Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Indigo Disk is a true master’s degree program

After a bouldered year, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s story is advancing to an end abutting month. Its additional DLC, The Indigo Disk, will achieve its benefit Hidden Treasure of Area Zero arc on December 14. That’ll abutting out the series’ best scrutinized set of amateur to date, which were lambasted at barrage for achievement issues and poor beheld quality. The Indigo Disk absolutely won’t about-face that narrative, but it at atomic has a attempt at sending aghast admirers home blessed — abnormally afterwards the underwhelming Teal Mask expansion.

Ahead of its launch, I got a hands-on examination with the accessible DLC that showed me a bit of what to expect. I explored its new open-world area, saw some accustomed monsters, and fought in one of the toughest battles I’ve anytime had in a mainline Pokémon story. Every abstruse botheration in the abject bold still reared its animal arch during my hour of playtime, but The Indigo Disk at atomic brings some high-level challenges to the mix that will analysis alike the best acclimatized aggressive players.

Same problems, new challenges

The Indigo Disk picks up appropriate afterwards The Teal Mask’s cessation (players will charge to beat it to alpha the new DLC). In it, I’m beatific to Blueberry Academy, which is a massive biodome amphibian in the average of the ocean. It houses a round, open-world across breach up into four audible environments. One bend has your accepted blooming plains, while addition is a massive albino abundance abounding of ice Pokémon. It’s decidedly bigger than Teal Mask’s bite-sized accessible world, admitting the accepted architecture isn’t too different.

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If you’re acquisitive that the new across comes with some abstruse improvements, you’ll be disappointed. The visuals are still a abominable blend that you artlessly charge to absorb and alive with to adore the contrarily able monster-catching loop. When a cutscene showed me across-the-board shots of anniversary biome, absolute swaths of acreage loaded into actuality from blackness. At some point, I climbed about as aerial as I could on an icy abundance and gazed out at the world, which looked about as abundant as a ’90s PlayStation bold — no exaggeration.

Nintendo

That charcoal a shame, because the amount gameplay in this bearing of Pokémon is strong. That alone improves actuality with a DLC that’s added focused on high-stakes battling. The big aberration is that Blueberry Academy’s class is complete about bifold battles, added carefully apery the series’ aggressive online scene. My capital ambition during the audience was to beat a affiliate of the Elite Four.

Before I partook in that battle, I had a few baby tasks to do first. I had to complete a quick appointment appointment that had me tracking bottomward and catching an Alolan anatomy Pokémon in the apple (naturally, I went for the hilariously alpine Exeguttor). Once I was accessible to booty on an Elite Four challenge, I had to complete a simple gym balloon that had me aerial through rings application Koraidon. It all seemed accessible abundant … until the action began.

Nintendo

Elite Four battles are no antic in The Indigo Disk. Without absolute the specifics, my opponent’s aggregation had all the synergies and strategies I apprehend back I jump into an online match. Despite accepting blazon advantages, my monsters went bottomward in one hit as abrupt moves would absolutely adverse my added accessible plans. My opponent’s aggregation was additionally complete about accustomed bifold aggregation setups, which were adjustable abundant to accomplish every monster aggregate baleful in its own way. Considering how accessible avant-garde Pokémon amateur tend to be, I was abundantly stunned. I already apperceive I’m activity to accept to rework my aggregation from the abject adventitious if I angle a chance.

It’s that detail that ultimately leaves me aflame to dig into The Indigo Disk admitting actuality let bottomward by The Teal Mask. I’m still abashed by how poor the abstruse ancillary of it all is, and the new open-world seems like added of the same, but it looks like it’s bringing some austere endgame challenges to Scarlet and Violet. It feels like a blast advance in aggressive play, onboarding players into the online arena as the single-player adventure wraps up. That master’s amount apprenticeship feels like the accustomed graduation celebration for the school-themed adventure.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Indigo Disk launches on December 14 for Nintendo Switch.

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Giovanni is a biographer and video ambassador absorption on affairs in the video bold industry. He has contributed belief to…