Pokemon Sword / Shield: The Crown Tundra

 Switch
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 224 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 146 out of 224
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 224
  3. Negative: 49 out of 224

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  1. GameFriet
    Feb 2, 2021
    0
    Not good enough to make a full game just boring quest and dumping legendary in slow raids there were no battles exploration was boring as hell
  2. Nati
    Mar 14, 2021
    0
    This DLC has absolutely destroyed Pokemon Sword/Shield Ranked matching.

    Ranked is just an imbalanced JOKE now that requires zero skill or knowledge and spamming Legendaries. Urshifu is OP... I dont care about your "debate" That pokemon is OP. Not to mention other STARTLING imbalance issues that has ruined a long history of great competitive gameplay. Way to kick the hardcore fans    This DLC has absolutely destroyed Pokemon Sword/Shield Ranked matching.

    Ranked is just an imbalanced JOKE now that requires zero skill or knowledge and spamming Legendaries.

    Urshifu is OP... I dont care about your "debate" That pokemon is OP. Not to mention other STARTLING imbalance issues that has ruined a long history of great competitive gameplay.

    Way to kick the hardcore fans Pokemon, this was a rediculous decision. 0/10    … Expand
  3. ProfAmateur
    Oct 29, 2020
    1
    Beside the fact that the game looks like made in 2002 for Nintendo Gamecube, the DLC is again pure minimalism. Example: If you ride your bike to the first cutscene, they don't even program the case that you are on bike, no, you just teleport on the ground. That's very nice from a billion dollar company. I mean i love pokemon but i hate when such companies steals money from the kids nowadays.
  4. Warbringer
    Feb 21, 2021
    1
    No story. No Pokedex. Not all Pokemon available. Only handholding. Content locked behind DLC. Content locked behind third party apps like "Pokemon Home" "Pokemon Bank" "Nintendo Switch Online". Gamefreak lied to all of us and they admited it
  5. Lordpeter69
    Nov 26, 2020
    0
    DLC Just wasnt good and a lot of fake reviews on this page..
    Pokemon Sword and Shield is the worst main game of Pokemon..
    Story was rushed game rushed graphics meh laggy no trainers dont want to waste more time on it but it just was not good
  6. Pubamaroth
    Apr 27, 2021
    0
    One of the worst DLC experiences of my life. Barren and lifeless. Repetitive and pointless.
    Don't buy it. I got it used and I still regret it.
  7. ProReviews
    Oct 27, 2020
    1
    Come on, the DLC doesn't deserve a 7 score. It deserves way more less. It's a really bad DLC, and here's why:

    1. The story is too much straightforward and lacking. It has the potential for a really good story, but it's basically delivered trough boring exposition. In reality, it's basically Calyrex speaking about the entire story and having you run for errands. And even like that, it    Come on, the DLC doesn't deserve a 7 score. It deserves way more less. It's a really bad DLC, and here's why:

    1. The story is too much straightforward and lacking. It has the potential for a really good story, but it's basically delivered trough boring exposition. In reality, it's basically Calyrex speaking about the entire story and having you run for errands. And even like that, it has plot holes. It feels very lazy and badly written.
    2. The companion, Peony, is basically a grown up Hop/Hau. The three of them have the same personality. Identical I would say. They didn't even bothered writing a new one.
    3. The town is terribly designed. Just pay attention to the only 4 houses in the city. They re use exactly the same model for these just FOUR... FOUR houses, outside and inside.
    4. The habitants of the town argue how they've never seen Calyrex in person, and yet, when you catch it and have him wandering around the city behind you, nobody has even a single interesting dialogue in response to that. They act as if it wasn't even there.
    5. Peony is plot armor, as he resolves the conflicts of the story in a Deus ex Machina fashion. He just shows up and casually knows how to resolve everything.
    6. It's, in a nutshell, a one path journey to catching legendary pokemon, which just happens to have a side story in the middle.

    … Expand
  8. PkmnJustNotGood
    Oct 29, 2020
    3
    I gonna be completely honest im not feeling this DLC (Just my opinion)
    I really love the New Legendaries! But the Story makes no sense, No trainers? where are they? No difficult? The open area still feels slow and laggs.
    Dynamax adventure yess... they tried it still feels slow and its not really fun. To much stops handholding no adventure and exploring ( Caves are boring since sun and    I gonna be completely honest im not feeling this DLC (Just my opinion)
    I really love the New Legendaries! But the Story makes no sense, No trainers? where are they? No difficult? The open area still feels slow and laggs.
    Dynamax adventure yess... they tried it still feels slow and its not really fun. To much stops handholding no adventure and exploring ( Caves are boring since sun and moon ). There is so much potential but since they went from 2D to 3D its going downhill and its no Challenge. I really wanted some fun shiny hunt method like Open world hunting. The DLC just feels like a 4 hour demo and no replayability. So i hope the next games will be much better and make it fun for everyone.    … Expand
  9. SwShDie
    Dec 28, 2020
    0
    WAKE UP... GAME FREAK IS SELLING THE CONTENT THAT SHOULD'VE BEEN IN SWSH BACK TO YOU. They refused to back down from making the SwSh base game a steaming pile of dung (THAT's what they call service??) and now they've come at you with a can of grease and a broomstick in order to "give back some content"... for more money after the fact!
  10. ArthurJoelLeo
    Nov 2, 2020
    0
    Oyun cok sikici ve kisa ayrica mekanikler ve grafikler cok kotu. nintendo 3ds grafik duzeyinde grafikler var. verdigim parayi hak etmiyor
  11. Otts
    Dec 20, 2020
    0
    Unfinished product sold with cut content at a full price. Glitchy and disrespectful with its consumers and fanbase. A loveless cashgrab rushed to the market from the highest grossing media franchise in the planet. Underperforming software for the current generation standards. Shameless and sad.
  12. IchiXIV
    Oct 24, 2020
    2
    As much as disappointing as the first DLC, so this only makes it worse. More multi-trainer mechanic was introduced in the form of Dynamax Adventure, but players are limited to random rental Pokémon instead. The movepools are very much questionable, with the raid target able to purge buffs, as well ten turns limits per single battle, and four total KO per adventure. AI still acting like aAs much as disappointing as the first DLC, so this only makes it worse. More multi-trainer mechanic was introduced in the form of Dynamax Adventure, but players are limited to random rental Pokémon instead. The movepools are very much questionable, with the raid target able to purge buffs, as well ten turns limits per single battle, and four total KO per adventure. AI still acting like a joke, taking unnecessary every turn (Skill Swap every possible target one after another), buffing stats instead of attacking, or choosing moves that take two turns every time.… Expand
  13. mikahama
    Oct 24, 2020
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I wouldn't say there's anything worthy in this DLC. It's actually worse than the previous one. The whole "story line" is that you are fed a bunch of legendary pokemon, and don't worry if you don't quite manage to catch them, you can always try again... Getting legendary pokemon used to be challenging in the previous games, but not in this one. Once you have caught all the legendaries, you get to challenge the gym leaders again in double battles. How exciting! But now that you have your kick ass legendaries that you had to catch, you can easily one shot all their pokemon.

    All in all, this is a minimum effort from the developer's part. An average computer science student could have coded this whole expansion in a couple of weeks. It has the same graphic glitches as before... Pokemon who are supposed to follow you might disappear and respawn all of the sudden and the animations are very sloppy. Just look at the breathing animation of the main character in the cold sections of crown thundra... Does he breath once every 4 seconds?    … Expand
  14. pahesam221
    Oct 24, 2020
    0
    You won't get your money's worth from just this. It should be $5. I can't condone this laziness.
  15. Marioipod13
    Aug 27, 2023
    1
    Horrible DLC with fake gameplay time swallowed up by unskippable cutscenes. In actuality Diamond and Pearl had a better postgame and it cost less because you didn't have to purchase a garbage DLC.

Awards & Rankings

17
#17 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    May 5, 2021
    85
    Your enjoyment of The Crown Tundra will largely depend on how much you like Legendary Pokémon. [Issue #50 – January/February 2021, p. 19]
  2. Ninty Fresh Magazine
    Dec 21, 2020
    75
    Pokémon fans now have some great new challenges, new Pokémon and more dynamic areas to explore. We wish it had been there from the start. [Issue #2, p.76]
  3. IGN Italia
    Nov 25, 2020
    80
    A good DLC that marks the ending for the new, experimental path chosen by Game Freak and Nintendo for the Pokémon saga. The second expansion included in Shield and Sword Season Pass adds lots of contents and legendary creatures to discover in a brand new area.
    Read full review
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