Here’s a quick Pokémon Scarlet and Violet story recap, just in time for The Teal Mask

The fairy Pokemon Clefairy has always had a bit of magical mystery to it and is known to gather under the full moon. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are honoring this lore by adding Clefairy mass outbreaks to the game in honor of today’s full moon. In Scarlet & Violet, mass outbreaks are when you see a large number of the same Pokemon gathered in the same place, which means your chance of catching them is greatly increased.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet had a mixed launch. Even though it was critiqued by players due to poor quality, the latest games in the Pokemon series sold more than ten million copies in their first three days. That likely means quite a few of you are playing the game's Teal Mask DLC right now. If you chose to hold out based on the early reactions, or simply because you had other things going on at the time, Pokemon has dropped a little bit of good news for you this week.

As unintentionally glitchy as Pokémon Scarlet and Violetoften felt at launch, their introduction of a massive, truly open world felt like a major step forward for the core franchise, and the promise of DLC made it seem as if Game Freak might have a solid plan to evolve the titles even further. Unfortunately, The Teal Mask — the first half of Scarlet and Violet’s announced DLC drops — doesn’t bring any of the sorely needed bug fixes that players have been begging for since the games debuted earlier this year. 

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's first DLC expansion, The Teal Mask, is a commendable step in the right direction that's held back by some familiar technical shortcomings.

The Pokemon Company had its first big release of 2023 via the launch of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC, known as “The Teal Mask.” The content is the first part of the “Hidden Treasure Of Area Zero” content that will continue via the second part, called “The Indigo Disk.” The first part of the DLC took players to a new land full of Pokemon and mysteries. However, despite the content’s seemingly successful launch, the title is already going to get an update to fix issues. This was revealed by the game’s Japanese Twitter account, and they highlighted some of the things that would be fixed.

A handful of new and returning Pokemon appear in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s The Teal Mask DLC. However, some unique Pokemon have a distinct twist in this DLC, such as Ursaluna, a Pokemon that originally appeared in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. It has a new form in The Teal Mask called Bloodmoon Ursaluna, and you can find it while exploring Kitakami.

Kitakami sits at the base of a mountain range, rice paddies and fruit orchards surrounding the small village. Rivers run through the mountains, which expand well past the village limits, to create an idyllic little world to explore in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet’s new The Teal Mask DLC. It’s an altogether brief adventure, and it doesn’t reach the heights of the one I undertook when Scarlet and Violet were released last year — but it’s brimming with charm and character nonetheless.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: The Teal Mask is an interesting bit of DLC for a few reasons. The biggest one is that it’s part of a set of two, which means the story that it tells is going to continue with The Indigo Disk when that releases later this year. The other reason it’s interesting is that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are, at least in my opinion, some of the worst entries in the franchise we’ve had.

Swinub and Piloswine are returning to the Pokemon games in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s The Teal Mask DLC. These Pokemon have a chance to appear as you explore the Kitakami region, and you can do this after completing the main story for The Teal Mask.

The Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Teal Mask DLC has added a piece of technology advanced enough to bring every uncle or dad on vacation joy. Now, the game features a selfie stick that makes it easier to take photos with your Pokémon. The addition, along with other new photo options, brings subtle but much-appreciated changes to capturing memorable scenes in the game.

Chingling is returning to Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, making its appearance in The Teal Mask DLC. You’ll have a chance to find it in the wild and add it to your Pokedex, bringing your step closer to completing every entry. You’ll also need to evolve this Pokemon, which can take a bit of time.

When we originally reviewed Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, we went with a dual-pronged approach. One person reviewed Scarlet and gave it a 6/10. Another person reviewed Violet and gave it…a 6/10. Do you sense a pattern here? They had their finger on the pulse of much of the community.