Although Sword and Shield introduced a variety of welcome changes to the traditional Pokemon formula, one iconic aspect of your odyssey to become the very best was missing: HMs.

HMs, or Hidden Machines, are devices used to teach Pokemon highly specific techniques. Unlike the illustrious Flamethrowers and Hyper Beams of the Pokemon world, HMs are primarily useful outside of battle. For example, having a Blastoise who knows Surf allows you to sail the seven seas at will, while a Machamp with the Strength ability will make sure that ostensibly immovable boulders don’t block your path.

In Sword and Shield, there are similar environmental obstacles that act as impasses on your journey across Galar - but you don’t need HMs to overcome them, and that’s a bit shit.

It’s important to concede that Sword and Shield were not the first pair of Pokemon titles to ditch HMs. Sun and Moon, which come directly previous to Sword and Shield in mainline Pokemon chronology, also reappropriated the way in which Hidden Machines work.

Instead of having to teach these moves to compatible Pokemon and waste a move slot as a result, you could simply call one of your ‘mons who was capable of learning them at will - regardless of where you were. It’s sort of like how you call Roach in The Witcher 3, except you do it when you’re stuck at a body of water, or are trapped in a dark cave. Once you make the call, your Lapras or Abra or whoever just rock up out of nowhere, four whole moves to their name and yet fully capable of executing a technique that should have been derived from a HM.

This, at face value, seems like a major improvement from previous Pokemon games. And I’ll admit that it was often frustrating to have to bring awful Pokemon with you just to pass through certain areas. For those unacquainted with the concept, HMs can’t be unlearned - the only way to get rid of one is to visit the Move Deleter, which is a real pain in the arse because each game only has one. And, given that the majority of HMs are absolutely useless in battle - aside from Surf, Strength, and Waterfall - teaching them to your good Pokemon was a pretty stupid idea.

It meant they would have to give up one move slot out of four, making them far less versatile. On top of that, if you happened to be in the midst of a particularly marathonic battle, it would take you even longer to get to Struggle, the surprisingly effective move Pokemon resort to when they’ve used up all their PP.

So yeah, I can see why people think removing HMs was a net gain overall. I understand the rationale that informs that decision. But for the life of me, I think it’s one of the worst things that ever happened to the series. This is not a hill I will die on - it’s one I will actively fight to survive on.

When I first played through Moon I thought the removal of HMs was brilliant. No more dragging a stupid Bidoof around just to smash rocks with its forehead. No more wasting party slots on annoying Bellsprouts just so they can slice up little trees with their leaf hands. But this - unbeknownst to myself at the time - fundamentally changed how Pokemon actually played for me. I have never gone back to Moon after beating it the first time around, and I think the lack of HMs is probably why.

Before I get into that, let me build on how far this has pushed me away. I pre-ordered the Isle of Armor DLC for Pokemon Sword after putting a solid 60 hours into the base game. The day it came out, I said, “Alright, I’ll play it tomorrow.” That was about 50 yesterdays ago. And I’m not going to play it today, either.

The reason HMs were so integral to the experience of playing Pokemon was primarily because of how well they governed the world - or, perhaps more accurately, determined your interactions with it. In Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, you come across a smashable rock about 30 seconds to the right of the first Gym, but you can’t get by it until way later on in the story. So, naturally, you come back at that point in time, because you remember, “Oh, there was that rock right at the start of the game! I want to smash it!”

This happens - albeit to a lesser extent - in Generations 7 and 8, too. The difference is you can just waltz back and click a button, because the HM-equivalents of these games allow you to use Secret Techniques whenever you want. You don’t need a specific Pokemon with you, or a certain Gym Badge - you can just click Sky Dash or Sea Skim and you can do as you please.

(Admittedly, I do like that when you are Surfing with your Gyarados that you actually sit on him, so let’s keep that bit - I just want Surf to be a HM again.)

Anyway, there are two main issues with the way newer Pokemon games have gotten rid of HM. The first one is, as I’ve discussed above, that fact that it absolutely ruins the idea of revisiting earlier areas. Sword and Shield have an interesting section where you go back to the starting town, but it’s for narrative reasons and it’s necessary to further progression. In previous games, maps were designed in a way that actively encouraged you to go backwards - just look at Cerulean Cave in Gen 1. You see it once you get to Cerulean City, and when you revisit it three Gyms later after learning Surf, you’re still not allowed in. You have to beat the Pokemon League before you gain proper access, and once you’re in there you need Surf, Strength, Flash - the works. It’s a post-game section that denies you entry twice during the main game - and the first time is great because you think getting a new HM will net you access, but the guy just goes, “Get out of my face”.

The other reason is that it makes it more difficult to feel an affinity with your Pokemon. It used to drive me nuts when I had to sub out my Dragonite for a Geodude, but as soon as I got through the cave in question and could swap them back I was absolutely chuffed. As an addendum to that, the tricky situations where I had to teach my Swampert Rock Smash… Listen, they were tough times, but we got to the Move Deleter eventually and the relief was real. Let’s not talk about it, we can just be extra grateful that it’s over and done with now.

HMs promote exploration in ways that Secret Techniques largely fail to, and whether they cause you to temporarily swap your favourite Pokemon for the one you hate most or force you to spoil the former’s meticulously designed moveset just to move a pesky boulder out of the way, they quietly create links that make you actively want to use your favourites. They are indirectly a part of the reason that facing the Elite Four for the 847th time in one playthrough is a seemingly reasonable thing to do.

That magic of all that is gone now - it dissipated when they removed HMs.

Read next: Pokémon Sword & Shield: Every Gym Mission, Ranked