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. DjNinjaRj
    May 4, 2021
    0
    Bad Game I Do Not Like Tghis Game, It Poopy HEAD This Is Not A Real Pokemon Game
  2. A-Kratonos
    May 3, 2021
    10
    Un juego sumamente infravalorado y cuyas virtudes han sido invisibilizadas por un fandom furioso, únicamente por razones externas al juego, así como completamente ajenas a su calidad.
    Galar es una región simplemente hermosa que representa una cara idealizada del Reino Unido, los personajes son carismáticos, la historia es bastante decente, y el combate es divino en cada sentido.
    El    Un juego sumamente infravalorado y cuyas virtudes han sido invisibilizadas por un fandom furioso, únicamente por razones externas al juego, así como completamente ajenas a su calidad.
    Galar es una región simplemente hermosa que representa una cara idealizada del Reino Unido, los personajes son carismáticos, la historia es bastante decente, y el combate es divino en cada sentido.

    El Gigamax es la mecánica estrella del juego y donde se cimenta todo combate importante, y la forma de representar las batallas de liga como estadios de futbol es un gran acierto.
    Musicalmente es precioso, artísticamente ni se diga. Y explorar las llanuras de Galar para atrapar pokémon es de las mejores experiencias que he tenido con un juego de la saga principal.    … Expand
  3. HappySylveon
    May 2, 2021
    10
    My favorite Pokemon game up to date, I did play the previous games but this one is just better overall, it's not amazing, just good, and the best main series Pokemon game in terms of features and the core aspect of pokemon gameplay, so it gets a 10/10.
    The only thing missing is a good story, but I'll let that slide as the DLC provides that, which you should totally get, especially crown tundra.
  4. srx
    May 2, 2021
    4
    Poor story, decent/good designs, mediocre everything else. Like seriously, the story was literally a straight line from start to finish with no interesting characters. Graphics were underwhelming. 4/10 and would be lower if not for some of the pokemon designs being cool.
  5. piscesperiod
    Apr 30, 2021
    8
    Pokemon sword is not a fantastic game, it's a good game. A few new gimmicks, but the essence of the franchise remains untouched - catch and trade pokemon. The story is not all that impressive, but the fights are fun and the music is nice too.
  6. tomashrabek
    Apr 26, 2021
    6
    Last time I've played Pokémon was in the Gold/Silver era and I have only the best memories of it. I've been really surprised to see that the game hasn't changed a bit since those times. Yes, you can cook some curries and "dynamax" your Pokémon in some battles, but nevertheless, it's still the same game with the same principles. Which is pleasant to some extent, but becomes tiring andLast time I've played Pokémon was in the Gold/Silver era and I have only the best memories of it. I've been really surprised to see that the game hasn't changed a bit since those times. Yes, you can cook some curries and "dynamax" your Pokémon in some battles, but nevertheless, it's still the same game with the same principles. Which is pleasant to some extent, but becomes tiring and repetitive very fast. I don't care about the "controversies" surrounding this game, as I've had no stakes in it, but what I do care about is the weak potential to entertain for a longer period of time and the mediocre execution. It's a pass for me, but I don't think I'll be having fond memories of this game in the future, I'll probably just forget it.… Expand
  7. MaddoxWhite
    Apr 24, 2021
    1
    There are so many things wrong with this game.
    The graphics. The national dex. The gameplay itself.
    I don't have much to say that hasn't been said already.

    The fact that this even exists makes me want to not even buy New Pokemon Snap.
    But I'm a sucker, so I already preordered it.
  8. LordJazbin
    Apr 19, 2021
    5
    I think there's too much hate around them, Sword and Shield are definitely not bad games... But after Sun and Moon that was great... This is just: disappointing. In every way. And even worse than XY.

    Good part is: Pokémon designs and music. But in terms of the story is one of the worse, difficulty is really bad, game is dull...
  9. frederik1478
    Apr 18, 2021
    7
    Fun Pokémon game that I would recommend Permadeath , Looks good sound good mechanics are very nice , It is mean how much luck it is to get the Pokémon you want in the wild area,
    front I would recommended if you lose a Pokémon don't revive it posted in the box because the game becomes much more fun when there are some steaks to the Battle because of the party experience it is easy enough    Fun Pokémon game that I would recommend Permadeath , Looks good sound good mechanics are very nice , It is mean how much luck it is to get the Pokémon you want in the wild area,
    front I would recommended if you lose a Pokémon don't revive it posted in the box because the game becomes much more fun when there are some steaks to the Battle because of the party experience it is easy enough to Recruit new Pokémon so I would recommend it    … Expand
  10. Omegazx
    Apr 17, 2021
    0
    Gamefreak just released a barely finished game with lots of underwhelming features and cut content from previous installments. The removal of National Pokédex, along with more than half of all Pokemon really put a dent on the gameplay. I guess they cannot live up to their own slogan of "Gotta catch 'em all!".

    If you are a true Pokémon fan, let your voice be heard and do not buy this    Gamefreak just released a barely finished game with lots of underwhelming features and cut content from previous installments. The removal of National Pokédex, along with more than half of all Pokemon really put a dent on the gameplay. I guess they cannot live up to their own slogan of "Gotta catch 'em all!".

    If you are a true Pokémon fan, let your voice be heard and do not buy this game as an act of peaceful protest. Vote with your wallet. Let them know that we want something better from the biggest franchise on earth. Never settle for mediocrity.    … Expand
  11. jhchoe
    Apr 8, 2021
    8
    It is good game, but it had low grafic than other nintendo game.Like Zelda...
  12. thilg881
    Apr 4, 2021
    3
    1) The Good:
    - It's a pokemon game after all, if you liked the previous games, at some degree you will like this one too;
    - The soundtrack is great; - The pokemon design. 2) The Bad; - No challenge at all; - Too many exp items; - Too short; - No side quests; - No option to turn off the exp. share item; - Too linear and no exploration at all; - Unfinished graphics - The    1) The Good:
    - It's a pokemon game after all, if you liked the previous games, at some degree you will like this one too;
    - The soundtrack is great;
    - The pokemon design.

    2) The Bad;
    - No challenge at all;
    - Too many exp items;
    - Too short;
    - No side quests;
    - No option to turn off the exp. share item;
    - Too linear and no exploration at all;
    - Unfinished graphics - The Nintendo Switch could do A LOT better;
    - Poorly animated moves;
    - No National Pokedex;
    - Not dubbed;
    - The Wild Area is bland;
    - Graphics pop in;
    - An expensive game for what is delivered.    … Expand
  13. MusicSpy
    Apr 1, 2021
    1
    diferente de tudo q a gamefreak ja fez no pior sentido, perdeu a essência dos jogos antigos que dão de 1000 a 0 nesse...
  14. marvsfontanilla
    Mar 31, 2021
    8
    Story: 8
    Graphics: 8
    Sound: 8
    Gameplay: 7
    Game Time: 40 Hours (Main Story)
    Duration: 30 Hours (Main Story)
  15. Red-Eyes
    Mar 24, 2021
    0
    Disclaimer: I honestly don't give a rat's ass about not having a National Dex and I never played (nor intend to do in the future) Pokemon PvP.

    Just to get another elephant out of the room: graphics are terrible, mostly in the Wild Area where Onixes pop up left and right and pokemons animations are anal. Done! What I liked: the Wild Area IDEA is good but the execution is terrible    Disclaimer: I honestly don't give a rat's ass about not having a National Dex and I never played (nor intend to do in the future) Pokemon PvP.

    Just to get another elephant out of the room: graphics are terrible, mostly in the Wild Area where Onixes pop up left and right and pokemons animations are anal. Done!

    What I liked: the Wild Area IDEA is good but the execution is terrible (having multiple wild areas would have been much better but Game Freak usual lazyness kicked in). The Dynamax/Gigantomax mechanic is muuuuuuuch more balanced than the no-penalty Mega-Evolution one, however it's aesthetically awful; the ideal system would be: the looks of Mega Evolution with Dyna/Giganto mechanic. Changing your team on the fly is nice too, but, since you can, why not mantain the HM system since now you can have a HM slave with no penalty.

    Now the infinite number of cons!

    Worst thing for me is how they manage to streamline and make the game easier even further beyond! At this point, Pokemon games just test your ability to read and nothing else. They even took out the articial difficulty of knowing the type of a Pokemon and attacking its weaknesses, now the game just tells you right way which of your 4 moves is super-effective.

    It's baffliing how this franchise has a target audience that ranges from 8 to 40 year-old people but they still make the game solely for children. Just put a difficulty option! Create gym leader strategies similar to what people use in PvP (or at least a goddamn Whitney's Miltank kinda strategy)! A New Game+ option, just do something!

    To streamline the game even further the map is not in a square format with bifurcations and routes conecting everything anymore. Now is in a tree format (think as if the main route is the trunk with some branches to connect some cities) with a multitude of dead-ends. In the few ocasions where a bifurcation is presented instead of needing a HM to proceed through each path now you have two guys that pretty much say "Nah! You can't pass"; that's it man! No clever obstacles just the game literally saying 'you can't pass'.

    I don't feel like talking about this garbage anymore so I'll just throw in other problems: new Pokemon are lame as **** and if you find a cool water type design you win a ball, it has only ONE ****ING CAVE IN THE ENTIRE GAME, worst possible Rocket Team iteraiton ever (now they are just one little girls fans???), godawful story, stereotypical lame characters (your friendly rival Leon takes the cake as the most annoying one), dumb clothing system because why not, no grinding system for the stronger TMs (you randomly gain them in the Raid battles, I got f*cking Dragon Claw in my first one without any effort whatsoever), no cool minigames to take a break (like Voltorb Flip, yes, I loved it), worst Battle Tower iteration and a multitude of other things.

    The Postgame? I don't know. I just beat the champion and couldn't take it anymore I didn't even start the quest to capture the legendary doggo on the cover.

    That is it. Game Freak really outdid themselves with this masterpiece. I'm done with this franchise    … Expand
  16. Extremespeed
    Mar 23, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Un juego bueno ni más ni menos, se compensa la falta de los pokemones con la facilidad que esté presenta para criar y para obtener pokemones competitivos, cabe resaltar que las incursiones es algo muy divertido, si bien no hay much o post game sin los DLC es un juego que cumplió desde mi punto de vista, lejos de ser el mejor pero también lejos de ser el peor.
    Para mi un 7.8    … Expand
  17. Nati
    Mar 14, 2021
    0
    This DLC has absolutely destroyed Pokemon Sword/Shield Ranked matching.

    Ranked is just an imbalanced JOKE now that requires zero skill or knowledge and spamming Legendaries. Urshifu is OP... I dont care about your "debate" That pokemon is OP. Not to mention other STARTLING imbalance issues that has ruined a long history of great competitive gameplay. Way to kick the hardcore fans    This DLC has absolutely destroyed Pokemon Sword/Shield Ranked matching.

    Ranked is just an imbalanced JOKE now that requires zero skill or knowledge and spamming Legendaries.

    Urshifu is OP... I dont care about your "debate" That pokemon is OP. Not to mention other STARTLING imbalance issues that has ruined a long history of great competitive gameplay.

    Way to kick the hardcore fans Pokemon, this was a rediculous decision. 0/10    … Expand
  18. lalahand
    Mar 10, 2021
    5
    The story is straight and boring. If you only wants to enjoy the adventure, then don’t buy this game
  19. AMKrishnan
    Mar 8, 2021
    8
    First of all, it may not have all Pokemon or a National Dex, but this never bothered me as I have never cared for the National Dex nor most Pokemon.

    Secondly, the graphcs could be better. There's a significant amount of pop-in and it feels very cheap. This looks like a 3DS game that has been improved in graphics. However, with the Switch being able to play games like the Witcher and    First of all, it may not have all Pokemon or a National Dex, but this never bothered me as I have never cared for the National Dex nor most Pokemon.

    Secondly, the graphcs could be better. There's a significant amount of pop-in and it feels very cheap. This looks like a 3DS game that has been improved in graphics. However, with the Switch being able to play games like the Witcher and still make it beautiful, expect Game Freak to make Pokemon look better as well. I personally think the series needs to move past this style of graphcis and go for something more realistic.
    Now this generation really has an amazing set of regional Pokemon. Really great designs, and some are very nice references to the UK. In fact, the game does an excellent job at conveying a UK inspired region from its music, to its characters using British slang, to the environments which are very clearly representations of British landmarks.

    The story of the game is surprisingly sound. I really enjoyed playing through it. The new movie cut scenes are a great addition to this and make the plot more engaging. Hop, your main rival, actually has a very decent arc, as well as other characters. There are also some surprises here and there.

    The Wild Area is beautiful to traverse through and Max Raid battles are very enjoyable and rewarding.

    I would recommend this game and I can't wait to sink a lot more hours into it.    … Expand
  20. sjc9495
    Mar 4, 2021
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I know there are a lot of mixed reviews for this game, but I personally love it. I love all the different pokemon from different regions, dynamaxing, etc. I loved it so much that I have 365 hours spent on this game. I love cooking and bonding with my pokemon, and the battles. The only problem I have with it is unless you have nintendo switch online, some of the dynamaxing battles because of bad AI take several times sometimes to beat. My pokemon that I use have good stat, good moves, and are really powerful, but I get teamed with AI's that use moves like follow me or just weak. I have to admit my least favorite pokemon to get teamed up with is wobbuffet. He is psychic, yet doesn't know any powerful moves unless he gets hit like counter& that's a fighting type move. I think the AI's should use better pokemon/ moves. I have had many occasions where I'm the only one standing and my "helpers," have died a lot on 5 star battles. If I was to personally tell the creators how to improve the game, it would be get smarter AI to help a little with five star battles.… Expand
  21. Tonico8
    Mar 2, 2021
    0
    I only could enjoy the first 2hours, afterwards it's an empty game, without any work behind. The routes are a completely garbage. The difficulty is insulting.
  22. Lachlan5
    Feb 28, 2021
    5
    Boring and uninspired Pokémon game and is a major letdown although some of the new Pokémon are relatively cool and still not able to change the camera angle for **** sake
  23. PoliLord
    Feb 26, 2021
    4
    When they said that we will have just some pokemon i felt sad but i really tried to forget that and give a chance to the game. The truth is that game is very beautiful when we speak about graphics and atmosphere of the pokemon universe but the difficulty is too easy and that fact take from us the hustle that was training to become a Master. The game is too easy to be remarkable
    The    When they said that we will have just some pokemon i felt sad but i really tried to forget that and give a chance to the game. The truth is that game is very beautiful when we speak about graphics and atmosphere of the pokemon universe but the difficulty is too easy and that fact take from us the hustle that was training to become a Master. The game is too easy to be remarkable
    The dinamax is too easy to counter, is just use sleep poder OR something similar
    I will not re-play the game    … Expand
  24. ladiebird
    Feb 24, 2021
    2
    I really wanted this game to work, but it didn't.

    I liked a couple things; the league tournament and new gyms were really nice. A lot of the new Pokemon are very interesting and well-designed, which makes me want to use them. The designs of many of the characters were also very good. Nessa, Bea, Hop, Bede and Marnie were some of my favourites, but their personalities didn't really live    I really wanted this game to work, but it didn't.

    I liked a couple things; the league tournament and new gyms were really nice. A lot of the new Pokemon are very interesting and well-designed, which makes me want to use them. The designs of many of the characters were also very good. Nessa, Bea, Hop, Bede and Marnie were some of my favourites, but their personalities didn't really live up to their designs in my opinion. That might be because the game lacks any interesting animations and voice acting, something which is really noticeable at certain points (at Piers' gym, for example). Finally, the character customisation is really nice, despite the fact that you can't customise your face, and at the start of the game your hair and eye colour has to be compatible with your skin (for some reason).

    A few of my main gripes:

    1. For a switch game, it's pretty ugly. I really liked some of the towns and one or two routes, but choppy animations, boring battle backgrounds and out-of-place animations ruin it. The wild area makes this especially obvious, with large empty areas, dark lighting, Pokemon popping into existence out of nowhere and weird looking trees. The berry trees look completely different from the normal ones, which is weird, but both are strange and look out of place beside the cleaner character models. The wild area itself is a fun addition, but would be a lot better if there was more effort put into it.

    2. The gameplay is about as repetitive as expected. There is barely any innovation on the traditional formula, which is sad, and the super-effective system makes things very easy, but the same can be said for every other Pokemon game before it. I know the game is mostly aimed at children, so I won't let the difficulty level affect my view too much, but it would be nice to have some kind of difficulty options. It's just not very fun, and leaves no room for interesting strategies.

    3. GameFreak was blatantly obvious about cutting corners to get this game out as fast as possible with a smaller team. I initially wasn't mad about Dexit (they probably have to cut Pokemon out at some point) but the (paid) DLC adds a lot of these Pokemon back in. DLC isn't worth the price tag, especially when you consider the game as a whole.

    For me, at least, SwSh was the final push I needed to stop buying new main-line Pokemon games. I didn't buy the Sun and Moon games because I was bored by Kalos, and wish I'd stuck to my guns for this title. Spend your money elsewhere.    … Expand
  25. Warbringer
    Feb 21, 2021
    1
    No story. No Pokedex. Not all Pokemon available. Only handholding. Content locked behind DLC. Content locked behind third party apps like "Pokemon Home" "Pokemon Bank" "Nintendo Switch Online". Gamefreak lied to all of us and they admited it.
  26. DustyT33
    Feb 18, 2021
    7
    It's not the best Pokémon game, but it's not the worst, and is definitely not as bad as a lot of people say it is. Mediocre and average is the best way to describe it, but it doesn't deserve the 0 and under 5 review bombing by people that probably haven't even played the game. Now, to the good and bad parts of this game.

    The good: The cities and towns are beautiful. The graphics are only    It's not the best Pokémon game, but it's not the worst, and is definitely not as bad as a lot of people say it is. Mediocre and average is the best way to describe it, but it doesn't deserve the 0 and under 5 review bombing by people that probably haven't even played the game. Now, to the good and bad parts of this game.

    The good:
    The cities and towns are beautiful. The graphics are only really "bad" in the wild area, with the muddy textures and weird weather transitions. Speaking of the wild are, despite the muddy textures, it is still very fun. One of the most fun parts of the game. Seeing all those Pokémon and trying to catch them is very cool, and it's epic early game to see and getting attacked by Pokémon too strong for you to catch. I like the new Pokémon, and even in the grass Pokémon show up in the overworld, like let's go Pikachu and Eevee, which is also cool. Pokémon camp is very cute, and a great replacement for Pokémon amie and refresh. The post game is meh, but the DLC, especially the crown tundra adds a lot of content, with the roaming legendaries, relatively interesting plot, and fun dynamax adventures, which are probably more fun if you have friends. I played it solo and online with strangers though.

    The bad:
    Main story is mediocre and linear. There are no branching paths like the old 2d Pokémon games, and you are handguided and constantly told where to go in the game. It's starting to be a trend with the recent 3ds games. Maybe great for kids that doesn't know what to do, but very boring and annoying for veteran fans and players. Speaking of "it's for kids", it's also very easy. Much easier than the old Pokémon games, which is also another trend in the newer 3ds games. You can easily overlevel, especially with the exp share that you are unable to turn off, which is incredibly stupid, and underleveled npcs and broken exp candies. A lot of the animations are kinda lazy, for example, the animation of double kick is literally just the Pokémon jumping in place, with no actual kicking animation. And the old Pokémon models are reused from the previous games, just re-textured, which makes the dex cut at the launch of the game stupid.

    But other than that, it's still a Pokémon game, so it's core gameplay is still fun. So is it worth it? I don't know, for sure, but I think it's overpriced. So if you want to skip this entry it's fine, but if you're fine with the price and likes Pokémon, why not. So if you just want to try the game, maybe wait for a discount. The physical copy DLC bundle seems ok right now and it has more resale value if it turns out you don't like it than buying the DLC separately.    … Expand
  27. yertre
    Feb 14, 2021
    4
    I've played 2 good Pokemon games, neither of which were part of the main series. It's no secret that the Pokemon franchise has been stagnating for years, but this game feels like Gamefreak are just trying to see how little effort they need to put in to keep the fans happy.

    I think that this game is so disappointing to me because this SHOULD have been a great game. There was so much    I've played 2 good Pokemon games, neither of which were part of the main series. It's no secret that the Pokemon franchise has been stagnating for years, but this game feels like Gamefreak are just trying to see how little effort they need to put in to keep the fans happy.

    I think that this game is so disappointing to me because this SHOULD have been a great game. There was so much potential and they blew it. I really wish people would stop giving Gamefreak a free pass in these matters. As for the franchise, I'm probably never touching a Pokemon game again.    … Expand
  28. Danbearz3
    Feb 11, 2021
    6
    Man ... this isn’t a bad game ... by any means ... but as far as a Pokémon game goes .. it’s just too damn easy !! Come on Nintendo like ... Pokémon is already easy ... stop making it easier . Stop taking out cool **** . Stop with the bull**** dlc ... idk ... I’ll still play it cus it’s the newest Pokémon game and it’s where most of my Pokémon are ... but there needs to be more of anMan ... this isn’t a bad game ... by any means ... but as far as a Pokémon game goes .. it’s just too damn easy !! Come on Nintendo like ... Pokémon is already easy ... stop making it easier . Stop taking out cool **** . Stop with the bull**** dlc ... idk ... I’ll still play it cus it’s the newest Pokémon game and it’s where most of my Pokémon are ... but there needs to be more of an endgame / postgame ... more like x and y or gold and silver ... I want more of a challenge . Also the music in this one is just not that great .. kinda annoying . And the graphics could be wayyyyy better .... like Pokémon colosseum had more impressive graphics ... for the time it came out .. and then the fact all the Pokémon aren’t even in it I mean come on ... next Pokémon game needs to be better . Way better… Expand
  29. nemnel
    Feb 11, 2021
    10
    Ignore the haters this game was one of the best pokemon games. Every single character was realistic and wonderful. Hop was the best rival since Blue. I had more fun playing this game than almost any of the others. I know why people didn't love it, but I think the criticisms are overblown and boring.
  30. hamunochan
    Feb 10, 2021
    1
    Massive disappointment from what it could have been. Nothing new was added, anything presented here have either been done before or have been done better by other in different games. Seems rushed, unfinished, would be ok for a DS game, not for a home console. Lazy design.
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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 »