Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield will be answering the prayers of much older, and long-term veteran fans of the series by axing some of the repetition in the new installment that tends to happen when you’ve been with a series for so long. Players will be given the option to skip past the tutorial offered near the start of the game that teaches them how to catch wild Pokemon.
Pokemon as a series has been leaning into its younger demographic appeal for many years now, and while it’s always obviously been aimed at children, it’s a series that many older fans can enjoy, and many have been enjoying it for decades and installments at this point. With the focus on a younger gaming demographic in mind, many have felt that the main story of main series games have been getting a bit easier and more streamlined for some time now, often with lengthy, unskippable tutorials near the beginning that bog down the pacing for some people.
Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon as well as their sequels, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, were criticized for having extremely long, invasive tutorials for every little thing, which for some stuck out as a sizable negative in otherwise excellent games.
While it’s not clear the moment just how many of Sword and Shield’s tutorials will be optional, just making the basic catching tutorial optional for those who already know what they’re doing is a welcome step towards streamlining the series’ design without dumbing it down or patronizing the already experienced audience members. More choices for players seeking a fun experience is always good when playing a game, and it’s nice to see Game Freak playing to both the old and new crowds; hopefully a trend they continue to follow in the future.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield will release on November 15th, 2019 for Nintendo Switch. You can watch a trailer for the game below:
Greyson Ditzler is a freelance writer, aspiring author, and YouTuber. He loves games of all kinds and is always looking for something new and interesting to try. When he isn’t writing you can likely find him speedrunning Donut County or trying to convince his friends that Danganronpa is actually really cool. He can also beat the first world in Super Meat Boy without dying while wearing oven mitts.
