Postwick

Begin your Pokemon Sword and Shield adventure in the charming town of Postwick. Follow Hop, grab your starter gear, and learn essential game mechanics before heading out.

Alright, so the game kicks off for real in Postwick, which is this cute little farming town way down south in Galar. They call it a town, but honestly, it looks more like just a couple of houses. You'll start off chilling in your living room, probably watching that exhibition match from earlier. Suddenly, your neighbor Hop bursts in!

Turns out, Hop's the younger brother of the current Champion, Leon. And guess what? Leon's heading home *right now*. Hop's super excited and bolts outside to find him, dragging you along. You don't really have anything better to do, right? But first, you gotta get yourself ready and looking sharp.

Once Hop bails, just nudge the analogue stick or press a button to get off the couch. Feel free to check out your awesome living room, then head right and go through your house. You'll pass the entrance, wave to your Mum in the kitchen, and finally reach your bedroom. Grab your bag and hat from the floor next to your bed. That's it, you're prepped for your big adventure!

The game will also throw some adventuring tips your way. When you're moving your character, hit the X button to bring up the main menu. From there, you can access your bag (where all your stuff is), save your game (super important!), check the town map, and tweak your game options.

You might want to dive into the options menu real quick. Most of it's pretty straightforward, so you'll probably figure it out easily.

Note: An Optional Note

The “Battle Style” option is probably the most crucial one. By default, if your opponent has more than one Pokémon, you get a chance to switch your own Pokémon after they announce their next move but before they send it out. This is super helpful for beginners or if you just want a smoother experience. If you switch it to “Set,” you lose that option, making the game a bit tougher (and it's the standard for online battles).

There are also two new options worth mentioning. “Autosave,” like it says, automatically saves your game when you move between areas and stuff. If you're the type to forget to save and you trust the game to handle it, keep this on. However, we still totally recommend saving manually whenever you hit a big milestone.

“Casual Controls” changes things up so you can play using just one Joy-Con controller.

Anyway, head back left, towards the entrance (between the living room and kitchen). Go down, past that little red mat, and exit your house. Outside, Hop will be waiting at the bottom of the steps. Hop down to meet him. After a quick chat, Hop will dash off towards his house. Head right and follow him. Cross the little bridge, and you'll see another house – that's Hop's place.

Just walk through the open gate at the front and keep going right to the door. No need to knock since you're buddies, just head on in! Hop will ask his Mum if Leon's there yet, but nope, he's not. Your best bet for finding Leon is to head to the train station in Wedgehurst, the next town over.

Feel free to poke around Hop's house; there's even an upstairs! When you're ready, leave the way you came. Back outside, go left to get back on the main path. You should see Hop further up. Catch up to him, and he'll warn you about wild Pokémon in the tall grass ahead. Since you don't have any Pokémon to defend yourself with yet, you can't go into the tall grass right now (Hop will actually yell at you if you try!).