Pokémon series developer Game Freak has had a rough last week, as new information has made its way online about the
Pokémon Sword and
Pokémon Shield titles — which has fans up in arms about things they consider the developer should have not taken away from the series.
One of the main issues was the fact that Game Freak openly revealed that they would not be adding every Pokémon in the Pokédex to the new game, which immediately had fans voicing their discontent on social media.
The problem isn't just the fact that they won't be able to catch every Pokémon, but the fact that Game Freak is no longer allowing them to transfer them to the game via the Pokémon Bank; all of this because they want players to do it by purchasing the new Pokémon Home app.
Another issue that cropped up was that fans discovered that Game Freak was reusing assets, more specifically character models, from previous
Pokémon titles; something that wouldn't have big such an issue if they had not lied about it in the first place.
All of this has led to fans review-bombing both
Pokémon Sword and
Pokémon Shield on review site aggregator Metacritic — which currently shows that the latest entries in the Pokémon series have a User Score of 33/100 based on over 1000 ratings, as opposed to the Metascore of 81/100.
Review-bombing is a pretty unfair way to review a game, especially since most of those user reviews are likely from people who haven't even played the games for themselves and are only negatively rating the games to show their discontent.
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield will be set in Galar, an expansive region with many environments—idyllic countryside, contemporary cities, thick forests, and craggy, snow-covered mountains. The people and Pokémon live together in this region, and they’ve worked together to develop the industries here.
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch today.