasons you know already, this game is a kick in the nuts to every pokemon fan.

    I was already    This could have been the best game ever made but it's a shameless cash grab instead. The graphics are from the PS2 era, the models are copy/pasted from X/Y and the gameplay is the same as the original games that came out in the 90s only without the exploration. For this and all the other reasons you know already, this game is a kick in the nuts to every pokemon fan.

    I was already disappointed with sun/moon but this is a new low. Pokemon games aren't Gamefreak's first priority anymore, look at "Little town hero".

    I'm not gonna support any of this anymore. The series has gotten as stale as it gets but they think "Oh it's pokemon so no matter how little effort we put into it, it'll sell like hot cakes", i'm gonna let them know this is not the case as i'm not buying any more of their games unless they do something that's worth paying for.

    Just for the record, my first pkmn game was the original RED and i've bought pretty much all games that came out since then. I never thought i'd "outgrow" them but gamefreak found a way to force it. Oh well, now i have more money in my pocket to buy GOOD games, this isn't even worth pirating.    … Expand
  18. zeromaru
    Nov 16, 2019
    4
    el juego es demasiado mediocre es en el apartado gráfico y jugable el modelado 3d es horrible muy reciclado la animación es muy limitada los npc son muy repetitivo ,el modo historia es demasiado sencillo puede llegar a ser entretenido pero se ve muy simple pero lo compensa con los personajes carismático lo poco imaginativo es la propuesta del gigantamax no se siente lo explote muy bienel juego es demasiado mediocre es en el apartado gráfico y jugable el modelado 3d es horrible muy reciclado la animación es muy limitada los npc son muy repetitivo ,el modo historia es demasiado sencillo puede llegar a ser entretenido pero se ve muy simple pero lo compensa con los personajes carismático lo poco imaginativo es la propuesta del gigantamax no se siente lo explote muy bien para ser juego 60 dolares dejar mucho que desear para ser de una franquicia multimillonaria gamefreak o pokemon company se tiene que poner las pilas o estará perdida… Expand
  19. Anelko
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    Good game. Better than expectet. I dont need every single pokemon in the game.
  20. lemony
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    Lying Devs
    Reused animations
    Reused Models
    No Global Trading
    No National Dex

    0/10
  21. RyukCrossX
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Tuve la oportunidad de comprarlo el día de estreno, luché por no comer ningun spoiler y lo logré, después de más de 20 horas de juego, terminé el nuevo pokémon
    Hay momentos en los que te dices a ti mismo "GameFreak, aquí pudiste hacerlo mejor" como en el caso del primer experimento de Rose, imaginan como hubiera sido si el Pokémon gigante hubiera destruido parte de la ciudad y hubiésemos tenido oportunidad de presenciar eso? Oh, Arceus, sería el mejor pokémon con escenas de éste tipo, pero al menos se dan a entender... hay muchas falencias en los juegos, la SWITCH le quedó grande a GameFreak, es verdad, pero como "Pokémin", es otro juegazo, se disfruta como cuando éramos niños, yo realmente ame sus personajes y hasta ahora estoy perdido en la WildZone, criando Sobble bebés y enviándolos por intercambio prodigioso 2.0

    Sí creciste con Pokémon, al igual que yo, no te pierdas ésta nueva aventura, que como la región nueva que es, siempre tendrá muchas novedades y personajes que quedaran grabados en la historia ♥️    … Expand
  22. Beans2520
    Nov 16, 2019
    0
    #GameFreakLied Why should we buy a 60$ game that has less content the previous entries?
  23. Snowplant
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    It’s really a wonderful game.Besides,Pokemon has always meant „Gotta catch em all“ not gotta catch everyone that exists so for me it isn’t a big deal that there isn’t a nationaldex
  24. DMGspacemanspif
    Nov 16, 2019
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is an excellent addition to the World of Pokemon. They have added a certain level of difficulty to balance out the inability to turn off exp share. This is the first Pokemon game I have been unable to breeze thru with just 1 set of pokemon so far. I am disappointed with no new Eeveelution, but with the switch, expansions are always possible! Highly recommended to new player or veterans! Mega Floof Eevee is the best Eevee!… Expand
  25. Mario94M
    Nov 16, 2019
    3
    Se su 3DS ci si poteva accontentare del solito gioco di Pokemon che ogni tanto introduceva qualche piccola rivoluzione su Switch hanno fallito su tutti i fronti. La storia è la solita solfa per bambini scemi, si poteva sperimentare con nuovi metodi narrativi e invece Gamefreak ha ritenuto giusto riproporre il solito teatrino con personaggi senza carisma e assolutamente dimenticabili. IlSe su 3DS ci si poteva accontentare del solito gioco di Pokemon che ogni tanto introduceva qualche piccola rivoluzione su Switch hanno fallito su tutti i fronti. La storia è la solita solfa per bambini scemi, si poteva sperimentare con nuovi metodi narrativi e invece Gamefreak ha ritenuto giusto riproporre il solito teatrino con personaggi senza carisma e assolutamente dimenticabili. Il gameplay subisce la stessa sorte, una ridondante esplorazione lineare e guidata come non mai da punto A a punto B, fatta eccezione per le terre selvagge che non sono altro che enormi distese di vuoto e desolazione utili a farmare in modo da rendere il gioco ancora più semplice e superficiale. Il lato tecnico è... assente! Gli sviluppatori dal braccino evidentemente troppo corto hanno riutilizzato gli stessi asset risalenti al 3DS, la grafica è paragonabile a quella del peggior MMORPG presente su PSP, le animazioni legnose se non assenti. L'unica gioia che il gioco ci regala è quella di poterlo finire (volendo) in meno di 20 ore, in modo di poterlo rivendere il prima possibile e rientrare nel furto dei 60€.… Expand
  26. misalima
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    A very nice and competent installment in the series. May not be the best, but its a good generatiom
  27. Sensiblegamer2
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    400 is more than enough. Having a blast with Pokemon! Great job game freak!
  28. ResilientFightr
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    Pokemon games have always been children oriented, the franchise did not grow old its the people leaving 0 on a wonderful game that are old and being immature. The graphics and resolution and framerate are not praise worthy they are however better than any 3DS pokemon game. This game can be compared to JRPGs on the PS3 and Switch in terms of quality except maybe dragon quest 11. ThePokemon games have always been children oriented, the franchise did not grow old its the people leaving 0 on a wonderful game that are old and being immature. The graphics and resolution and framerate are not praise worthy they are however better than any 3DS pokemon game. This game can be compared to JRPGs on the PS3 and Switch in terms of quality except maybe dragon quest 11. The characters are fun and lively even if they lack voices. The new pokemon are amazing, I especially like the new bugs. The cities and towns are so pretty, walking the nature paths is even fun honestly with so many sounds in the background like pokemon and the wind and river. I think it is the best pokemon game since gold and silver and only black and white 2 come after it.… Expand
  29. Gigachad
    Nov 16, 2019
    1
    With a heavy heart I write this review.
    My long time friend, Vargene, has been a fan of Pocket Monsters ever since we were kids. Now, I personally lost interest in this series after Emerald, but my friend enjoyed every single iteration of these games. That is, up until now. Vargene's birthday was coming up and what better gift, or so I thought, than the latest new Pokémon game: Sword and    With a heavy heart I write this review.
    My long time friend, Vargene, has been a fan of Pocket Monsters ever since we were kids. Now, I personally lost interest in this series after Emerald, but my friend enjoyed every single iteration of these games. That is, up until now. Vargene's birthday was coming up and what better gift, or so I thought, than the latest new Pokémon game: Sword and Shield. I bought a copy for both of us, because I wanted to spend some time with my friend since we're both working adults now. At his birthday party, which comprised of him, myself, and his dog, I gave him the games. He was so excited, he had kept himself spoiler free all this time. I brought my Nintendo Switch so we could play together.
    When we started the game, both of us encountered crashes. No problem after a few tries. Once the ball got rolling we were transported to the world of Pokémon, while graphically on the low-end, I didn't mind as long as my friend was happy. We were plagued by the rival and champion character of the game. It was charming at first, but quickly turned to annoyance when the rival and the so called champion halted us in our exploration. Speaking of exploration, we were shocked when we encountered strong Pokémon, but were not allowed to capture them. I brushed away these minor hiccups, and my friend was thoroughly focused on the game. That's when the straw broke the camel's back. Vargene and I looked online to see how to transfer some Pokémon, he expressed horror when we came across information that his favorite Pokémon, the one he raised since we were kids, his Venusaur, could not be transferred. He burst into tears, I couldn't believe it, I thought this game was meant for "long-time veterans". The fact that one of the original starter trio was excluded from the game was unforgivable. I calmed him down and we played the Digimon game that came out on the Switch together instead. Vargene was angry and never wants associate with the Pokémon brand ever again.
    I, of course, returned both our copies. Its tragic that this game had to ruin my friend's birthday party. I strongly dislike this game and only give it a 1 out of pity towards hard-working developers who were no doubt shut down and out while making it.
    Please avoid this game, and brand until they create a worthwhile product.

    Sincerely,
    A Disheartened Customer    … Expand
  30. Longoria21
    Nov 16, 2019
    10
    Pokemon Sword and Shield are the best games in the series, streamlining its most tedious traditions without losing any of the charm.
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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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 »