Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are getting expansions akin to Pokémon Sword and Shield's DLC, delivering two major chunks of story content to the games later this year.
Announced during February's Pokémon Presents event, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion will feature two separate DLCs: The Teal Mask (launching fall 2023) and The Indigo Disk (launching winter 2023).
"In The Teal Mask, players will be chosen to take part in a school trip that is held each year in collaboration with another school. They’ll be taken to the land of Kitakami, where a great mountain towers over the land and the people live at its base," reads a plot synopsis.
"It is a place of tranquil natural expanses, featuring rice paddies and apple orchards. The trip seems to coincide with a festival regularly held in the village in Kitakami during this season, so the village is bustling with various street vendors and stalls. Players will meet new friends and Pokémon as they unravel the mysteries behind the folktales that have been passed down in this land."
The new legendary Pokémon Ogerpon will be available in The Teal Mask alongside three new spooky pocket monsters: Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti. "They are beloved by the people of the village as heroes that protected the land of Kitakami in the past and stone statues were made in their likeness to express the people’s gratitude," adds the plot synopsis.
Less details were shared on The Indigo Disk, but these will likely come following the launch of The Teal Mask. We did learn of its new legendary though in the form of the sparkly Terapagos. Though this appears to be brand new, it was featured briefly in the Scarlet and Violet base games through the Occulture books.
The Pokémon Company also revealed that more than 230 Pokémon previously unavailable in Scarlet and Violet including Shiftry, Milotic, Ninetales, Dewgong, Metagross, and more will be released across the two expansions, or become available through other means.
These means include through Pokémon Home, which The Pokémon Company announced would become available in early 2023, and through special Pokémon GO connectivity. As of today, players are able to send postcards in GO to Scarlet and Violet in order to catch special Vivillon.
Doing so will also let players catch Gimmighoul in Pokémon GO, and collecting 999 Gimmighoul Coins (replacing candy) will allow an evolution into Gholdengo.
Pre-purchasing The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC will also get players new outfits (that are available immediately) and a special Hisuian Zoroark. Also available today are the Walking Wake and Iron Leaves Tera Raid Battles, available in Scarlet and Violet respectively. These are both new Paradox Pokemon, with Walking Wake resembling Suicune with Iron Leaves resembling Virizion.
Sword and Shield's Expansion Pass was relatively well received, with IGN saying its first drop, The Isle of Armor, was entertaining but a little bit shallow. The second drop improved things, however, as we said The Crown Tundra was "another fun DLC that offers more cool Pokémon to catch, an awesome new game mode in Dynamax Adventures, and a surprising amount of discovery and secrets."
The Pokémon Company also revealed that the long-awaited patch for Scarlet and Violet would be made available today, bringing several bug fixes alongside a handful of quality of life improvements to the game.
Various other fixes will hopefully be made ahead of the DLC being released so that players can enjoy the extra content without the same issues that plagued the base games. These included a broken PvE experience in the endgame, a rigged Battle Stadium, duplication glitches, a bizarre method of running at double speed, and more.
The poor performance was also a major factor in our 6/10 review, as IGN said: "The open-world gameplay of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is a brilliant direction for the future of the franchise, but this promising shift is sabotaged by the numerous ways in which Scarlet and Violet feel deeply unfinished."
This was just one of the announcements shared during the Pokémon Presents event, but IGN has you covered with absolutely every bit of news right here.
Editor's Note: This article was updated to include further story details revealed by The Pokémon Company following the Pokémon Presents event.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.