Where Is Pokemon Sword And Shield's Wild Area?

How big is Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield's Wild Area? An article in a Japanese magazine has revealed exactly how large that portion of the game's world is. And it's pretty massive, taking up the whole center of the Galar map.

All this information comes from a leak reported on by CoroCoro magazine, which has historically given players the scoop on new Pokemon games these past few years. Given the outlet's reputation, however, internet ne'er-do-wells have often created fake CoroCoro pages, so we might have to take this posting with a grain of salt. Given the dimensions of the map and what we already know, this seems like a legitimate leak... but you never know. 

Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield have unveiled several brand new, never before seen mechanics thanks to the power of the Nintendo Switch, the new home for mainline Pokemon games. One of those new mechanics is the Wild Area, a seemingly Breath of the Wild-inspired land where trainers can roam freely among the wild Pokemon. Here, the game plays like any open world title might with players able to walk around, get into a lake or two, and even camp out with their Pokemon team. And it turns out that this area is actually pretty big, directly comparable to the space used up by cities and towns. All those lakes? Free to explore. The Wild Area seems to start here and follows a route up to that big, fortress of a city in the mountains at the top of the map. There's considerable space to explore. 

There are many different types of weather in the Wild Area, everything from rain storms to sand storms. This will dictate the type of Pokemon wandering around, ready and waiting for capture. Night time will also yield different species from the day, so don't be afraid of taking a moonlit stroll if you're interested in catching a ghost type or two.

Pokemon Sword and Shield come to Nintendo Switch on Nov. 15, 2019.