Pokemon Isle of Armor Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Esports Appeal

The Pokemon series continues to enter uncharted territory to interesting results with Pokemon Sword and Shield on the Nintendo Switch.  

Launched in November of 2019, Sword and Shield was the first mainline entry in the storied series to appear on a normal console as opposed to a handheld system. It received generally positive acclaim while introducing the Galar region, beefing up the immersion and leaning into a tried-and-true gameplay loop while also making a few big missteps—including the number of Pokemon in the game and some polarizing open-world elements. 

Now Isle of Armor takes the next leap for the franchise, as it is technically the first downloadable content (DLC) for the series...ever. Promising a response to fan feedback, important additions and an extension of a story mode, it has a chance to push one of the most beloved franchises on the planet to further modernization while continuing to triumph in terms of accessibility with deceptive depth of gameplay. 

Graphics and Gameplay

Isle of Armor was never going to rewrite the book on Sword and Shield visually, for obvious reasons. 

Yet there was some wiggle room for creativity and an expansion of ideas through presentation to create a deeper sense of immersion. 

And that's exactly what happens. 

The same painstaking detail has gone into the little things for the DLC. Everything remains colorful and pleasant to look at, and the small details in Pokemon behavior are there again. But so are what seems like more animated NPCs, making them less stiff and no longer looking like something ripped out of a handheld game and tossed on to a normal console. 

Creativity comes via the variations in locales. The expanded beaches, for example, give off the right vibes of blistering heat between relaxing points of shade. A few varied biomes smartly house appropriate wild Pokemon to encounter, too. 

From an immersion perspective, it's nice to see so much attention to detail in diverse environments. It hurt in the base game to realize there weren't any amazing set pieces, like superyachts or evil corporation bases, to work through. Players were generally whisked from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible.

The same feels like it applies to the new Wild Area. The sprawling one from the base game was a fun idea but largely felt like a slog after long. These more condensed, detailed biomes remove some of the monotony. Weaving through a cave system to get spit out on an unexpected part of the island is a highlight and a good example of how much exploration is an emphasis of the experience. 

Some of the base-game "buts" apply to the visuals of the expansion, too. Looking at the game and DLC as a handheld game blown up on big screens paints a pretty picture. But throwing it up against some of the Switch's heavy hitters makes it look rough by comparison, which isn't what one would expect given the powerhouse status of one of Nintendo's flagship franchises. 

Understandably, things haven't changed too much on the gameplay front. And that's a good thing coming from the base game—a smooth experience with quality-of-life upgrades compared to previous entries in the series didn't need a ton of help when it comes to the battling. 

As always, battling remains simplistic at face value, but it has some incredible depth for those who look. New Pokemon added to the game and a few competitive-based tweaks only further the notion. It still feels like there are far too many textboxes when in a battle at times, but getting as much info to the player as possible remains as important as ever. 

Traversal is where the DLC appears to beef up the experience. It feels like the new areas have bike travel in mind, which means the sprawling open spaces are something trainers can zoom through. And it's an absolute blast to feel somewhat stranded out in the middle of a big body of water and have water-based 'mons shooting at the trainer over the waves left and right.  

Some of the items within that exploration experience still suffer from issues, though. Max Raid battles remain a fun idea, but they're wildly repetitive. And actual level scaling seems off, so protection against things being too easy for those tackling the DLC after beating the main game doesn't feel right. 

But as a whole, the Wild Area, in particular, is something players will likely feel happy to return to often because of the upgrade it represents over the original. And some little tweaks here and there, plus the new restricted-battle challenge (pick three 'mons to go against a gauntlet of trainers), provide decent endgame fodder before heading off to towers or online. 

Story and More

At its most basic, the DLC area is available right off the normal Wild Area and takes a zoomed-in narrative focus compared to the base game. There's drama at a dojo to take care of, and the reward is a Kubfu, a 'mon for trainers to level to 70 via the Tower of Darkness or the Tower of Waters, which dictates how it evolves. Doing so opens the door to more challenges. 

There are some other goodies tucked into the tight experience, like cosmetics, a Diglett hunt numbering 150 and some new max raid battles. 

More Pokemon narrative is always a welcome sight, though here it's extremely brief and something akin to what players would see in a typical RPG sidequest: Go here, find a few items, work through a few battles, done. 

Maybe the most frustrating development is the annoying rival characters, depending on which version a player has. This isn't Hop-level bad, but like him, they're treated as punchline relief and not serious threats—serious threats in a Pokemon game again would be a welcome sight. 

The Wild Area presents the biggest uptick in quality. While not as big as the one in the base game, details like caves and verticality make it fun to explore. 

One of the details players will probably figure out quickly is the player agency. There's nothing tying them down into doing one thing upon arrival at the Isle. Fully exploring the bigger-than-it seems area, going after Pokemon or just looking for hidden items instead of playing the story is an option.  

Overall, The Isle of Armor presents some good quality-of-life improvements. The open spaces feel more designed toward quick bike travel, there are some more cosmetic options and trainers can transform a typical Dynamax into a Gigantamax. 

One other big note? Pokemon can walk behind and follow the trainer out in the wild on the Isle now, but it's strictly limited to there, not base-game areas. It's a welcome addition, though simply odd it wasn't in the base offering, especially after Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu and Let's Go, Eevee didn't have many problems making it happen. Criticism of this sort of feature only making it into a paid DLC area is a fair point. 

Esports and Speedrunning Tips

Sword and Shield originally made massive strides for the activity of the competitive scene via things like changing a Pokemon's nature, streamlined breeding and even move sharing. 

The expansion capitalizes on this theme to great results.

This DLC at least offers some beefed-up details for the competitive scene. Tutors teach new moves that could have some serious competitive uses, and one NPC will wipe a Pokemon's EVs. With EV grinding a little streamlined and a Cram-o-matic offering the ability to combine items to lessen the grind, it initially looks like it will be easier than before to assemble a preferred competitive team. 

Add in new Pokemon to the roster and more transformations and a streamlined, albeit expanded competitive scene awaits. It's a little more accessible than before given some of the upgrades here, and it will also feel fresher, adding legs for the community. 

As expected, speedrunners have torn up the base game, too, to the tune of top global times in the range of only four hours. 

The usual suspects for Pokemon speedruns persist: Blow through dialogue; capitalize on the early unlocks of bikes and fast travel; form a team of 'mons with wicked speed—even if they're glass cannons—to farm experience points that are now shared throughout the party. 

Some of these tenets will carry over to blazing through the DLC. Memorization of areas and the process of getting through things as fast as possible on subsequent runs will remain key. But the streamlined nature of the rather brief DLC means even leveling a certain Pokemon to 70 doesn't require one strict strategy to achieve. 

Provided runners tackling the DLC don't get too distracted with the open-world areas or details, this should be brief. That's especially the case considering there shouldn't be any rules against starting the DLC after directly beating the base game. 

Conclusion

Pokemon fans aren't going to want to miss Isle of Armor, simple as that. While brief, it's more of the same formula with plenty of new additions, including tweaks that will push the series forward in good directions.

As a whole? It's a breath of fresh air to avoid having to start everything from scratch on a new save because a third complementary game dropped at a later date with updates. This is new-age stuff, booting up the same save file and getting those updates in the form of a DLC. Is it setting an industry standard for content and features for an expansion? Hardly, but it's a nice step in the right direction for a franchise that needed some modernization in this area. 

Besides this simply being a fun romp with some more smart quality-of-life additions, it goes a long way toward building hype for the fall's next DLC release to see how that offering can also push the series forward as it gets comfortable on home consoles.