The Indigo Disk has a lot of heavy lifting to do for the future of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Any time we Pokémon fans get new content it’s generally a good thing, but unfortunately, The Teal Mask is a bandaid on the problems that Scarlet and Violet have struggled with now for almost a year, and that bandaid ain’t cheap.

The Teal Mask is one part of The Treasures of Area Zero DLC that endeavors to give Pokémon Scarlet and Violet players fresh new areas to explore, filled with not just returning Pokémon from previous games, but also some new faces joining the mix for the very first time.

While this may sound like a lot of content, for a price tag of $34.99, the reality is so far it just hasn’t been enough to sink your teeth into, even when you get past the bugs. Now the onus falls on The Indigo Disk to pick up the slack in a big way.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are still broken after 10 months

Let’s start with the obvious: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are still broken. We’re in month 10 of the new generation, if you’d even call it new anymore, and still, these games are plagued with performance problems.

In fact, at times it seems like they are even worse in The Teal Mask.

While playing, you’ll constantly notice the handheld game’s framerates drop, sometimes as low as single digits. Other times, you’ll ride past an open field too fast for Pokémon to actually load in. These technical issues weren’t acceptable at launch, but we gave GameFreak the benefit of the doubt they’d be fixed. Well, they haven’t been.

Exploring the land of Kitakami is supposed to be the main selling point of The Teal Mask, but how can people look forward to that when the game can barely handle the task? And, unfortunately, performance isn’t the only place the DLC falls short.

We hope you like battling the same two trainers over and over

The story of this Pokémon DLC has some nice moments and does a great job of introducing us to Ogrepon, Munkidori, Okidogi, Fezandipiti, and trainers Carmine and Kieran. However, we hope you like battling these two, because that’s pretty much all there is.

During the campaign, you’ll only encounter the names listed here, aside from a brief Milotic cameo in the early stages. This makes the already short four-hour campaign feel even shorter. We’re supposed to be on an island with other exchange students, so why are none of them involved in the key story points? Even one more trainer would have solved some of the fatigue you’ll suffer having to kick Kieran’s somber ass on so many occasions.

Of course, like any Pokémon game, the story is often not what players are worried about; instead, it is the postgame content.

The Pokédex is The Teal Mask’s saving grace

Well, in The Teal Mask, you’ve got about two meaningful tasks to complete outside the story and less than another dozen trainers to face. The Timeless Woods quest with Perrin is a great addition and something I wish we’d seen more of from this DLC. Similarly, the Ogre Oustin’ minigame can provide some fun.

Fortunately, this void of things to do is partially filled by the new Kitakami Pokédex, however, I don’t expect that to last long enough to tide most players over until we get The Idigo Disk.

As a Pokémon fan, I’m happy with any new content, but The Teal Mask doesn’t feel like it warrants half of the DLC’s cost.

It’s now all on The Indigo Disk to justify my purchase and bring Pokémon Scarlet and Violet to its full potential instead of becoming another shortfall. This isn’t just about the new content, in fact, at first glance it seems players have a lot more to look forward to with part two of The Secrets of Area Zero. Now, this also comes down to the technical state.

If GameFreak just fixes the technical issues in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet then the lack of fresh content is something that can be forgiven.

A giant open world isn’t enjoyable to explore when it’s plagued with technical problems, so until these are fixed, Scarlet and Violet will always be an example of a Pokémon entry that could have been really great but instead was just fine.