HUGE battles with HUGE Pokemon
For the first time, an open world experience, known as the wild area, will come to the Pokemon series. In today’s Pokemon Direct, The Pokemon Company revealed the news that players will be able to explore Pokemon Sword & Shield‘s Galar region like never before.
The company has (finally) opened the ability to rotate and pan the camera around the player’s viewpoint, allowing for more exploration and visualization possibilities. Maybe we’ll get a camera mode, too? The environment can change throughout play sessions, due to time of day and weather. Rain? Night time? These changes will bring let different pokemon wander into the world, so that players will want to head back out over and over to see what’s popped up. Players can even go fishing. Yay!
With this open world comes a huge new addition to Pokemon games — literally. The introduction of Dynamax pokemon is a first for the company. Dynamax pokemon are giant, more formidable versions of their original poke-selves. The presentation showed us several of these, from Gyarados to Raichu, that players can battle and obtain, and use in their own battles. Dynamax pokemon can by used once per battle, for up to 3 turns, with massive new moves and attacks to coincide.
But just how do we obtain these pokemon? RAIDS. Yes, the company revealed that raids were finally coming to the series (outside of Pokemon GO, that is). In S&S, “Max Raid Battles” take place in the wild area, and are visible via beams of light in the distance. Depending on the time of day and weather, different Dynamax pokemon become available for these raids.
Players will team up with up to three other friends, via online or in person, to take on these giant pokemon. Should the players already have a Dynamax pokemon ready to go, only one can be used for the entire team during the battle, so teams will be tasked with choosing their best option for the fight. Upon defeat, Dynamax pokemon can be captured with a snazzy new disco ball styled pokeball.
Some pokemon will only begin to appear after their Dynamax counterpart has been captured, so expect raids to become an important part for those wishing to complete their Pokedex.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield will be exclusive to Nintendo Switch.
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