>two regions
>game starts in a cold, mountainous region with mostly traditional cities with historical landmarks, only one or two cities that are more modern or industry-heavy
>entire regional dex consists of 200 new pokemon and new regional variants with 11/10 designs that are all viable
>upgrade from Gen IV's underground, in which there is essentially an entire underground region with underground cities and ruins
>you can catch prehistoric variants of fossil pokemon that have rock-type replaced and new abilities
>conflict between two evil teams, one that simply wants money and power but wants to keep order by stopping the other team, which is after some kind of time-space power
>return of shadow Pokemon from gamecube games
>all shadow Pokemon are Pokemon that are oherwise unavailable in the region
>expanded refresh/amie feature in which you can interact with your Pokemon one-on-one in a comfy Pokemon channel like environment in any Pokemon center, Poke Pelago, your Secret base, or your house or villa
>Poke Pelago is expanded, allowing you use the expanded refresh//amie on any Pokemon in the box that is there
>All wild Pokemon that you can find at the pelago are pokemon otherwise unavailable in the region
>two Safari Zones consisting entirely of regional variants, one in each region
>you challenge the regions ancient traditional trials and totem Pokemon in the main game, and can challenge the gyms and league in the postgame
>Battle Subway is available in the main game, higher rank Battle Tower, Battle Frontier, World Tournament, and improved Battle Royale all postgame
>You go to the second region in the postgame, which is comfier and has more tropical and with more modern cities, this region also only has new Pokemon and regional variants
