Pokemon fans are in a class beyond usual fandoms. They’re passionate (insanely so) about the game. Take a look at the success of Pokemon Go to see what lengths they’d go to.

Understandably, they’re not happy about Pokemon Sword and Shield, the latest games in the series.

On Metacritic (a site that compiles and aggregates review scores from critics and gamers), Pokemon Sword flies high with the critics at a great score of 81. With the fans, it’s a different story. Pokemon Sword’s rated a 4.2…devastatingly bad.

So why the hate?

It’s with the perceived cuts and lack of features present in Pokemon Sword and its counterpart, Pokemon Shield. A ton of legacy Pokemon don’t make the cut, features from past games are missing…there’s a ton that’s drawing ire from stalwart fans of the series.

It’s certainly arguable that Game Freak is mishandling this particular installment, especially in light of proof like the above.

I’m betting Nintendo’s going to step in and announce that DLC for legacy monsters will be incoming in light of all the flak the series is getting. Out of all the issues fans have, that’s the one that’s the biggest and honestly, the most valid.

When will it happen though? That’s a mystery.

Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.