The most recent Pokemon Direct from Nintendo had a ton of information included in it despite the fact that it only lasted for 20 minutes. The biggest announcement, hands down, was that the franchise would be moving away from enhanced versions of mainline games; Pokemon Sword and Shield officially have Expansion Passes instead. And just like the rest of the Galar region, the new areas in the upcoming downloadable content have real-life inspirations, which have now been revealed.
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As we’ve previously reported, the Expansion Pass includes two big content drops this year: The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra. These are set to release in June 2020 and Fall 2020, respectively. Each has its own area, Pokemon, trainers, and so on. Both of these — The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra — will be available regardless of which version players have.
The Isle of Armor, according to the folks behind Pokemon, was inspired by the Isle of Man, while The Crown Tundra was inspired by Scotland. Given that the Galar region is largely based on the United Kingdom, and both of those actual places basically fall under the UK, so it should come as no surprise that they served as points of reference for the developers.
Trainers, in the #PokemonSwordShield Expansion Pass, you will explore two brand-new areas, the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra. Did you know? The Isle of Armor was inspired by the Isle of Man, and the Crown Tundra was inspired by Scotland! pic.twitter.com/Qsbouq7vdZ
— Pokémon UK (@PokemonNewsUK) January 13, 2020
The Pokemon Sword Expansion Pass and Pokemon Shield Expansion Pass are available right now via Nintendo’s eShop for $29.99 each. Players that purchase either receive a special bonus: a code for a Pikachu Uniform and an Eevee Uniform. Even without the new Expansion Pass, a free update to the video games will allow trading of the various catchable Pokemon being added across those that do and do not have it.
What do you think of what we’ve seen of the Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass DLC as of yet? Are you more excited for The Isle of Armor or The Crown Tundra? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!
Pokemon Sword and Shield are currently available for the Nintendo Switch. The Expansion Pass, which as mentioned above must be purchased separately for each video game, is now available to pre-order from Nintendo’s eShop for $29.99. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Pokemon right here.
