The Pokémon series has been a major phenomenon ever since its debut. Over the years it’s been incredible to watch how much the franchise has been able to evolve and modernize itself, whether it’s in video games or anime.
Pokémon Sword and Shield for the Nintendo Switch are major games because they mark the first mainline Pokémon titles to be on a console rather than a handheld. Pokémon Sword and Shield have brought with them a number of revisions to the Pokémon formula. With the new release of the game’s first DLC, here are 5 things we loved about The Isle of Armor and 5 things that we don’t.
10 Love: There Are New Legendary Pokémon
Legendary Pokémon are always conversation pieces and they often turn out to be some of the most powerful Pokémon in the game. In the Isle of Armor DLC, Mustard, your new mentor on the Isle of Armor, gifts you with Kubfu, the new Legendary.
Once you have Kubfu, you need to fight with him in one of the Towers of Two Fists, a rite of passage that will cause Kubfu to evolve into Urshifu. Kubfu and Urshifu are both Fighting-type Pokémon, which is unique for Legendary Pokémon, and Urshifu has a Gigantamax form too.
9 Don’t Love: There’s Level Scaling
Something that’s proving to already be controversial in the Isle of Armor DLC is the level scaling applied to the Pokémon that trainers fight with as well as the ones encountered in the Wild Area. On some level, level scaling can consistently provide a challenge and it allows every player, regardless of level, to still face powerful enemies.
At the same time, this level scaling is capped off at level 100, so there is a limit. It mostly affects how players choose to grind and takes the power away from them on some level.
8 Love: There’s A New Rival And Gigantamax Forms
One of the coolest things about the Isle of Armor DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield is that as soon as players land on the new Isle of Armor, their starter Pokémon will be rewarded with a new Gigantamax form as a thank you for their journey. In addition to the new Gigantamax forms, each of the starter Pokémon gain new deadly moves, too. Additionally, Isle of Armor gives players a new rival to square off with— Klara, a Poison-type user for Sword players and Avery, a Psychic-type trainer for Shield players.
7 Don’t Love: Not Enough New Areas To Conquer
Pokémon Sword and Shield felt like mainline Pokémon titles that were on the shorter side, so the announcement of DLC came as a relief for many. That being said, there are two sets of DLC set to happen and while Isle of Armor adds a bunch of landmarks to this neighboring region of Galar, it still feels sparse. There’s a Dojo, Cave, and the Tower of the Two Fists, but beyond that there's just the standard Wild Area and these new locations wear thin pretty quickly.
6 Love: There Are New Items And Moves
The big things to get excited about in this Isle of Armor DLC pack are the new Pokémon that are available to catch and the new strong opponents to take down, but it's also satisfying to see how many other smaller elements come with this package. For example, Isle of Armor adds over 20 new moves, many of which pack a big punch (Meteor Beam and Misty Explosion in particular). Additionally there are a bunch of new items that are also added that are nothing major, but still provide some quality of life updates to make battles easier.
5 Don’t Love: Needing To Choose Which Urshifu To Evolve Into
Urshifu is the evolved form of Isle of Armor’s new Legendary Pokémon, but depending on which Tower of the Two Fists that’s selected as a challenge, Kubfu will evolve into one of two different versions of the character. Fighting in the Tower of Darkness leads to Single-Strike Style Urshifu, a Fighting- and Dark-type Pokémon, while victory in the Tower of Water results in Rapid-Strike Style Urshifu, a Fighting- and Water-type Pokémon. This principle goes back to Pokémon's basics, but it's still discouraging that both can't be earned somehow.
4 Love: There Are A Lot Of Old Pokémon Added
A major bonus in the Isle of Armor DLC is that it brings back what appear to be hundreds of old Pokémon that didn't make the cut for the original Sword and Shield. For those that have already completed their Pokedex, this provides a great source of content. There are also Galarian variants of certain Pokémon too, like Slowpoke, which take some fun turns. Additionally, a lot of wonderful Pokémon like Generation 1's starters and many other beloved faces from the earlier Generations are part of the update.
3 Don’t Love: The Lack Of Old Legendary Pokémon
Pokémon Sword and Shield's Isle of Armor gets points for giving players a brand new Legendary Pokémon to play with, but there aren't any other Legendary Pokémon added to the Pokedex update. What's frustrating about this is that the next DLC pack, the Crown Tundra, appears to contain dozens of previous Legendary Pokémon and even some Galarian variations on classics. This divide could have been split a little more rather than basically reserving all of the old Legendary Pokémon for the next update.
2 Love: Ash’s Iconic Hat Is An Obtainable Costume
The later entries in the Pokémon series have added more aesthetic updates to help players better customize their experience. It's been impressive to see just how much variation Pokémon titles now allow players versus their earliest days. Isle of Armor adds over a hundred new items of clothing to better customize the journey. However, the crown jewel of this is that Ash's iconic hat from the anime is included. Special circumstances are required to obtain it, but that only secures the user even greater bragging rights.
1 Don’t Love: The Tower Of The Two Fists
One of the bigger additions in Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor DLC is the Tower of the Two Fists. These two towers are meant to act as challenges for both the player and their new Pokémon, Kubfu. Depending on which of the two towers that the player chooses, different events will play out. What’s disappointing is that only one of these towers can be experienced. While it’s fair to say that they’re probably comparable experiences, it’s still a bit of a drag for those that are eager to experience everything.