Pokémon Sword and Shield are finally complete! The Crown Tundra is the second of the two promised dlc add-ons and it brings with it a large area to explore, with some legendary storylines to play through. There is a lot to unpack in this dlc and it provides a wonderful send off to Sword and Shield.
From a story perspective you start by working together with the new character Peony to hunt down legendary Pokémon through his expeditions (which are just quests he gives you). There are three main quests in the dlc, which include hunting down the Galarian birds, all of the Regis, and of course the newly added Calyrex. Hunting the birds just boils down to finding them on the map and chasing them down, while the Regis all reside in temples that have riddles associated with opening the entrances, but the real stand out is Calyrex.
Calyrex isn’t just a static encounter on the map like so many other legendary Pokémon from the past. Calyrex is an npc in his own right and is the driving force behind his own questline, sending you off to find different things he needs to come back to full power, such as having you help him find his trusty steed. This was the first time I can ever remember interacting with a Pokémon in such an intricate way. It made me think of the way Ash would interact with Pokémon in the anime/movies, and I really hope to see more of it in the future. If we can get storylines like this in future games the franchise could really evolve into something way more intricate than ever before.
The other main attraction of the dlc is the Dynamax Adventure mode. This mode allows you to team up with three other trainers online (or npcs if you feel like going solo) and take on a series of dynamax raids that culminate in a battle against a random legendary. The availability of these legends in this way is awesome and adds a ton of replayability to the game. It gets even more replayable when you find out that the shiny rate of each of the Pokémon you’ll catch (each of which have a 100% catch rate) is down to 1/100 with the shiny charm. It’s nice to have something like this to grind out in the game for the foreseeable future.
While we are still missing around 200 Pokémon in Sword and Shield even after the additions of the Crown Tundra, we have come much closer to a full national dex in the game. I personally don’t mind that not every Pokémon is available, but I understand that some people will still be disappointed that their favorite Pokémon still might not be available to them. On that note, my favorite Pokémon, Crobat, is finally back in the game and I am super happy to be able to run around the Crown Tundra with my shiny Crobat by my side!
All in all I really enjoyed the dlc and feel like it is a great note for Sword and Shield to end on. Sword and Shield started out on a pretty rocky note and a lot of fans were very disappointed initially, but the final product we have been left with is one of the most satisfying Pokémon experiences I can remember in some time. I am left with a lot of hope for what the future of the franchise can become (even though I’m probably setting myself up to be let down). If you haven’t checked out the dlc packs for Sword and Shield yet, I would definitely recommend doing so!
As always, thanks for reading! If you want to get together for some Dynamax Raids in Pokémon, let me know in the comments below or over on Twitter! Check back for a new post (at least) every Saturday and be sure to sign-up via email to make sure you never miss a thing! Be safe and have a great day!
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