Pokemon Sword

Mild overall intensity
Highest flag: Animal combat — combat mechanic
AdventureFantasyRPG

What's in it

Violence cartoon/stylized
Low

Bloodless, cartoon turn-based battles where trained Pokemon use attacks to knock each other out; no injury detail, blood, or human harm.

Animal combat combat mechanic
Low

Collectible creatures are directed to battle one another with elemental attacks until they weaken and 'faint,' shown without blood, wounds, or gore.

Who can reach your kid

Gifting / trading

What it is

Pokemon Sword is a Nintendo Switch role-playing title suited to families, following a young trainer who explores the Galar region to capture, train, and pit collectible creatures known as Pokemon against one another, all while working through a sequence of stadium gym challenges on the path to becoming League Champion. Combat unfolds one turn at a time and shows no blood: the creatures deploy elemental moves and 'faint' once beaten, without any depiction of gore, wounds, or person-against-person fighting. The title contains nothing sexual, no swearing, no depiction of drinking, and no wagering. Its online options allow trading and matches with other people, strangers included, yet the game provides no spoken or typed conversation with strangers; contact stays restricted and relies on preset codes. No microtransactions appear in the main title, although a DLC expansion pass can be bought on its own.

How it's framed

Content in the title is built around good-natured contests, discovery, and looking after one's Pokemon; disagreement takes the form of sporting matches rather than injury, and the plot revolves around bonds between characters and advancing up a tournament ladder.

Details

Developer
Game Freak
Publisher
The Pokemon Company / Nintendo
Released
2019
Metacritic 80critic score (third-party) · out of 100

Similar games

We built this because we needed it

Balanced Play pools your kids' game time into one budget across Steam, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and more. We're taking 100 founding families — free for life.

Claim a founding spot →

Free for life for the first 100. No card, no spam.