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. Supermariogames
    Sep 30, 2020
    10
    An enjoyable expansion for this great game that welcomed the Pokemon series to console platform.
    At first I thought that $30 would be too much for the two expansions, but after playing a decent number of hours in this first part, I can determine that it was worth every penny.
  2. georgetime2003
    Jun 21, 2020
    7
    Un DLC en el que esperaba menos pero se ha legado a lucir de maravilla, hay que decir que las texturas de los arboles han aumentado, y ahora te acompañan pokemons detrás tuyo, la pega, las animaciones aun se las pueden currar y que el acompañante vaya a la misma velocidad que tu personaje.
  3. marvsfontanilla
    Mar 31, 2021
    7
    Story: 7
    Graphics: 8
    Sound: 7
    Gameplay: 7
    Game Time: 5 Hours (Main Story)
  4. mystery556
    Jun 29, 2020
    6
    It was more fun than I thought

    However, it is still impossible to enter the Sword Shield's Pokemon, so it is necessary to change the tone quickly.
  5. AlphaSpectre84
    Jun 21, 2020
    7
    Isle of Armor is a fine DLC addition to Pokemon Sword and Shield, which I personally found to be an incredibly lacking package to start with. Seeing old favourites making their return here, having them pop up at random throughout your time on the isle kept me playing long enough after I had finished the main story.
  6. Lish13
    Jun 21, 2020
    7
    too short, but great to have some old pokemon back and the following system
  7. drywall
    Jun 21, 2020
    5
    dlc is pretty bad. trying to clear out all the raid dens in the ungodly large wild area that is the entire isle of armor is terrible, the draw distance means i've had to scour every nook and cranny, including the huge ocean surrounding it, just to refresh my raid battles. 4/10 + 1/10 for klara being both a cool rival and cute
  8. jbezanso
    Jun 22, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. There is some good in this DLC. New map is great, "New lol" pokemon/raid battles are good too. But we gotta call it how it is, no sugar coating (I'm looking at ALL the youtuber reviews/gaming sites who are scared to call a square a square). This is NOT worth your money. DLC has been around for over 10 years and Nintendo is acting like their eyes were closed the whole time. This "Expansion" is not acceptable for the price. All you get is the new map, added pokemon (not new ones, old ones that weren't in original game) and maybe 1-2 hours of story missions. Thats being NICE. Andddd thats it lol The main mission is to "Train" your Kubfu to be strong enough to battle in the Tower. You get Kubfu at level 10 and every pokemon on Island is 60+. So you can't actually use Kubfu until the end. He sits in your party and gets exp points. When you hit level 70 you can battle in tower. 5 battles, ONE pokemon each. Game Over. OHH and if you were a loyal fan and got most of your pokemon level 75 or higher, again all the pokemon are level 60 in expansion (until your hit tower and they're level 65-70, WOAH), so you blow them out of the water. To make this expansion "Fun" I had to catch a whole new group of pokemon (level 60) and play. There are no extra trainers to battle throughout the world, no additional story lines (only Kubfu tower one), NOTHING. Just a collectathon of sparkles and watts. I really hope the 2nd expansion blows our MINDS but I'm not counting on it.… Expand
  9. Figgiet
    Jul 23, 2020
    8
    i actually liked this expansion. i really liked the fact that new pokemon and old pokemon appeared in this expansion. Fine story, maybe it should have been a bit longer.
  10. FelixHuang
    Jul 28, 2020
    10
    The first open world Pokemon game! Love it.I must say that Isle of Armor has a much better "open world design" than wild area. The overall map is small but with a variety of different places like linked caves, forest, ocean, wetlands etc. It also contains some side quests and interesting interactions like sharpedo chasing you to hell
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. divegold
    Nov 24, 2022
    10
    Added a lot of content to the base game! It brought innovation and many hours of fun!
  15. AlexMakesToast
    Dec 16, 2022
    5
    Isle of Armor = 5/10
    ......................................................
  16. 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
  17. guygardner2020
    Jun 24, 2020
    6
    Content is not balanced , really only good for starting a new game. New Pokemon are cool though. I think its fixable with a patch and hope they go that route.
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. Babajaga88
    Jul 5, 2023
    0
    A bad expansion for a very bad title. Lazy map design with lazy artistic view
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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.
    Read full review
  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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