- Publisher: The Pokemon Company
- Release Date: Sep 13, 2023
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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Sep 22, 2023The Teal Mask DLC was precisely what I assumed it would end up being: a small update that would take me a few hours at most to complete. While the quality of life changes are noticeable, it doesn’t make up for Scarlet & Violet’s pre-existing graphical issues, and the lack of new Pokemon leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I have higher hopes for the next DLC, the Indigo Disk, but it would’ve been nice if the same effort that’s going into the Indigo Disk was also put into the Teal Mask.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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Sep 21, 2023Nailing down my feelings on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet this past year has been difficult. In my review of the base game, I said it was one of "the best mainline Pokemon games in years," and 350 hours later, I still stand by that. Terastallization is the best battle gimmick the series has introduced to date, the open-world design fits nicely into the series' themes of exploration and discovery, and the competitive scene has been a thrill to follow and participate in. However, Scarlet and Violet's triumphant highs are still obscured by technical issues, and the same can be said for The Teal Mask. Scarlet and Violet's core issues still persist, but there's a lot to chew on here, both for hardcore competitive players and fans who want to see more of the Pokemon world. [Provisional Score = 70]
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Sep 14, 2023Scarlet and Violet already showed major signs of technical stress, and the bulging seams are even more apparent in The Teal Mask. As much as I enjoyed this DLC, it remains disappointing that some of Pokémon’s best stuff is being dragged down by a game engine that feels like it’s just a slight breeze away from falling apart.
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Sep 26, 2023Again, The Teal Mask doesn’t solve many of Scarlet and Violet’s core gameplay issues, and people hoping for a drastic overhaul are going to be rather disappointed. But playing the DLC at a time when the rumors about a Switch follow-up have shifted into “it’s getting serious” territory is especially fun because you can see clearly how beefier hardware could really work wonders for Scarlet and Violet and how the more Kitikami-like approach to design might be what makes next big Pokémon game shine.