With most entries of Pokemon you usually get a pair of games and then after a certain amount of time a new game is released with a little bit of additional content from the original title. Now I loved playing Pokemon Sword and was really excited that this new content was available as DLC rather than having to pay for another game to start all over again to only get a little bit of new content. In this game the DLC introduced two new regions called The Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra and I’ll review both of them collectively. Some spoilers will be present but I’ll keep it to a minimum.

Starting with the Isle of Armor I really loved how different the area was from the mainland that we have become so accustomed to in Pokemon Sword/Shield. It was very vast and full of Pokemon unique to that area and even made some hard to find Pokemon already in the game a little easier to find. So the exploration aspect was so much fun. Now for the story content. The story is good but a bit too short for my taste. You go through a dojo where you participate in a few tests that are not that time consuming. Then you get a Pokemon named Kubfu where you raise it till it can handle a trial in one of two towers in the Isle of Armor. After beating the trail Kubfu evolves and you get a couple more quick tasks before you wrap up the story content of the Isle of Armor. Now as a bonus you still have the new Pokemon to catch and a side mission to find 151 diglets that takes awhile. But as for the story of the Isle of Armor it’s all really good but it really needed about two more hours of content.

The Crown Tundra is where the DLC really takes it up a level. You have an amazing icy tundra full of ruins to explore and they are beautifully rendered. You get several stories in this DLC one involving the new legendary Calyrex and restoring it to it’s full power. You also get a story involving the Galaraian forms of the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres. Finally you get a story involving locating the four ruins containing the legendary Regi Golems. It really fulfilled a desire to have a sense of adventure and exploration that honestly was superior to what was offered in the main game and the Isle of Armor. You also have raids that allow you to catch any Legendary Pokemon which are a lot of fun to do and you have the Galarian Star tournament which pits competitors in two on two battles so you can pair up with rivals, gym leaders etc for fun combinations.

Overall I found the DLC collectively to be a worthwhile investment; however, most of the reward for that investment will come from the Crown Tundra. I enjoyed the Isle of Amor a lot but it doesn’t take a lot to solve all the story content it has where as the story content in the Crown Tundra has three separate stories that really motivate you to explore and see what all the area had to offer. I also think that this method of using DLC to introduce new content is far superior to having gamers pay for a whole new game and play what is for the most part the same experience just for a couple of new moments not previously offered.