Pokémon Sword and Shield/Postwick

Player's House

You'll find that the video you were just watching was actually playing on your phone. Your friend Hop will come to pick you up and tell you that his brother Leon will be coming to the station at Wedgehurst. After he leaves, you'll be able to get up and begin playing. At this point, you can already check (an incomplete version of) the Town Map, as well as Save and use the Options menu.

There isn't anything too important to do here. Simply go all the way right until you find your bag and hat, and interact with them to put them on.

You'll now be able to access the Bag menu, and you may be able to see that it comes with 3 Potions, as well as an Adventure Guide, which will allow you to check hints that you've previously seen, and a Fishing Rod, which will allow you to fish in specific spots for Pokémon.

Now, go out of the house, through the exit to the left of the kitchen, where your mom is.

Postwick

Go down the stairs and you'll once again meet with Hop. You'll see a Wooloo Tackling fencing which leads to the Slumbering Weald, a place with scary strong Pokémon. Hop will scold the Wooloo, but it'll keep Tackling the fence anyway. Hop asks to race you to his house, so follow him. You'll also be able to see another path besides the one to Hop's house, but that is blocked by two Wooloo right now, so simply go into Hop's house.

Hop's House

Hop will ask his mom if Lee (how he refers to Leon) is already home. However, she tells you that he's probably only just arrived at the station, so Hop suggests that you two go pick him up, as he's terrible with directions. Once again, there isn't anything too interesting to see in here, so go out of the house, to the left and then forward to the path previously blocked by the Wooloo.

Route 1

Hop will inform you that, since you don't have a Pokémon, you shouldn't go into the tall grass yet. If you try doing so anyway, you won't be able to, so simply proceed straight to Wedgehurst station to find a crowd around it.

Wedgehurst

Once you arrive at the station, you'll see everyone cheering on Leon and his Charizard. After some comments about how strong Leon's Charizard is and how Leon's wish is for Galar's Trainers to become the strongest in the world, Hop will call out Leon, and he introduces himself to you. Hop once again asks for a race, this time against both you and Leon, back to his house. You'll instantly arrive there.

Back in Postwick

Leon brought Pokémon for you and Hop. Specifically, the three Starter Pokémon of this generation. After a short cutscene showcasing each of their personalities, you get to pick between the three.

Hop says you can have first pick, as he already has a partner Pokémon, that being his Wooloo. Simply walk up to the Pokémon you want to choose, interact with them and confirm your choice! You'll be asked if you want to nickname your Pokémon. This is never truly necessary, so only do it if you want. The Name Rater is present in every Pokémon Center in this game, so if you mistakenly name it something you didn't want, you can easily change it.

Starting Pokémon

Grookey	Scorbunny	Sobble
Grookey Grookey is the first of the three starter Pokémon. For the first time since Generation 2, its pure Grass type remains all the way through its evolution line. Grookey's focus is on Attack and Defense, though it keeps decent Speed even in its final state. Its purpose is to be your team's physical tank, and while it does have the characteristic that it will outspeed a lot of other tanky Pokémon, its pure Grass type does hinder this line a bit, as it can't benefit of a STAB boost from moves like Knock Off. Its signature move when evolving into its final state is Drum Beating, which will always lower the opponent's Speed, which can be useful to prevent sweeps or to set up your own sweeper to get out on the field after it. All in all, it's a very good physical attacker that can take hits and cripple your opponent while it stays on the field.	Scorbunny Scorbunny is Galar's own Fire-type starter. With very good Attack and Speed, it's your choice if you want a good sweeper. It'll be able to learn a lot of moves of different types, including Zen Headbutt, Iron Head and even Gunk Shot, making it a very menacing sweeper that can cover a lot of types. Though its Attack isn't as high as Grookey's, Scorbunny more than makes up for it in Speed, making it faster than a lot of Pokémon that you'll find throughout your adventure. Its signature move when evolving is Pyro Ball, which acts as a more accurate Fire Blast, as well as having exclusive access to the move Court Change, which switches hazards on your side of the field with the opponent's, including Light Screen and Reflect. Scorbunny is going to be your choice if you're not as experienced in Pokémon, as it can be considered this game's "easy mode", being that it learns moves that hit almost every Gym and League trainer's Pokémon for super-effective damage. Just watch out for bulky Pokémon that can live a hit and then retaliate with an easy knock out on you.	Sobble Last but not least, Sobble may be a crybaby in personality, but when it comes to stats it is anything but a pushover. It has the highest base Speed of the starters, with Special Attack that matches Grookey's Attack stat, making Sobble a very big threat on the special side. The problem is... almost all Special moves it learns are either Water or Ice-type, not allowing for a lot of coverage, especially without having the STAB boost on any non-Water type moves. Its signature move, Snipe Shot, is probably the worst of the three as well, being that its base power is only equivalent to Grookey's signature move, and it doesn't even have the addition of Speed lowering, being that the move's effect is to ignore moves and Abilities that draw in moves (like Follow Me and Storm Drain). Though it's not a bad starter in the slightest, in a regular playthrough of the game it'll probably be the least useful, as it is easily outclassed by a lot of other available Water types.

After you've chosen your starter, Hop will choose his. He'll always choose the starter who is weakest against you, but don't think that makes his fights free. Leon will take the remaining starter for himself, and just then your and Hop's moms will come to pick you up to eat some barbecue.

The next day

Leon will comment on how you and Hop have already grown a good bond with your starter Pokémon, and how some day you may even be worthy rivals for him. Leon proposes that you battle Hop, and asks if you're ready. You can say No and take some time to save your progress if you think it's necessary. Whenever you're ready, talk to Leon, tell him you're ready, and it's time for your first Pokémon battle!

Rival: Hop

If you selected Grookey
Pokémon	Type	Level	Moves
Wooloo	Normal	3	*Tackle
Sobble	Water	5	*Pound *Growl

If you selected Scorbunny
Pokémon	Type	Level	Moves
Wooloo	Normal	3	*Tackle
Grookey	Grass	5	*Scratch *Growl

If you selected Sobble
Pokémon	Type	Level	Moves
Wooloo	Normal	3	*Tackle
Scorbunny	Fire	5	*Tackle *Growl

You're guaranteed to hit level 7 if you defeat both of Hop's Pokémon, but be aware that this isn't a battle that you have to win, if you do lose the story will progress as normal.

Sudden Trouble

After your battle's done, Leon will compliment you both on a great battle, and will heal your Pokémon to full health. Hop tells you to go tell your mom you're heading out, but as soon as you walk left of Hop's house, you'll hear a crash. Going to check on it, you'll find that the Wooloo that was Tackling the fence earlier managed to get through. You have to save it, the Slumbering Weald is too dangerous! Even though it's forbidden to go in there, you and Hop decide to go for the Wooloo's sake. Follow Hop and go in.

Slumbering Weald

You'll arrive in a foggy area. Hop says that you'll have to find the Wooloo fast to stay out of danger. Going forward, you have your first instance of tall grass. As you go through Slumbering Weald for the first time, you'll always have 3 set encounters:

• A level 2 Skwovet;
• A level 2 Rookidee;
• Another Skwovet, this time level 3.

As you go through Slumbering Weald, you'll hear what sounds like a Pokémon cry. Keep going forward and you'll see the fog will start coming on thicker. You'll eventually come to a point where you can barely see anything, and suddenly... an unknown Pokémon attacks! While in battle with this Pokémon, you will not be able to see its name or level, and you will not be able to run, so your only remaining option is to attack it. However, attacks won't work! After attacking it again, it'll start making the fog thicker. Attack it a third time and the fog will be too thick to even see the battle, and you and Hop will be knocked out.

You'll wake up just as Leon is arriving, having also found the Wooloo you were looking for. Though Leon isn't happy that you came here, he can at least understand why you did it. He comments on how the Pokémon you fought before might've just been an illusion... Either way, you decide to go back home.

Time to go!

This time for real! It's time to truly begin your adventure, so go say goodbye to your mom. She'll give you some money (30000 pokedollars, to be exact) and 5 Pokéballs. And now, it's time to depart for Wedgehurst!