The Teal Mask continues a disappointing trend from the base game of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

The Teal Mask DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet addresses one of the main issues of the base game, which is the lack of a complete Pokedex, by adding a solid number of returning monsters that were previously unavailable. While these additions are great news for fans who want to have their favorite creatures in their Pokedex, the DLC still fails to address another major flaw of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Despite the abundance of new content that The Teal Mask provides to players, it doesn't truly improve the poor performance that has been affecting the base games since their release.

In The Teal Mask DLC for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, there are many welcome additions to discover, including over 100 new and returning creatures, new attacks through TMs, and a brand-new land to explore. However, some of these features feel somewhat underwhelming when trying to overlook the multitude of performance issues that still exist in the games. The release of the DLC could have been the perfect opportunity for Game Freak to address some of the concerning performance problems, but it seems that little has changed regarding the issues present in the base games.

Performance Issues Still Plague Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in The Teal Mask

One of the biggest criticisms that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet received upon release was the poor state of the game's performance, even by Switch standards. While other open-world games like Breath of the Wild ran reasonably well on the Switch, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet consistently suffered from frame rate drops, pop-ins, and rendering issues, despite having a relatively sparse world. Despite some updates to the games, Game Freak has never truly managed to address these performance problems, which now seem to have carried over to The Teal Mask DLC as well.

Upon diving into the DLC, players will notice low frame rates for distant NPCs and creatures, as well as frequent frame rate drops and game crashes, similar to the glitches and performance shortcomings of the base Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games upon release. Some players may overlook these issues and enjoy the content of the DLC, but for others, it is a disappointing distraction that recalls the difficulties players faced upon the games' initial release. Given the time gap between the original release and the launch of the DLC, one would expect improving the games' performance to have been a priority in order to provide players with the best possible experience in the DLC.

It appears that there have been some minor improvements in the game's performance, such as shortened loading times for creature icons in the storage boxes. Additionally, some areas have been designed with more detail, such as the items for sale in front of the store in Kitakami's Mossui Town or the rice fields just outside the city. Despite attempts to enhance the visual appeal of the games, these changes only amount to minor improvements that do not compensate for the dozens of other performance issues that still exist in the games.

There is still a possibility that these performance issues will be improved with the release of The Indigo Disk later this winter, but based on the ongoing trend of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, it doesn't look promising. The persistent performance problems plaguing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are not a good sign for the series, and the fact that they were not significantly addressed in The Teal Mask DLC does not bode well for the future of the franchise. There is still plenty of enjoyable content in this DLC, but it is mostly hindered by disappointing performance on an already underpowered console like the Switch.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available for the Nintendo Switch. The Teal Mask DLC is also now available.