- Publisher: The Pokemon Company
- Release Date: Sep 13, 2023
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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Sep 22, 2023Despite its flaws, The Teal Mask DLC, with its fresh setting and intriguing side quests, amplifies the experience of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet—perfect for those seeking a return trip to the vibrant world of Paldea.
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Sep 21, 2023The Teal Mask doesn’t revolutionise Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, it simply expands upon it in a meaningful way, offering up a generous-sized helping of new monsters to battle against and collect, and an enjoyable story featuring a new bunch of well-crafted characters. If you enjoyed the base game, it’s safe to say you’re going to relish this new adventure, too – and it’ll leave you eager for the second part of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero to drop this winter.
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Sep 18, 2023Perfect if you're looking for a well-built story and a wide variety of Pokémon, as long as you don't care too much about performance or graphics quality.
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Sep 15, 2023Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Teal Mask is a quick and easy trip with good storytelling and interesting characters. Kitakami feels alive, which is no easy feat for DLC this short, and it's arguably better than either DLCs from Gen 8. As with Scarlet and Violet, though, the performance issues only slightly distract from the fun open-world exploration. The mechanics that have made Pokémon games popular for over two decades are still intact. In other words, all the right ingredients are here, even if some issues make the taste bittersweet.
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Sep 15, 2023The Teal Mask is a great first part to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's pair of DLC packs. While it suffers from the same presentation issues of the base game, The Teal Mask offers a digestible standalone experience that simultaneously satisfies and teases you with the promise of more. A more condensed open world, great characters, and fantastic new Pokémon designs make for a worthwhile return to the world of Scarlet and Violet.
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Sep 15, 2023Exploring Kitakami is a lot of fun, and the story of this DLC is quite interesting. Besides, the new Pokémon and characters are charismatic, and the features added to the game are useful. For all that, it's a shame that the performance of the game still has so much room for improvement.
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Sep 14, 2023While the whole affair is over in a blink, the moreish adventure of this DLC, the first part of a larger story titled The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, pushes you along with confidence. Short, sharp, and energetic, this is a DLC chapter with high stakes, and equally high reward.
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Oct 10, 2023Based on what The Teal Mask does well, it should have been a great piece of DLC expansion. Unfortunately, it is unsurprisingly held back by the same issues that detracted from the base game. While The Teal Mask certainly manages to provide more of what made Scarlet & Violet fun, it also includes more of what held it back from greatness, resulting in an experience whose enjoyment is even more fleeting than the base game’s. The Teal Mask’s story cliffhanger has got me looking forward to The Indigo Disc, but the gameplay leaves me anticipating it in a less positive way.
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Sep 30, 2023Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s The Teal Mask DLC is a story drive adventure that is backed by a satisfying land to explore buy continues to be held back by its technical shortcomings.
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Sep 27, 2023If you didn't have a good time playing the games at the time, I doubt Teal Mask will change your mind, as there are no major graphical or performance improvements.
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Sep 15, 2023Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: The Teal Mask is good, excelling in its storytelling, but the performance issues really do damage what would be an otherwise stellar piece of new content.
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Sep 14, 2023Pokémon Scarlet/Purple: The Turquoise Mask is an extension of the base game. Simply put, it will suit players who had a good time initially. The story unfolds without a hitch, with endearing characters with interesting themes, especially as it builds up a certain suspense. The capture system still works just as well in a region that is smaller than Paldea. The Pokémon Company also brings some new features with a refreshing photo-related activity as well as a monster hunt dedicated to competitive enthusiasts. In summary, this first part of the DLC brings hours of additional gameplay that it would be a shame to miss for fans of Scarlet and Violet. Otherwise, it is better to move on since the Turquoise Mask does not bring anything revolutionary to the formula, whether in substance with the new Pokémon or in form with the technique which still makes people cringe.
| 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.