The reception to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet wasn’t great. Critics generally had positive or mixed opinions, landing the game with a score of 72 on Metacritic. Users, though… they weren’t so reasonable, and it’s currently sitting at a score of 4/10. Here at DDNet, Matt gave the game five stars (or 100 on Metacritic, the game’s highest score), stating, “the promise of a big but blissfully uncomplicated world, filled with adventure and monsters to collect, brought me right back to what drew me into the whole Pokémon franchise in the first place.” And that big, blissfully uncomplicated world is about to get bigger (though possibly more complicated) with newly-announced DLC, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. The DLC will launch in two parts.
Part 1: The Teal Mask will be released this “fall,” so presumably sometime from September to November. Players will be chosen to take part in a school trip held in collaboration with another school. They’ll head to the land of Kitakami, where a great mountain stands high above to land and people live at its base. It’s tranquil and natural, with lots of rice paddies and apple orchards. There will be a festival happening at the time, so the village is bustling with energy, street vendors, and stalls. Meet new friends (and new Pokémon) while unraveling the mysteries behind local folktales.
Part 2: The Indigo Disk has players travelling to Blueberry Academy, a sister school, as exchange students. That’s about all that’s been announced so far. It’s supposed to launch in “Winter” 2023, which basically implies December. (On that note, I once again implore publishers to use quarters, not seasons.)
Across the two parts, players will encounter of 230 familiar Pokémon that have been found in other regions but not appeared in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. According to the press release, this includes Pokémon that players will bring to their games via Pokémon Home or trades. There will be two new Legendary Pokémon: Ogerpon in Part 1 and Terapagos in Part 2. In Part 1, there will be three new Pokémon beloved by locals as heroes that have protected the land: Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti.
Player who purchase the DLC by October 31 (implying it will be released before then) will get a serial code for a special gift, a Hisuian Zoroark. It knows three moves: Happy Hour (which cannot be learned through normal gameplay), Tera Blast, Bitter Malice, and Nasty Plot. It has the Charismastic Mark, and its Tera Type is Dark. The codes will be valid until February 29 (a leap year!), 2024.
