Pokémon trainers around the world started a new adventure Wednesday with the launch of Sword and Shield's Isle of Armor expansion.
There was plenty more for fans of the series to get excited about too, as developer Game Freak revealed in a presentation the morning of Isle of Armor's launch. A new Pokémon Snap is coming to the Nintendo Switch, and players of Sword and Shield will have the opportunity to get a shiny version of a mythical Pokémon, Zeraora, by completing max raid battles against it from Wednesday until June 28.
With another Pokémon Presents due in a week, there's still more to come from Nintendo and Game Freak. For now, we're going to focus on the adventure at hand: the Isle of Armor. Here are some initial thoughts and observations from the new area and story in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
One of the toughest challenges for any developer bringing in new content is to make that content accessible to new players while also giving the veterans who have poured more of themselves into the series their due. It's a tough balance to strike, and you can see Game Freak's struggle with just how to do that in the early going with your fight against your new rival. You could say bringing a Level 100 Zacian in to take out a Level 60-something Venipede was overkill, but I kind of expected ... not ... a Venipede?
Your rival wants you to stay away from the Dojo, and you know what? Same. Look at all those little islands. They seem more fun, anyway.
In one of the most hype moments of the first hour of play, I caught a Chansey, Scyther, Pinsir and Tauros within five minutes of one another, all while nostalgia just played with my heartstrings. The Isle of Armor feels like a massive Safari Zone, with humongous whales waiting in the oceans and steel birds soaring through the air.
Relatedly, Wailord is thicc. He is also Level 80. You've been warned.
There is nothing quite as hilarious as seeing a Kingler full-on charge you by running sideways from about 50 feet away. There is also nothing as frightening as watching the waves tear apart when a Sharpedo throttles up to hunt you down.
There are some really cool conceits on these islands. I love how each one has its own feel, from Honeycalm Island's peaceful setting to the random island in the Workout Sea that has nothing but Ditto on it.
It took me way too long to let my character stand still for a bit, which allowed me to finally appreciate the addition of wiping away sweat and acknowledging the heat of the Isle of Armor vs. the more subdued, cloudy setting of Galar. It's the little things.
False Swipe and Quick Balls are your friend for the expansion. With the wild Pokémon being in that awkward Level 60 range, you're probably going to have a team that's too powerful to actually attack their opponent or have members you're trying to level up that are way too weak to take on the Isle of Amor. Quick Balls work in both scenarios if you're lucky, and False Swipe is a great go-to that's available for a wide variety of Pokémon.
All right, after a lap around the island and 60 new Pokédex entries, it's time to get into the stor-- oh, wait, guess I'm gonna help find some Diglett now. Finding 150 Diglett sounds a bit tedious but also optional, and it's a fun way to incentivize people to look at every single outcropping of land in the Isle of Armor a little more closely. Has a similar feel to finding the Korok Seeds in Breath of the Wild with a little less legwork.
The next trainer battle brings Level 61 opponents to the table. Progress! Improvement!
I am absolutely in love with the Slowpoke on this island and hope they are involved in literally every part of the story.
After winding up back in an area I'd visited before starting the storyline, I find myself regretting that I struck out on my own at first. How many Diglett could I have gathered? How much longer could I have been riding around with my cool new bike design?
The changes in scenery from location to location, and the way you transition into those places, is really well done. It actually feels like you're entering a new ecosystem that warrants weather change rather than what we saw in the base game's Wild Area.
Seeing Pokémon in their own habitat is so unexpectedly fun again. Like, we had this in the base game, but seeing an Emolga gliding from tree to tree is heartwarming in an odd way. We had to just sort of picture these things (outside of the anime, anyway) for decades, and now there are all these cool interactive moments in front of us.
It's tough to really put a pin on a story like this one because there is so much more to see and do. Pokémon Sword and Shield, which brought life to the series the first time around, is now doing so in an inspired setting with a broader cast of Pokémon and characters to interact with. After setting the game down for months, this expansion pulled me back into the Pokémon world, and I think there's plenty more to get excited about with next week's Game Freak presentation.