With the release of The Isle of Armor DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield came the addition of a whole new Wild Area for players to explore, with many new and unique biomes that put the original Wild Area to shame in terms of diversity. Not only that, but the inclusion of the Master Dojo, one of the few buildings on the map, gave players a new challenge mode in Restricted Sparring, where they can only bring one type of Pokémon into battles with a limited number of heals.
Despite all that has been given to players in The Isle of Armor, there are still many missing aspects from previous games that have been left behind. Some of these would be welcome returns from past titles, while others were somewhat teased in the base game, though for whatever reason, they weren’t expanded on past a base level.
10 Explorable Ruins
Near the entrance to Hammerlocke in the Wild Area is a ruined tower surrounded by Ghost-type Pokémon, bringing back a similar feeling to the Lavender Town Pokémon Tower from the Kanto Region. Unfortunately, this tower is just ornamental and can’t be explored in any way. Considering there are multiple ruins shown on the outskirts of cities and towns in the Galar region, it would have been nice to be able to actually explore one of these areas, rather than only being able to view them from afar.
9 Larger Caves
One thing that Pokémon Sword and Shield did away with almost entirely were the handful of cave systems that have been used in past titles so players could get lost while fending off hoards of Zubat. While the new encounter system removes the randomness of battling wild Pokémon, the most irritating aspect of cave exploration, it could have been a good opportunity for players to be able to explore caves without being frustrated. Instead, the few caves that are in Sword and Shield are very short and make the Escape Rope item, now a multi-use key item, completely redundant.
8 Open Desert
The original Wild Area’s desert was small, to put it mildly, and might as well have not been included for how little space it took up. The Pot Bottom Desert in the Isle of Armor rectified this somewhat by making it feel like an actual arid region, but it was still quite small, especially when compared to the likes of the Desert Resort and Relic Castle in Pokémon Black and White.
It seems unlikely that The Crown Tundra will have any sort of arid desert, although it may have an open frozen area included, as the map seems to be much larger than the Isle of Armor.
7 Victory Road
In past titles, the final test of a Pokémon trainer before they take on the Elite Four is Victory Road. This is usually a large cave system or mixed route where many high-level trainers may challenge the player to give them an idea of what is to come ahead. Although the Galar region isn’t the first game to not have a Victory Road, it feels decidedly more lacking here where the Pokémon League is already well established, and it seems more likely for one to be missing in the Alola region, as the Pokémon League is relatively new there. It is also disappointing for the path to the Pokémon League to be much shorter in Galar than in previous regions, and with almost no way to get lost on the way to the final challenge.
6 Silph Co. and Devon Corp
These major corporations were established in the first and third generations respectfully and were shown to be massive companies with a global impact, as well as being a major part of the story in their respective regions. While Galar has Macro Cosmos as an equivalent, there is no mention of these other companies having any influence over the Galar region, even when it comes to the Pokéjobs aspect of the game, where many different companies are named and request the players help in exchange for XP and items.
5 Underwater Areas
Although they were relatively small, the underwater areas in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were at least interesting to explore and opened up a whole new range of Pokémon to catch and train. There was almost no water in Pokémon Sword and Shield’s main game, but The Isle or Armor introduced a whole open sea that players could ride around on their Rotom Bike and explore, complete with torpedoing Sharpedo and an accurately sized Wailord. What could make this area feel more lifelike is if Game Freak added the ability to explore underwater as well, making the vast open oceans feel more full of life rather than the barren ocean that it is.
4 Team Rocket Hideouts
Even though the player character in Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal helped shut down their operations for good, Team Rocket was an established global crime organization with roots in many different regions. One of the more interesting aspects of their activities was the tendency to booby-trap their hideouts, making for some of the more interesting dungeons in the series.
It seems unlikely for Team Rocket to return any time soon, even though Team Rainbow Rocket appeared at the end of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, but it’s not an impossibility for them to return.
3 Volcanoes
One of the main and more interesting areas in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire was Mt. Chimney, an explorable active volcano that played a larger part in the story later on. Although there are no active volcanoes in Britain, which Galar is based on, there are some in the surrounding areas and could open up the possibility of players being able to explore a more dangerous Wild Area than previously allowed.
2 Sections Of Previous Regions
Since Pokémon Gold and Silver, players have been wanting to dive into another Pokémon game that allowed them to explore a previous region in the same title. Although the Kanto region was able to be finished much faster in the sequels than in the original games, it made the world of Pokémon feel connected in a way that hasn’t been replicated since the second generation games. With Galar being based on Britain and other European countries, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to be able to visit regions like Kalos, which is based on France, or at least a small portion of it.
1 Battle Challenge Areas
Since Pokémon Crystal, it has been fairly common for players to have access to a particularly challenging mode of play once the main story has been completed, usually in the form of the Battle Tower. While Sword and Shield continued this trend, unlocking its own Battle Tower at the end of the story, it is decidedly more lacking than in previous titles. A way to rectify this could be to separate the different challenge modes into different areas or to open an entirely new challenge mode similar to the Battle Tree or the Battle Maison.
