Pokémon Sword & Shield: Where It Should Go From Here

The Expansive Galar Region

With the gaming landscape being what it is just now, it would’ve have been right if Sword and Shield’s Galar region wasn’t also the most ambitious world in the series to date.

It is, in some respects. The Wild Area is a great expanse of open land that players can freely explore, catching wild critters as they please (level-permitting) and generally basking in the feeling of almost being in a Pokémon MMO is they squint a bit. This was a vital, bold step, which may very well be a bit of a taster for what awaits later in the series.

On the scale of Nintendo’s tackling of open-world titles, it’s hardly The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule, but a step forward that fans happily took. Thanks to the Expansion Pass, Galar’s... expanding a heck of a lot too.

As players know, the world of Sword and Shield grew a lot bigger with the release of the Isle of Armor DLC in June 2020. With it came the Master Dojo, Kubfu/Urshifu and a whole new island constituting its own Wild Area.

Later this year, The Crown Tundra, part two of the expansion, is set to launch. It will also offer a lot of new content, with underground areas to explore on expeditions and a gaggle of new and returning Legendary (and non-Legendary) Pokémon. Is this enough, though? Is the size of the world up to the calibre that gamers expect in 2020, and what of the issues players have with Sword and Shield?