Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: The Teal Masks Review From Bad to Worse

I often wonder what would have happened if Pokemon had chosen Rattata or Pidgey instead of Pikachu as its mascot. Pokemon has become a pop culture giant nowadays, with the electric rodent adorning everything from clothing at Primark to card sets available in practically every supermarket. It's hard to go a few minutes in the modern world without being reminded of Pikachu's existence. But what if, instead of a cute yellow creature, a rat or a pigeon had been the mascot?

Most likely, the franchise would be much more boring and less popular. Pikachu's round face inevitably elicits "aww" reactions, whether or not someone knows anything about pocket monsters. Rattata, on the other hand? Maybe not. And yet, the main attraction of the "Teal Mask" DLC in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is Ogerpon, a strange little pile of leaves on legs that is neither cute nor interesting. It is one of only eight new additions to the Pokedex in Scarlet & Violet's first expansion and it means nothing to me, despite an entire story aimed at evoking sympathy.

The story of The Teal Mask is simple: You are essentially an exchange student exploring the mythology of a foreign land, and two students born in Kitakamia get involved in everything. One of them is a lonely child whose own grandparents mock him for having no friends, and the other is an arrogant know-it-all. It's a departure from the eternal optimism of Hop and Hau, but they are hardly captivating.

Kieran, the young loner, can identify with the misunderstood Ogerpon, as both spend the majority of the story brooding. You are sent to the farthest corners of Kitakami (about a five-minute ride on the Miraidon bike) to uncover the story of the three saviors of the land, which ultimately turns out to be a lie, and nothing else interesting happens.

The DLCs of Pokemon Sword & Shield were great, introducing impressive new areas with diverse ecosystems and some outstanding new monsters. However, The Teal Mask is let down by the main game and contributes very little to Scarlet & Violet anyway. This is particularly true for the new monsters.

The eight new Pokémon are on par in terms of quantity with the Pokémon seen in previous DLCs. However, if half of them are legendary Pokémon with honestly terrible designs, and an unnecessary evolution of Applin that is worse in every way than the two existing options, they are easily forgettable. I admit that a matcha-based regional form of Sinistea is clever, even if it looks funny, and the cursed werewolf form of Ursaluna is excellent, but that's about it.

I planned to put together a new group of DLC Pokémon, but it simply wasn't feasible. I immediately caught Sinistea, endured with Dipplin for a while, and then? You can only unlock Ursaluna once you have reached 150 entries in your Kitakamia Dex, but by that time, I had already completed the story. The ability to catch legendary Pokémon comes even later, and it turns out that the bird isn't even of the Flying type.

The only ray of hope amidst the storm is Ogerpons Masks. They are interesting hold items that uniquely affect Terastalization, with impressive stat boosts, type changes, and custom crystal mask designs that make them both mechanically and aesthetically intriguing. I will definitely use them on my ranking list unless there is any objection.

Basically, there are only two new Pokémon to catch, and the story is boring, but at least the new region is great, right? Wrong. It's small and uninteresting, traveling through it is dull, and there are no iconic locations. The two battle dojos on the Isle of Armor were great, as were the Crown Tundra caves. There is a magical, glowing pool that comes close to greatness in The Teal Mask, but it suffers from the same problem as Area Zero in the main game: I went through it and thought, "Imagine this game looking good."

Ultimately, that is the biggest weakness of The Teal Mask. It is based on a flawed project and cannot escape its terrible starting point. The textures still look awful, the frame rate still drops when more than three things happen, and the pop-in is unforgivable for a game of this scope and budget. One can hardly blame The Teal Mask for the shortcomings of Scarlet & Violet, but the DLC adds nothing to justify its price or existence.

But there is room for hope. The Crown Tundra was better than the earlier Isle of Armor. It introduced Dynamax Adventures, a much-improved story, and some instant classic monsters. Unfortunately, it seems that Kieran and Carmine are returning, but the little Tera-turtle Pokémon appears more interesting than most of the newcomers in The Teal Mask. Will a small creature be enough to save the series? Terapagos has a lot of potential in the Indigo Disk and at least a better chance than Dipplin or Rattata.