pokemon sword pokemon shield logo

Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield Announced

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Published: February 27, 2019 10:07 AM

The Pokemon Direct today showed our introduction to Generation 8 of Pokemon. These two titles are called Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. They are launching worldwide in late 2019, but there is no specific release date at this time.

Generation 8 takes place in the Galar region with a very diverse range of environments. Galar is an industrial area with sprawling cities and people and Pokemon working side-by-side.

galar

We also saw European-looking countrysides and snowcapped villages. We saw our player character exploring a strange mine and lush hills. In one instance, we saw our player walk into what looks like a soccer arena, so there might be some sort of sport element to Generation 8 as well.

pokemon sword shield starters

The stream also revealed three new starters. Grookey is the grass starter that looks like a monkey. The fire starter is a white rabbit called Scorbunny. A lizard-like Pokemon named Sobble rounds out the pack as the water starter.

The graphics seem to be the same as the already beautiful Pokemon Let's GO. 

They also said that more details on other Pokemon titles would be coming later this year, so we might be seeing more at E3 or even sooner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdA22Lh6Rwk


Quick Take

The game looks beautiful from what we've seen, as it's running on the Pokemon Let's GO engine it appears. I like the look of the setting. It seems very diverse and I'd like to explore more industrial areas in Pokemon games, if anything because I like the Pokemon that reside there. As far as the starters, I call dibs on Sobble. I usually gravitate towards water starters anyways, but I'm loving his design. I'm not too convinced on Scorbunny's yet, but I'll definitely need to see all their evolutions.

What version are you picking up? What starter will you pick? Let us know in the comments below!


austin
| Staff Writer

Austin cut his teeth writing various  fan-fiction stories on the RuneScape forums when he was in elementary school. Later on, he developed a deep love for… More about Austin