This Pokemon Nintendo Direct caught me off guard. Sword and Shield weren’t even on my radar, but they are now. This may be the first Pokemon game I buy in ten years.

While I’ve spent time with a couple games in the series, I don’t consider myself a Pokemon fan. However, Sword and Shield  look like a Pokemon RPG on steroids. It features a fully 3D world with total camera control. Although they didn’t specifically say so in the Direct, it looks like random battles are out. You can actually see wild Pokemon out in the world now. In past games, you’re constantly told how amazing Pokemon are, and how the respective regions are brimming with wild Pokemon waiting to be caught and trained – but when you adventure out into the world, the only time you see a Pokemon is in battle when you’re attacked by one.

Graphically, I don’t remember any Pokemon game looking this green and lush. This is the first full-fledged Pokemon RPG made for a Nintendo console (as opposed to a dedicated handheld like the Game Boy), and Game Freak looks to be taking advantage of the Switch’s extra power. There’s also the Dynamax feature, which allows your Pokemon to grow massive in size, and battle other massive Pokemon.

Nintendo might finally hook me with this game. Hopefully, we’ll see more footage and details about the game next week at E3.