Pokemon Sword and Shield is set to be the next big Pokemon games (despite the controversy over not being able to complete the Pokedex) on the Nintendo Switch. And like many Pokemon titles, this one features some brand new gameplay elements. Including the Dynamax system which will make your Pokemon Kaiju-sized, and the Wild Area, which is a more open-world kind of setting where you can battle and catch Pokemon.
For the team at Game Freak, they know that new gameplay elements are important to keep the series fresh, but they also know that you can’t do it too quickly, else you’ll turn people off. In an interview with Metro, Sword and Shield director Shigeru Ohmori had this to say:
“I think that’s fair to say. When we try to make big changes in the series we want to do it a bit more gradually. Every time we make a new game we want to change up the formula and do new things but if you do too much all at once then it feels like it might not be a Pokémon game.
So we try to implement new things fairly gradually, to try and satisfy some of the requests from fans to try out new things, and if it goes well we would incorporate that in the future. So yeah, I think you could say that the Wild Area is our answer to some of the requests for a more open area, and we’ll continue to do new things gradually, as we progress with the series.”
Pokemon at its very core is about evolution, and the game series is definitely partaking in that notion.
