Pokémon Sword and Shield Postwick and Hop's house - getting your first Pokémon

Postwick and Hop's house are the very first locations of your adventure through Galar, marking the beggining of your quest through Pokémon Sword and Shield's main story.

On each page of our walkthrough like this, we'll cover any and all of the obtainable Pokémon, item locations, trainers and their teams that you might come across here, as well as walking you through any key steps of the story, puzzles or challenges along the way.

Where applicable, note that our walkthrough pages will be down into separate sections referring to each of your visits to a given location, seeing as you often backtrack or revisit various places in your quest to become Galar League Champion. And of course if there are any, we'll clearly mark any spoilers, too!

For more explainers, meanwhile, or walkthrough pages on more locations in Sword and Shield, head back to our main Pokémon Sword and Shield walkthrough and guide hub.

On this page:

Pokémon Sword and Shield: Postwick

Welcome to Galar! You'll start your journey - after a brief cutscene featuring Chairman Rose - lounging on the sofa and flicking through your phone.

Your first tasks are to grab your bag and hat, which are waiting in your room, then head outside, where you'll meet your friendly rival, Hop. You'll notice a mischievous little Wooloo trying to tackle a gate, too, but worry about that later - follow Hop to Wedgehurst, past his house just down the road!

You'll technically be on Route 1 on your way there, but you can't enter the long grass just yet, so go straight on down the hill to the village where a crowd is gathered, and watch the brief cutscene that unfolds, where you'll first meet Galar's resident, undefeated Champion (and Hop's older brother), Leon.

With it finally in the wild, here's how to start the Crown Tundra DLC and our full Pokémon Crown Tundra walkthrough. Plus, here's how to catch Calyrex, Glastrier and Spectrier, the Regieleki and Regidrago puzzle solution and Regirock, Regice, Registeel locations, details on how to catch Legendary Birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres in the Crown Tundra, the Ultra Beasts and Necrozma adventure, Dynamax Adventures, including the legendries you can catch on these adventures, and the new Crown Tundra Pokédex and returning Pokémon explained. For Isle of Armor players, here's how to find the Slowpoke, where to find Max Mushroom locations, and how to get Kubfu, become best friends and evolve it, plus all Diglett locations too! For the base game, here's info on the ability to transfer Pokémon to Pokémon Home, the Wild Area, lists of all TM locations and TRs, all Galarian forms and finally our main Pokémon Sword and Shield walkthrough for the whole game.

Pokémon Sword and Shield: Hop's house

Straight after that you'll be back at Hop's house, and it's time to pick your starter! If you want a bit more detail on what to expect, here's our guide to the three Pokémon Sword and Shield starters Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble.

Available Pokémon

Available Items

After that it's time to battle Hop, in your first Pokémon battle in Galar. For the first time, too, your rival will start with two Pokémon instead of one: first a Wooloo, and then his starter, which will be whichever one is the weaker type when facing yours.

Trainers and Battles

Finally, it's then time to start your adventure - but wait! Just as you're about to head off, Hop notices something. That Wooloo's broken through the fence. Better chase after it, into the mysterious Slumbering Weald. If you're after more guides though, head back to our main Pokémon Sword and Shield walkthrough and guide hub for all the other pages we have like this.