The Teal Mask is a short, sweet reminder of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s real potential

theverge.com:

As unintentionally glitchy as Pokémon Scarlet and Violetoften felt at launch, their introduction of a massive, truly open world felt like a major step forward for the core franchise, and the promise of DLC made it seem as if Game Freak might have a solid plan to evolve the titles even further. Unfortunately, The Teal Mask — the first half of Scarlet and Violet’s announced DLC drops — doesn’t bring any of the sorely needed bug fixes that players have been begging for since the games debuted earlier this year. 

But as lacking as The Teal Mask is in the way of fancy new features and major graphical updates, it adds a solid new chapter to this generation’s story and — surprisingly — demonstrates how Scarlet and Violet could benefit from a bit more linearity in the future.

Though some of The Teal Mask’s smaller additions end up carrying over into Paldea, the DLC transports players to the new Kitikami region as part of a cultural exchange-focused school trip. Rather than sending you off to Kitikami with the friends you make in the core game, The Teal Mask puts an emphasis on meeting new people and pokémon in Mossui Town just in time for the local Festival of Masks.

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Collectively, the three utterly forgettable Paldean classmates who arrive in Kitakami with you are about as interesting as Scarlet and Violet’s draw distance is impressive (which is to say: not at all). But what your fellow Naranja / Uva Academy students lack in personality, The Teal Mask more than makes up for with new characters like Carmine and Kieran, a pair of Kitikamian sibling trainers from sister / rival school Blueberry Academy, and their teacher Briar.

Kitikami — a sparsely incorporated and rural expanse whose verdant fields and orchards are often