What Pokémon Sword and Shield could learn from the Pokémon Trading Card Game

Hello! To celebrate the launch of Dicebreaker, a glorious place to read about the pleasures of board gaming, table-top and all that jazz, here's a piece from the editor-in-chief Matt Jarvis.

Interaction sits at the heart of Pokémon's world. It has done since Red and Green had thousands of us pushing a truck near the S.S. Anne in search of legendary #151, Mew. After all, you'd discovered valuable items in bins, received powerful new moves by talking to random strangers and ventured into new areas by cutting trees, lighting caves, tearing down posters and surfing stretches of water. The Mew truck myth was believable enough to try because it was just another plausible interaction in a game full of them.

A lack of interaction is a major factor in the inescapable feeling of disappointment around Pokémon Sword and Shield. As Chris Tapsell notes in Eurogamer's review, the new British-inspired region of Galar too often feels like a pantomime backdrop rather than a rich world filled with ways to interact with its environment and inhabitants - both human and Pokémon. For all the discussion and controversy around reducing the number of Pokémon to allow for more detailed animation, Sword and Shield's battles still largely lack a feeling of proper interaction between Pokémon and the environments they live in. At worst, it feels like things haven't moved especially far from the rudimentary hopping and flashing sprites of the Game Boy.

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