Pokemon Sword & Shield's open-world Wild Area is as big as two regions from Breath of the Wild

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That's pretty big

(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

I'm what you'd call a casual fan of Pokemon - Red and Blue were formative to my passion for gaming, and I've enjoyed most of the mainline entries. That said, I'm more excited about Pokemon than ever with the upcoming release of Pokemon Sword and Shield. I love the new locale, I'm psyched about all the new Pokemon, but most of all it's the addition of open-world RPG elements that has me counting the seconds until November 15. The Wild Area is an expansive section of the map that connects the different towns within Galar, and we now have a good idea about just how expansive it is.

According to a Nintendo rep speaking with Metro, the Wild Area is roughly equivalent in size to two regions from Breath of the Wild put together. For comparison's sake, we know the Great Plateau from Breath of the Wild is roughly the same size as the entire map in Ocarina of Time, and that's only one of 15 different regions in Breath of the Wild. That means if what we hear is true, we can expect a good amount of room to roam within Pokemon Sword and Shield's Wild Area.

In our own hands-on preview of Pokemon Sword and Shield, Samuel Horti found a great deal of charm in Galor's very British personality, and loved encountering high level Pokemon right from the start around Galor's open-world Wild Area. Thankfully, it sounds like the Wild Area lives up to the open-world description, at least in terms of its size.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.