A mainline Pokémon generation for the Nintendo Switch was hotly anticipated by fans. Many hoped they would address the issues that began when the series first jumped to 3D with Pokémon X & Y. Pokémon Sword & Shield were finally released in 2019, and controversy followed them every step of the way. The eighth generation of Pokémon was not the return to form that many wanted. It would serve as the tipping point for the community, a title that received the brunt of its frustrations with the series as a whole. But do the games deserve all of the criticisms?
Sword & Shield introduced over 100 new creatures when taking into account the return of the fan-favorite regional variants. Yet, the game only featured 400 of the series' total Pokémon, an issue made infinitely worse when fans discovered that the remaining 600 were not programmed into the game. This meant that for the first time ever, there were previously released Pokémon that could not exist in a mainline adventure under any circumstances. The two DLC packs add an extra 400 or so, but still leave out many fan-favorites.
One of the game's first controversies came with the justification for these roster cuts. Game Freak claimed that it needed to spend development time creating new 3D models and high-quality animations for each Pokémon. This justification would be understandable if data miners didn't immediately discover that the game utilized the slightly upscaled versions of models that have been present since X & Y. This apparent deception from Game Freak caused an uproar that would continue through the game's release and beyond.
Sword & Shield would infuriate fans yet again by abandoning Mega Evolution entirely. In its place, Game Freak added Dynamax forms, a mechanic that supersizes a Pokémon for three turns. Certain creatures would receive Gigantamax forms for use during Dynamax, perhaps in an attempt to compensate for the loss of Megas. The mechanic ultimately proved both overpowered and unpopular. Dynamax was viewed as another series gimmick that would be likely abandoned with the next major entry in the franchise, nothing more.
Graphically, Sword & Shield do not improve on previous titles, and in certain places look worse. For a full-priced, second-party Nintendo title, the games looked underwhelming overall, and sometimes comically poor. The notorious trees of the Wild Area would become an infamous meme, garnering unfavorable comparisons to trees from the Nintendo 64's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. That said, the Wild Area was one of the few areas of innovation in generation eight. The Wild Area is an open field that can be explored with a free camera. It is in this space that the game can feel like a true sequel to what came before. Yet, even this is marred by the aforementioned poor graphics, lifeless overworld Pokémon and immersion-breaking weather changes.
The game's story is one of the worst that the series has had to offer. Nonsensical, boring and empty, the plot revolves around Chairman Rose attempting to awaken Eternatus to prevent a disaster from occurring 3000 years in the future. The player has almost no involvement in the story and is constantly guided around the world by other characters, with every interesting event occurring off-screen. The hand-holding that began to grow in previous titles became unbearable here, with players seemingly unable to walk a few feet without an NPC running up to teleport them to their next destination.
The DLC Expansion Pass did help the game. The two new Wild Areas in the Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra are vast improvements on the original and show the direction that the series should take in the future. The addition of the Restricted Sparring battle facility and the Dynamax Adventures cooperative mode add plenty to do for fans, building on the now expectedly sparse post-game offering of the base adventure. With the DLC added, Sword & Shield feel the way they should have at launch.
Ultimately, generation eight disappoints on many levels. It still offers the same gameplay experience, so a certain amount of fun can always be had. But, the games are far from what fans expected or deserved from Game Freak. The titles have potential, and another year of development could well have made them something much more.
As it stands, Sword & Shield are strange cases. They certainly deserve much if not all of the criticism they have gained, and yet generation eight has sold millions on name alone. Whether or not these titles are indicative of the franchise's future is not yet known, but the upcoming Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl have already caused unrest of their own.