Five Years Ago, Pokemon Sword, Shield’s Wild Area Began Open World Plans

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 15, 2024 24 Views 7 Min Read
Five Years Ago, Pokemon Sword, Shield’s Wild Area Began Open World Plans



Although the Pokemon series has seen a lot of ups and downs on the Nintendo Switch, it’s hard to deny the impact that Gen 8’s Pokemon Sword and Shield had on the franchise. Gen 8 saw a controversial start with the infamous “Dexit” scandal skewing much of the discussion surrounding Pokemon Sword and Shield‘s launch back in 2019. However, five years later, the dust has settled around these titles, and with the series’ current direction favoring an open-world experience, it’s clear to see that Gen 8 laid the groundwork for this formula’s success.




One of the most memorable aspects of Pokemon Sword and Shield is the Wild Area, a concept new to the franchise at the time of release that allowed players to roam freely around a completely open section of the game’s world. While Sword and Shield were still largely linear games at their core, the Wild Area gave players a taste of freedom and quickly became a standout part of the experience. Gimmicks like Dynamax and Gigantamax didn’t quite stick with players, nor did the games’ by-the-numbers story, so the legacy of Pokemon Sword and Shield remains in the franchise’s open-world ambitions introduced with the Wild Area.

Promotional art for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, alluding to the legacy of the game on the Nintendo Switch

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Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Wild Area Gave Players a Taste of Open World Gameplay


Despite its Flaws, the Wild Area was a Breath of Fresh Air in Pokemon Sword and Shield

Mainline Pokemon games up to Gen 8 had always followed a standard, linear design where players would travel from town to town along pre-defined routes with strategically placed trainers to encounter and battle. Pokemon Sword and Shield still features this same design but mixes things up by adding the Wild Area, which connects the Galar Region cities of Motostoke and Hammerlocke. Rather than confining players to limited route traversal, the Wild Area creates a massive space for players to roam, explore different biomes, and find wild critters both in and out of tall grass.

The Wild Area served as the perfect distraction for players tired of following the game’s main story since it allowed them to create their own adventures, exploring every nook and cranny the zone had to offer. Becoming accessible as early as before the first gym, it was easy for players to get lost in the Wild Area and end up encountering a mon far above their current level. While this is a common way to steer players along a certain path in open-world RPGs, Pokemon Sword and Shield‘s Wild Area used high-level critters to entice players to revisit the location after leveling up their team.


Pokemon Sword and Shield
‘s Wild Area locations were expanded with the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLCs to include new DLC-specific zones where new creatures can be found.

Pokemon’s Current Open-World Format Can Trace its Roots Back to Sword and Shield

Following the Wild Area in Sword and Shield, Game Freak built upon the series’ version of an open-world map with the entries that followed. While still not a true open world, Pokemon Legends: Arceus‘ open-zone map design was a step up from the Wild Area since it featured multiple freely explorable areas with minimal linear direction. The game’s introduction of Alpha Pokemon also mirrors the high-level wild mons that would roam the Wild Areas and act as roadblocks for player progression.


It wasn’t until Gen 9’s Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that the series would see its first true open world, but the foundation laid by the Wild Area is still apparent in the design of Paldea’s map. Despite allowing players the freedom to travel in any direction after the game’s prologue, there are still guide rails in the form of critter and trainer levels to keep players from diving into an area they’re not prepared for. The lack of level scaling in Scarlet and Violet‘s open world may be less than ideal, but it shows there is still room for the Pokemon series to grow and evolve its open-world formula first tested by Pokemon Sword and Shield.

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