After months of teasing, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company finally announced the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC release date during the August 2023 Pokemon Presents, at least for the first half. The Teal Mask, part one of The Secret Treasure of Area Zero, will launch on Sep. 13, 2023, for Nintendo Switch and adds the new region of Kitakami, new Pokemon, and a few new rivals as well.
The Teal Mask kicks off with a school trip to the Kitakami region, an idyllic rural setting with rice paddies, a giant, slightly ominous mountains, and apple orchards around every corner. It’s fitting, then, that one of The Teal Mask’s new Pokemon is Dipplin, an Applin evolution, the apple dragon who first appeared in the Galar region. Like in Sword and Shield’s expansion, this new region is home to Pokemon you can’t find in the base game.
Three additional new Pokemon are The Loyal Three, Kitakami’s guardians who once saved the land from a horrible ogre, or so the story goes. These are:
- Munkidori
- Okidogi
- Fezandipity
Game Freak didn’t say what type these three are, though.
You arrive during an annual festival celebrating The Loyal Three, which means there’s plenty to do and see, including new mini-games such as Oust the Ogre and photography challenges.
The DLC’s second half is The Indigo Disc. This expansion has no release date yet, but when it does launch, it’ll introduce a substantial amount of new characters, Pokemon, and challenges to Scarlet and Violet, including a new Elite Four to battle.
Your destination this time is Blueberry Academy, a school situated underwater with multiple biomes branching off from the main hub. You’ll find new Pokemon in each of these, including Golurk and Alolan Exeggutor, and you can battle new trainers from across the region.
At the end of all this, you head back to Paldea and finally discove the Secret Treasure of Area Zero.
You can get both halves of the DLC in the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion for $34.99, but make sure to check which version you’re buying. Like Sword and Shield‘s DLC, the expansions are version-specific.
And finally, make sure to grab your free Mew with the new Scarlet and Violet Mystery Code while the offer’s going.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
