Pokemon Sword and Shield shows off a new town during Gamescom, featuring a train station and lots of Wooloos

Pokemon Sword and Shield
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Pokemon Sword and Shield went full steam ahead at Gamescom this year by showcasing a video with a look at a new town in the Galar region, which features the new mode of transport coming to the next Pokemon adventure in the form of a train station. While Game Freak wasn’t actually in attendance at the event since the studio “is hard at work” on the game, at least we got go on a tour of the Galar region with Sword and Shield's director Shigeru Ohmori. 

The quaint, picturesque little town is where Professor Magnolia resides and researches the Dynamax phenomenon - you know, that new ability that makes every Pokemon absolute units. Along with the flying taxi service where you get transported from place to place by the Flying Steel Type Galarian Pokemon Corviknight, you’ll be able to pop on a train to commute or travel for pleasure. The adorable little train station has barriers just like stations do here in the UK; let’s just hope it doesn't have too many pokestops or emulate the delays and expensive fees we get over here too. In Pokemon X and Y, there was a train station in Couriway Town that you couldn’t access, and a theory has been floating around about the idea that the new station feature could link up to the Kalos region in X and Y, which is based on France. If true, it would essentially be like the Eurostar in the real world. 

Packed with oodles of charm (helped in no small part by all the Wooloo on the street), the tour of the town shows off a cute little market stall that sells fresh produce. And wait a minute, stop everything! There’s a fashion boutique! Customising your trainer and changing up their style is always such a fun addition to the world of Pokemon. You have to wonder if there’ll also be accessories for your Pokemon pals too like Pokemon Let’s Go. Either way, I can’t wait to pop to the shops when Sword and Shield launches November 15.

Catching up on all things Sword and Shield? Here are all of the gen 8 Pokemon announced so far. 

Heather Wald
Senior staff writer

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at GamesRadar+. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.