A few months ago I wrote an article talking about how DLC could fix the “Dexit” in Sword and Shield and I wasn’t far off. Let me tell you why it is the best scenario possible!
Today we were invited to watch the first Pokemon Direct of 2020 and I must say that it left me more hyped than the actual season leading up to Sword and Shield. Game Freak was not too shy on details as opposed to the scarce reveals before Sword and Shield. A lot was shown! Now where do we start?
We start east of Galar and we sail towards “Isle of Armor” hosting a load of old favorites ready to complete your expanded Galar pokedex. The isle has a lush and semi tropical feel but it doesn’t feel like a cheap Alola copy at all. The artwork and gameplay shown really capture the green Isles in all their glory. Our protagonists also receive a make-over to tackle a new challenge in the dojo.
“The theme is all about growth and the game itself grows instead of rebooting.”
Game Freak is known for rebooting a generation by adding a third version like Platinum or even adding chapters like B&W2. But the result was always the same: Buying a fully priced game again only to start it all over again in a slightly different story. This time around Game Freak has embraced a better fit for the series; Expansions!
Why would you play the same game again only to grind through the story and trade in your team from your older game? With the expansion you keep your trusted team and the journey continues, it grows! The lore of galar is further expanded upon and I feel like the drafted gyms that were originally rumored to be in S&S were added to both games’ expansions. Which is good! The extra characters look fleshed out and the story around them looks interesting enough. It’s a nice touch to have a slightly different expansion experience just like the core games Sword and Shield. Other characters, other monsters and other gyms!
South of Galar we find the Crown Tundra. A more snowy area including a wild area larger than the one in Galar and even hosting raids underground. Here it’s all about exploring and I feel like there will be more to this area they’re not talking about yet!
As I said in my previous article DLC or expansions are the way to go to complete the dex. It gives Game Freak time to continue adding cut monsters to the games again and I felt like the core Galar dex was well balanced anyway. But for the expansions it is nice to get 200 more monsters including the legendaries!
Speaking of legendaries, the datamining spoiled a lot of games and also Sword and Shield but somehow Game Freak was able to hide some more surprises from us! A couple of cool new legendaries are coming to add some more lore and with their unique typings we can’t wait to use them in the meta!
Only looking at the artwork and new clothing elements it feels like a new game already and hopefully the updates will tackle some of the issues online that were present in the first outing. It was very ambitious and with these new expansions we believe these might actually be the most ambitious Pokemon games ever!
My body is ready for more Pokemon! And honestly I think they were teasing even more too!
When showing these two new areas they started from the galar region map and went east and then south. I wonder if in 2021 we’ll go north and west too in another expansion pass? Maybe I’m digging too far into this but I feel more hyped already!
DLC or expansion packs are the way to go for the future! It’s way more fun to continue a journey than having to start a slightly different one from scratch, isn’t it? And my wallet is happier too! What do you think? 3rd versions again or DLC ?
