Pokémon Scarlet and Violet The Indigo Disk focuses on competitive Double Battle difficulty spike

Over a dozen previews for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s The Indigo Disk expansion dropped on Nov. 21, giving players their first real look at the DLC content and a massive difficulty spike that takes the main series into the competitive realm of online battles.

According to multiple players who were able to go hands-on with the DLC for an hour ahead of its Dec. 14 release, the focus of Blueberry Academy is Double Battles. Most, if not all, of the battles in the expansion will be doubles and many of the trainers use strategies that work best in that format. 

During the previews, players ran into various NPCs that ran teams with Pokémon utilizing Abilities, moves, and items you don’t see very often outside of online battles or post-game content. This included setting up Trick Room and Grassy Terrain or giving a Zangoose a Toxic Orb so it poisons itself for an Attack Boost thanks to its Guts ability. While some information was restricted, like how the battle against Blueberry Elite Four Amarys went at the end of the demo, players did say they were handed a pre-prepared team of Pokémon like Talonflame and Lucario that had Held Items, good moves, and were over level 80.

Even with that, most of the previews note Amarys’ team defeated them, as she utilizes high-level strategies and options to counter her Pokémon’s weaknesses. Serebii’s Joe Merrick said she uses “classic and brutal Double Battle strategies” and that it “stunned [him] in how tough it was.” He went on to claim it reminded him of later challenges in facilities like the Battle Tower. 

Based on this info alone, and the inclusion of NPCs like the Ogre Clan in The Teal Mask, it is clear Game Freak is working more challenging styles of battle into Scarlet and Violet in a way that we haven’t seen before. The Switch era of Pokémon has made getting into competitive battling easier than ever with different ways to teach Pokémon moves, maximize their stats, and build or test a strong team out on the online ladder. Now it looks like The Indigo Disk is taking things a step further by introducing these mechanics without locking it behind a battle facility.

“This DLC is all about Double Battles. As a VGC player, that excites me so much because there is so much potential for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company to take this idea and run with it,” VGC commentator Nekkra said. “It has been a very long time since we have seen something this competitive in nature.”

More integration of double battles and competitive elements into the story or non-online content of Pokémon games is a win-win for the developers. This is a real chance to introduce casual players to the VGC style of battling through natural gameplay progression and not just optional content. Testing a player’s ability to craft a team and strategy to counter actual meta Pokémon, moves, and abilities without making them go online or limiting their usage of something like healing items is good. 

It also gives them a challenge they can still overcome in multiple ways, while letting them take it more seriously (if they want), and could lead to them wanting to give online battles a shot. On top of that, it answers one of the biggest complaints older players have, in that most of the base games are too easy if you don’t impose self-regulating challenges.

Depending on the reception to The Indigo Disk, this is something that could be implemented more frequently in future games to appease those looking for greater challenges.