Over The Horizon
The day Pokemon Sword & Shield owners have waited for is here. The Isle of Armor, the first paid DLC of the title, has arrived and is chock-full of new Pokemon and features. The new region itself is full of caves to explore and islands to discover, making a vast improvement to the Wild Area experience. The DLC is tied together with a fun narrative and rewards a strong Pokemon upon completion, making it worth the time to the trainers looking to be the very best.
New Friends and Powerful Tools
The features added in the DLC expand on the accessibility of the competitive side of battling. Max Soup, the newest method to strengthen your Pokemon, can grant any species able to Gigantamax the ability to do so. This gives your favorite Pokemon the ability to have this rare trait, previously only available through Max Raid battles if they are able to reach it. This option also unlocks these special forms for your starter Pokemon, a notable absence from the original release. These all come with a lighthearted storyline that attempts to add to the lore of the original Sword or Shield campaign and unlocks new features on the island as you progress. You will also be given the Pokemon Kubfu, a cute and powerful kung-fu bear Pokemon who is the main character of the story of the island. Along with a few new currencies and daily missions to complete the Isle of Armor makes a fantastic first impression, especially with a much-enhanced Wild Area that puts the one on the mainland to shame. This is especially true for the competitive player, giving them even more options to customize their Pokemon with new Move Tutors and unlockable upgrades for the Dojo.
Yearning For Adventure
The Isle of Armor adds a nice dash of life to the rather stagnant offerings of Pokemon Sword and Shield. This makes it all the more unfortunate to realize it can all be experienced in less than a day. The characters and new story are fun but seem oddly disconnected from the events of the main story, only to be swept back into its context after about the halfway point. This strange narrative choice makes the storyline a bit jarring to experience especially when everyone is calling the Galar League Champion an “inexperienced newbie.”
The difficulty of the campaign is also nonexistent in the same manner as the main one, even beyond the attempt the game makes to scale the monsters towards your level. The unlockable “Restricted Sparring” battles offer a fun new twist on the Battle Tower formula and challenge your knowledge of typing, but little in way of a compelling experience to anyone but the hardcore fan.
Bon Voyage
While this is only the first of two DLC expansions planned for the game this year, The Isle of Armor feels less like a paid expansion and more like a World of Warcraft style content patch. Furthermore, this DLC feels very comparable to the post-game scenarios of past Pokemon titles which always included an epilogue scenario after becoming the League Champion. The improved Wild Area and new Pokemon are both great additions added in this DLC but the short storyline, small landmass of the island and lack of replayability for the casual player leave a lot to be desired.
