Pokemon Sword And Shield Won’t Have HMs, But Will Have Optional Autosaves And Experience Sharing

Three new details about Pokemon Sword & Shield have been revealed. Namely, the way the game will function have been changed in two ways. This new installment won’t have any HMs, but it will allow people to turn autosaving and share experience among Pokemon. (Thanks, Game Informer!)

When Game Informer spoke to Planning Director Kazumasa Iwao, it learned that HMs didn’t make it into this installment. Iwao said, “We didn’t have them in Sun and Moon, and this time around, we didn’t feel it really matched the concept, especially with the Wild Area and wanting to have this higher degree of freedom. The player can kind of choose how they want to engage with the gameplay. Having the more HM-based elements, we didn’t feel it really matched the game, so this time around they’re not in it."

As for the Pokemon Sword and Shield autosave, it will be an optional feature. People can choose whether or not the feature is on. If it is, full autosave will be available everywhere in the game. Director Shigeru Ohmori told Game Informer, “It’s a new feature we’re implementing: full autosave functionality. Traditionally in Pokemon games, it’s an important thing to write your report to record your save, and that’s always been a staple, like, ‘Remember to save your game!’ We do have an autosave feature this time, where you can just adventure and it’ll constantly save the game."

When it comes to experiencing sharing, there isn’t an EXP Share item. Instead, Omori told Game Informer that experience is doled out automatically to all six Pokemon in your active party.

Pokemon Sword and Shield will come to the Nintendo Switch on November 15, 2019.