Pokemon Sword / Shield: The Isle of Armor

 Switch
User Score
5.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 520 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 181 out of 520
  2. Mixed: 119 out of 520
  3. Negative: 220 out of 520

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  1. Babajaga88
    Jul 5, 2023
    0
    A bad expansion for a very bad title. Lazy map design with lazy artistic view
  2. tensioly
    Jun 6, 2023
    7
    Venía con muy pocas expectativas para este DLC pero parece ser que las ha cumplido. Como primera parte de un DLC de 30€ quizá parece un poco corto pero, para mi gusto, es de bastante calidad. Los personajes son expectaculares y el pequeño arco argumental hila bastante bien con la historia principal del juego. Añade pokémon de otras generaciones y los nuevos legendarios me parecenVenía con muy pocas expectativas para este DLC pero parece ser que las ha cumplido. Como primera parte de un DLC de 30€ quizá parece un poco corto pero, para mi gusto, es de bastante calidad. Los personajes son expectaculares y el pequeño arco argumental hila bastante bien con la historia principal del juego. Añade pokémon de otras generaciones y los nuevos legendarios me parecen interesantes. Aceptable primera parte de este DLC que me deja satisfecho. 6,6/10
    (07/2020)    … Expand
  3. ScreenS
    Jun 5, 2023
    7
    You get a cool bear, I guess?

    Honestly for a first DLC attempt it’s fine, but the fact they knew we wanted an official monotype format but left it single player only and didn’t heal your team between battles is a level of stupid I cannot comprehend.
  4. Marioipod13
    May 25, 2023
    2
    Not a good postgame DLC storyline, Platinum, Black 2, and UltraMoon did more than double better than this without publishing a DLC. It has some interesting new areas but the story is just all cutscenes and little interaction. Additionally, the DLC is overpriced and split into two versions. It's smarter to buy a trio of Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum than waste money on this.
  5. Resoul
    Apr 18, 2023
    5
    The pokemon all feel super week even tho there level 60 they still get one shot by pokemon that are within 10 levels of them, i think your meant to do the dlc before you beat the main game. Also there levels are tied to how many gyms you've beat not to the level of the pokemon on your team so even if you change your team out for lower level pokemon they'll still be level 60 which might beThe pokemon all feel super week even tho there level 60 they still get one shot by pokemon that are within 10 levels of them, i think your meant to do the dlc before you beat the main game. Also there levels are tied to how many gyms you've beat not to the level of the pokemon on your team so even if you change your team out for lower level pokemon they'll still be level 60 which might be fine if you use level 50 pokemon but i think you're meant to do the dlc around the 3rd gym.

    The DLC's "story" is really short if you aren't filling the dex or finding the diglett as you play and have the rare candies needed to get kubfu to level 70 right away it's likely only around two hours, without having the candy ready and not doing the side stuff it will likely only be about a hour longer as the super weak level 60 pokemon make leveling up pretty quick tho raid battles are the best way since you'll get rare candies which are way faster if you're just trying to level up one pokemon.

    Sadly there's no store where you can buy pokeballs which sucks if you want to fill the pokedex (and go into the dlc with less then 70 pokeballs 50 of which are just the basic pokeball) and there are really no trainers either and of the very few trainer battles that there are only one puts up any type of fight with it being the last trainer of the water tower's poliwarth and even then the fight is only like three turns. The map is also a bit of a maze and just going somewhere you've already been can be a bit of a pain if you don't fully remeber how yoiu got there the first time.

    Now i do like the yellow jacket they give you (not the rest of the outfit tho) and two of the new hair styles for the female trainer are pretty nice and tho the new white bike/outfit is better then all the rest in the game there's still a lack of good character customization also tho you do get to have your pokemon follow you you don't get it right away and if you're like me and started looking for the digletts right away or started catching pokemon for your dex it could be a hour or more before you get to have your pokemon follow you. Also finding all the diglett doesn't really get you anything as tho you get some gen 7 versions of pokemon you can pretty easily get them with home so there not much of a reward.    … Expand
  6. AlexMakesToast
    Dec 16, 2022
    5
    Isle of Armor = 5/10
    ......................................................
  7. JulienK06
    Dec 11, 2022
    3
    Underwhelming, it should have had more content even tho the open world was fun to explore in the first 15 minutes
  8. divegold
    Nov 24, 2022
    10
    Added a lot of content to the base game! It brought innovation and many hours of fun!
  9. Kacek1996
    Aug 20, 2022
    6
    Pokemon The Isle of Armor was a short DLC I played mostly to see my own pokemons run after me, to get new pokemons for my Pokemon HOME pokedex, to catch the new Kubfu and Urshifu pokemons. This DLC was really short and easy with too much of allolan diglets to look for... I liked the galarian Slowpoke evolution line quite a lot, and the map was nicely done!
  10. Toasttt
    Mar 26, 2022
    5
    meh .
  11. GenkiYokota
    Jan 27, 2022
    10
    The first half of the expansion, and one that pushes the concepts of Sword and Shield to other frontiers.
    The animations of the pokémon that follow you from behind are very well taken care of.
  12. Fazed
    Nov 23, 2021
    4
    Not very fun at all, its basically just a mini pokemon game story rather than a contiuation but you are just overleved as hell so each battle feels more like a pain in the ass rather than a battle. You basically just have to nerf yourself just to make it feel like there is a progression to the game. I think it is a good way to do the pokedex additions and make the area feel more unique.
  13. RiggyBell
    Aug 31, 2021
    9
    I really enjoyed the game. I wish the main game had an adventure like this, because I really disliked the story and the boring open world of Pokemon Shield. Isle of Armor felt like a real adventure in which the open word was much more fun to walk through.
    The downside was that the story was a bit short: There were only a few quests, and the world wasn’t that big. I also disliked the fact    I really enjoyed the game. I wish the main game had an adventure like this, because I really disliked the story and the boring open world of Pokemon Shield. Isle of Armor felt like a real adventure in which the open word was much more fun to walk through.
    The downside was that the story was a bit short: There were only a few quests, and the world wasn’t that big. I also disliked the fact that every single pokemon was lv60 (because I finishend the main game). And they could’ve added some legendaries. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the DLC! I hope the next main Pokemon game will be like this!     … Expand
  14. marvsfontanilla
    Mar 31, 2021
    7
    Story: 7
    Graphics: 8
    Sound: 7
    Gameplay: 7
    Game Time: 5 Hours (Main Story)
  15. 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

    PS My review is about THE WHOLE game, but Pokemon seem to think these DLC deserves a title on their own. So I will return the favour and 0/10 them all.    … Expand
  16. klhbkjlhjhu
    Feb 26, 2021
    0
    This game basterdized the whole purpose of Pokemon. The game is relatively easy and does not have any challenges like of how Black/White has ( except Black/White is one of the good Pokemon games whereas Sword/Shield isn't. ), what is the point where you are wasting your money on stupid expansions? It seems here that GF is just greedy for money like most multi-billion corporations are. ThisThis game basterdized the whole purpose of Pokemon. The game is relatively easy and does not have any challenges like of how Black/White has ( except Black/White is one of the good Pokemon games whereas Sword/Shield isn't. ), what is the point where you are wasting your money on stupid expansions? It seems here that GF is just greedy for money like most multi-billion corporations are. This game is seriously not worth your time, I recommend you not buying the game for your own sake.… Expand
  17. 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.
  18. Kashmoney
    Jan 24, 2021
    7
    Intro: While I personally enjoyed my adventure into the Galar region, Pokemon Sword and Shield definitely needed a bit more help content-wise and polishing up the game to make it more worthwhile for people to get into. And since the games were already in some deep water with the fanbase, I can safely say that I am glad Nintendo and Gamefreak went with this route with DLC.

    What is it?:    Intro: While I personally enjoyed my adventure into the Galar region, Pokemon Sword and Shield definitely needed a bit more help content-wise and polishing up the game to make it more worthwhile for people to get into. And since the games were already in some deep water with the fanbase, I can safely say that I am glad Nintendo and Gamefreak went with this route with DLC.

    What is it?: The Isle of Armor is part of the 2 pack DLC for Pokemon Sword and Shield. The player will travel to another small island off the coast of Galar to train in a dojo to obtain the new legendary Pokemon Kubfu which will later turn into Urshifu. The island is also filled with pokemon that wasn't previously present due to the dex cut, but now can be found, caught, and traded to anyone who has the games.

    Pros: The isle of Armor looks pretty good on its own. It's definitely not super amazing looking, but the map looks pretty neat on its own and was a breath of fresh air from the rolling hills and dry looks of Galar. The story itself is also a nice little addition and brought in some cool characters such as Mustard and the two trainers who rival you on the island, Avery and Klara ( I hear a lot of people like Klara ;3). The story for the DLC is also neat, it's nothing out of the ordinary or super epic like the Delta story or Rainbow Rocket, but I thought that overall the DLC does a good job making a nice side story. And while I still do not support the dex cut, I do like how this DLC update allowed over 100 more Pokemon to come back into the fray making the new dex count of the Galar region be around 500 of new and old pokemon. Plus, while you can't get the returning pokemon in the mainland area of the game, you can trade over or receive the returning Pokemon via wifi from friends or online if needed, no DLC required!

    Cons: While I do like this DLC, I think there are still some problems with it. Main issue I have is that while I didn't expect this DLC to be super long, I wished they could have added more content to make the DLC's story a bit longer. I was able to beat the story in maybe 4 hours, including catching pokemon and raiding a bit. If it was around 6 hours in story content, I feel that it would have been a perfect length for this expansion. Also, while there are some nice little things such as the return of pokemon following you, I feel that Gamefreak failed a bit with it because it looks a bit too janky. Some pokemon literally can't keep up with the player because they tried to be accurate with how fast or slow the pokemon is and it just makes this small feature feels underdeveloped. My final main issue of this DLC is that while the map overall looks decent, I feel that certain areas like the caves and the forest could look a bit better, especially the forest because the textures in there still looked a little washed out.

    Verdict: Overall, I do believe that the Pokemon games should stick with the direction of DLCs instead of a third game and this was a good start. I feel that this DLC was nice overall and was worth its price. I do believe it needs some touch-ups in providing a longer story and including more new Pokemon, but I think this was a nice addition for SWSH. I can't wait to see what will happen in November for the Crown Tundra.    … Expand
  19. opnyx
    Jan 16, 2021
    8
    This new story is fun, and the background is very convincing in my opinion. But it's way too short : it could have been much better with some extra hours of gameplay.
  20. Stormwooper
    Jan 4, 2021
    0
    I dont know why crown tundra isn’t included in this page as its icluded as they get packed together, they are basically the same game. The story is short but the areas are awesome.
  21. 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!
  22. 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.
  23. greninjaX
    Nov 25, 2020
    0
    pokemon SWSH and it's expansion pass are stupid wastes of money. gamefreak put zero effort into making this. where's the real 8th gen? is this some kind of twisted joke!?
  24. JuniorTrucho14
    Nov 13, 2020
    0
    Definitivamente a Gamefreak le queda grande la IP. Asqueroso juego hecho a medias incluso con está "expansión". Lo más indignante es que te ponen este desproposito a $90 y eso sin contar lo que se gasta en en Pokémon Home y Bank. Tremando mojón este juego.
  25. vitin
    Nov 7, 2020
    4
    Ao mesmo tempo que a DLC adiciona algumas ideias legais, não é o suficiente por esse preço, mais ainda considerando o quão curta ela é. O Urshifu tem uma mecanica divertida, mas não vale a pena. Talvez depois de jogar o The Crown Thundra eu mude de opinião.
  26. RobbieRelhas
    Oct 28, 2020
    0
    Garbage dlc for a garbage game as expected.
  27. DaHomeaSimpzon
    Oct 27, 2020
    8
    It's an alright game but it needs still needs some graphical improvements. Kudos for Game Freak for bringing some of the fan favourites back such as the other starts of Gen 1.
  28. Ed44
    Oct 26, 2020
    0
    Abonnement internet obligatoire pour finir le jeu et cher pour le contenu proposé
  29. DaniyalIslam
    Oct 23, 2020
    7
    Though better than the base game, Isle of Armor comes with some negative aspects. However, I am excited to see a new focus for the series.
  30. Suroguner
    Oct 17, 2020
    0
    I managed to get the DLC for free buy buying a bunch of other better games and collecting the my Nintendo gold coins. Getting into the DLC, it's not worth it. Following pokemon is broken and worse than the previous games in the series that had the feature.

    While the game was updated to support players who don't have the dlc, you still have no real way to get the pokemon it has without    I managed to get the DLC for free buy buying a bunch of other better games and collecting the my Nintendo gold coins. Getting into the DLC, it's not worth it. Following pokemon is broken and worse than the previous games in the series that had the feature.

    While the game was updated to support players who don't have the dlc, you still have no real way to get the pokemon it has without some form of payment. While a non-issue for past games, Here it's a bigger problem as it's either a minimum of $8 for a combo of Bank and home, provided you still have a 3ds and a bank compatible game, or a max of $30 (plus tax) for access. One could argue you could get it for free doing what I did, but that technically is just a more expensive way of getting the DLC without giving the money to the pokemon company and Gamefreak.

    One of the advertised features, the apricorns, gives you the wrong idea about getting more apricorn based pokeballs. the only exchange for them gives you totally random items and you must use 4 items at a time. In the past Johto games, these items were given directly to a NPC named Kurt who made the balls for you with them.

    The addition of another wild area seemed good at first, until you start catching everything. Because you can see the pokemon now, what pokemon you can find where is even less of a mystery and you can actively avoid encounters. After that the area becomes boring.

    What could be considered a double edged sword is that because you could come to it at any time, the area scales up ALL the pokemon based on your current progress in the base game.

    the diggers who dig up armorite or are actually worse than the diggers who dig up items and watts as if their shovels break you get nothing opposed to getting what they dug up. It's a gamble to even use them, and I'm not sure if this feature is even legal in Korea.

    Despite not being through the DLC's story at the time of writing, the dlc is just not worth it. Not even by the method I used to get it. On the plus side, I got a bunch of better games along the way.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 42
  3. Negative: 1 out of 42
  1. Universo Nintendo
    Dec 16, 2020
    70
    When reviwed from a zero point, Isle of Armor renews the metagame and includes a significant amount of content. It is just a pity that there is no sign of challenge to live up to the eight months of training. When out of this vacuum, however, it is clear that this expansion is much more complete than the base game, expanding its experience.
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  2. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Oct 26, 2020
    80
    The overall evolution of the Pokémon gameplay experience has taken another step forward thanks to DLC. [Issue #48 – September/October 2020, p. 28]
  3. GameMAG
    Sep 12, 2020
    50
    A tiny boring plot, four new monsters for the series, and optimization of some game mechanics are clearly not enough for fans of the franchise, nor for ordinary players. The overall impression of the Expansion Pass, of course, can be formed only after the release of the final part - The Crown of Tundra. Now we can only say with complete confidence that The Isle of Armor is not worth the money.
    Read full review
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