Pokémon Winds and Waves: everything confirmed so far

Game Freak officially revealed Pokémon Winds and Waves, a new paired mainline entry set in an open-world region inspired by Southeast Asia. The announcement trailer showed off the region, the three starter Pokémon, and a notable new mechanic — underwater exploration.

The unnamed region draws clear influence from the Philippines, with hints of Indonesia and Malaysia visible in the trailer. That fits the long-running series tradition of grounding each region in a real-world location: Kalos mirrors France, Unova references the United States, and so on. Underwater travel is the headline new mechanic — players can dive beneath the surface to find Pokémon unavailable on land, echoing the diving sections in Ruby and Sapphire but built for a fully open world rather than a handful of designated dive spots. The starters follow the classic Grass, Fire, and Water trio format, though only those three new Pokémon have been officially confirmed so far. Version differences are confirmed but sparse on detail: Winds players start with a white cowboy hat and white backpack, while Waves players get a blue cap and bag — each with distinct logos whose meaning hasn't been explained yet.

The open-world direction continues a path Game Freak has been building since Legends: Arceus and Scarlet/Violet, both of which pushed the series toward more freeform exploration. Winds and Waves looks like a more confident step in that direction, with vertical exploration — surface and underwater — adding a dimension those earlier games lacked. The Southeast Asia setting is also a first for the mainline series, which has leaned heavily on East Asia, Europe, and North America for its regional inspirations.

A significant amount of information is currently circulating online from unconfirmed leaks, so the picture beyond what the trailer showed remains murky. The confirmed details — region inspiration, underwater traversal, starter types, and version-exclusive outfits — are solid ground; everything else should be treated as rumor until Game Freak or The Pokémon Company says otherwise.