So recently the first part of the DLC for Pokemon Scarlet/Violet came out called the Teal Mask. Now last time we got DLC for Pokemon I opted to just wait to play it all at once and review both parts together but this time I was a bit more curious and decided to just get the DLC immediately and review it as it comes out.

As for the story behind the Teal Mask your character is invited to do a study in a land located within the Unova region called Kitakami. While there you learn about the lore behind the land of how a mysterious evil Ogre appeared and the Loyal Three sacrificed themselves to save the town. However, as you explore the area you find there’s a lot more to this story and not everything is as it seems.

Right away I want to talk about the story because I honestly enjoyed it. While short it does have it’s charm as I love a good lore filled adventure especially one where the deeper down the rabbit hole you go the more you find and it’s a lot of fun taking the time to get the complete story. The story told in the land of Kitakami is one that makes sense given the context the people who originally told the story had, but when you find out the entire story it flips the script giving you an entirely different perspective. The new Pokemon Ogrepon and the Loyal Three are interesting even if I think the designs are just ok, but what I absolutely love is the mask element. Ogrepon is connected to these masks that due to story reasons become spread out all over Kitakami and you have to retrieve them and not only are they each unique and incredible looking but the powers they provide to Ogrepon are great literally giving it various types to use for battle. The story as a whole is interesting, but it resolves fairly instantly. Once you learn the truth it’s easy to think it would be a challenge to get the people of Kitakami to learn it as well given that they have an extensive history believing their own perspective of events but no they took to the news effortlessly which deflated all sense of tension a bit too instantaneously and I felt like a little more time could have been taken to flesh this transition out a bit.

The story focuses on two new characters, siblings Carmine and Kieran. Carmine is a bit overbearing and hates outsiders but is kind and compassionate at heart while Kieran is shy and reserved but also very passionate. I didn’t love or hate these characters I just found they worked perfectly for the story. What I didn’t enjoy is the fact that your character is locked into very specific choices even if there are multiple dialogue options to choose from, which to me is pointless. First of all why give dialogue options if they essentially yield the same result but more than that I didn’t like what the result was in this case. Decisions made by Carmine that you are essentially forced as a player to follow cause tension with Kieran which I felt was not only frustrating but entirely pointless. I won’t go into details as to what the decisions were to avoid spoilers I just felt like it was a very rough way to add conflict to overcome in the plot.

One thing I do love is how this is clearly connected to part two where the DLC of the previous generation was two separate events. The end of the DLC sets up conflict for the rest of the story and I’m pretty interested in seeing where it goes.

The land of Kitakami is also interesting. It not only had it’s own lore but clearly it’s own culture as well which is something you can see in the events the area has to offer down to the very way the clothing, shops and towns are designed. It clearly stands out from anything we’ve seen in this generation and I love the effort put into that. Plus where in the main game I thought a lot of the areas looked pretty similar, since we’re dealing with a smaller map each area was unique to one another and not only did it make it easier to navigate but it promoted exploration since each area offered it’s own experience. Though I was surprised to see the same visual concerns as well with things moving unusually slow and robotic from a distance.

Overall while The Teal Mask is a short experience it is an entertaining one that establishes a new land with its own lore and culture. I had a great time exploring everything to uncover the secrets the story has to offer and to just see what the map had to offer. The problems I had were minor but noticeable. I wasn’t a fan of the needless drama the story caused between the characters that despite the fact your character has dialogue options about this none of them give the option to avoid this. Plus the ending just resolves things rather quickly and it felt a little too quick and easy for something that was established as a pretty significant problem. So while I loved the idea and the creativity of the story the execution needed work, but I’m still satisfied with my experience.