Traveling to the Pokémon Sword and Shield overworld can lead to a lot of battles, so Game Freak has brought back crouching. Crouching allows you to slowly sneak past Pokemon so you don't fight everything you come across. They've also added whistles so you can get the attention of Pokemon you're interested in.
How to Whistle in Pokémon Sword and Shield
Hop will teach you how to whistle as you head to the station. All you have to do is press the left stick of your controller. Any Pokémon within hearing range will be intrigued by the sound and a question mark will appear above their head.
The Pokemon will approach you, but it won't move into the encounter area. You can use a whistle to help you in several ways. If you think you see a Pokemon you want, like Eevee, you can use the whistle to get its attention. She will then go near you and you can move around the encounter area to try to catch her.
If a path is full of Pokemon and it's hard to pass, you can whistle them together and clear the path for you. This can save you a lot of time, since you don't have to fight every Pokémon in the game.
Pokémon also have different behaviors. Some will chase you, while others will run away from you. So using the crouch and whistle mechanics will make it much easier for you to get the Pokemon you want and add it to your Pokédex.
