Pokémon Sword and Shield will include autosave, a series first

Pokémon Sword and Shield, arriving on Nov. 15 for Nintendo Switch, will include an autosave feature.

According to an interview with GameInformer, Game Freak director Shigeru Ohmori said autosave will be running in the background all throughout the game. Fans who want a more traditional experience can turn it off, which will require them to pause the game and note their progress in the in-game journal in order to save. But autosave will be turned on by default.

“It’s a new feature we’re implementing: full autosave functionality,” Ohmori said in the interview. “Traditionally in Pokémon 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.”

The team behind Pokemon Sword and Shield are clearly thinking outside the box this time around. The game will include eighth generation creatures, including one shaped like a teapot and another who’s a ghost. It will also allow Pokémon to get jobs, picking up some extra cash in the Galar Region’s gig economy. Sword and Shield will even add new mechanics like Dynamaxing and Gigantimaxing. The game launches around the same time as its own limited edition Switch Lite hardware, which arrives on Nov. 8. That device will include new legendary Pokémon Zacian and Zamazenta.

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