Pokémon fans, rejoice: the much-anticipated Scarlet and Violet expansion has finally launched.
Titled The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, the DLC (which drops in two parts) promises new Pokémon to discover, new storylines to complete and a healthy dollop of mystery along the way.
But what is part one, otherwise known as The Teal Mask, all about? We’ve broken down everything you need to know.
What is The Teal Mask about?
The story for The Teal Mask takes the player (who is a student at the Hogwarts-like Naranja/ Uva Academy for Pokémon training) on a school trip to the land of Kitakami. It’s a small village surrounded by lakes and mountains (modelled on the real-life Kitakami in Iwate, Japan), and it’s also home to some mysterious folktales that may or may not have to do with the local legendary Pokémon. To make things even more wholesome, there’s also a local festival on, so the town is full to bursting with stalls, things to do and exciting people to meet.
Will there be new Pokémon?
Indeed there will be! In fact, up to 200 new ones to add to the Pokedex, as well as four new Legendary Pokémon for players to find – such as the mask-wearing grass Pokemon Ogerpon, the Poison and Psychic-type Munkidori and the Poison and Fairy-type Fezandipiti. As for the rest, they’re up to you to discover…
Does the game have other DLCs?
Yes. The Teal Mask is the first of a two-part DLC, the second of which is titled The Indigo Disk – though that doesn’t have a release date yet, so it’s anybody’s guess when that is due to come out.
How long is the Teal Mask expansion?
This isn’t an especially long expansion – most players should take around three to four hours to beat the entire thing, but that’s just the storyline. There’s also a whopping 200 new mini-monsters to find and catch, so the dedicated Pokémon hunters will likely take quite a while longer to find all of them.
What do we know about The Indigo Disk?
It looks like the second expansion will take players back to the Unova region of the older Pokémon games. To refresh your memory: it was first introduced back in Pokémon Black and White, which came out in 2010.
In The Indigo Disk, the player will be visiting the land’s Blueberry Academy, the sister school of Naranja and Uva… though for what purpose, we don’t yet know.
