Gallery: Pokémon Sword And Shield Isle Of Armor - Glorious Key Art And New Screenshots

So far it looks like the DLC is something that is turning interesting. There’s barely any new Pokémon tho which is a bummer but some cool old ones are returning. The areas look a lot more intriguing and immerse. Overall I’d say this should be more enjoyable than the base game. Hopefully they have some bigger surprises hidden within the game itself and are holding off until it releases. I won’t get my hopes up tho...
either way the tundra seems like something I can REALLY look forward to. That cutscene with the Kanto galarian trio looked awesome! Not too big on how Venusaur is looking but Blastoise is looking really cool.

The real question is have they created new assets for the wild area(s) or are they the same recycled trees as before. Mildly excited for this though.

BLASTOISE IS USING HIS CANNONS! TWENTY TWO YEARS AND IT'S HAPPENING!!!!

More Gen 1 favouritism from gamefreak. They truly have run out of ideas.

Looks great & I can’t wait to explore the new area and catch some “new” Pokémon.

I’d be down for the series to adopt this kind of road map moving forward. Game releases one year, the next year we get two big expansion every 6 months. The following year we get a new game. I think a 2 year development cycle would do wonders for the series.

@status-204 It's an expansion pass, what were you realistically expecting?

@Rob3008 ikr? A new/updated engine for DLC? Some people are so unrealistic then get disappointed when these unrealistic demands don’t get met.

Looks nice, always liked the art style of these new pokemon games.

Not gonna lie, that key art looks awesome.

As much as I enjoy playing the game, when you see images like the first 3 (especially the cave), I can’t help but notice how ugly and bland it is...

I know its not about the graphics but that cave screenshot really does highlight just how basic the lighting is, its reminiscent of an N64 game.

I´ll wait for the Definitive Edition that will come next year for sure. I´m not in a rush to play SW/SH at all, and these DLC look quite interesting imo.

@status-204 someone is being salty.

That cave .... for f* sake... hire Monolith soft to do your environment work

looks at Galarian Slowbro
.... seems like Slowbro has played some mario vs rabbids

I approve

@status-204 that doesn work that easy, but they could do that with new games (dream on)

@Supadav03 dude... DLC can't actually introduce a new engine. It's code and asset content slapped onto the existing thing and a new engine would mean overhauling the entire thing.

What you want is a new -game- and that's not happening without selling an entire full priced game again. Be careful what you wish for.

@status-204 thats not how it works man. What you're asking for would fundamentally put more strain on the GPU.

TL;DR - The gpu tech in the switch is too old for what you're asking for. Make do with what you got, cause its already pushing the hardware heavily.

In PC land, shadows is one of the, if not at times THE, most intensive friggin thing in gaming. Most people shut them off to get as much performance as they can or use attempt to use low res static shadows if they gotta have something.

A lot is already happening graphically what with all the models running around. To ask for more is pretty much telling your switch to jump off a cliff at this point. Its already struggling to render things as is.
The GPU uses nvidia's maxwell architecture which is 2013* tech. Thats the GTX 700 series up to the 900 series but its power is roughly in the 700 range because the chip in the switch came out in 2015. There just isn't enough horsepower under that hood, its incredible devs are doing what they are already with it and the games still look that good.

I wil be yep.. just hopefully beat the base game by then. I’m about halfway now!

@Ludovsky ummm..I think you badly misinterpreted my comment. That’s exactly what I was saying because a poster up above asked for a new/improved engine. My comment was saying it’s a ridiculous request to ask for that with DLC.

@Supadav03 oh, my apologies!
Proof I shouldn't read comments without getting coffee first ^^;

@Ludovsky lol, the dangers of posting while uncaffinated.

@status-204 This should be an overall patch, not a DLC "addon".

Otherwise it wouldn't flow with the look&feel of the main game (which it's still part of, despite the paywall).
Also: people would complain why only those who pay get better graphics.

But since Gamefreak already got their money I doubt they will fix this.

Who thought that was a good Blastoise design? Is it supposed to be a turtle Pokémon or the city plumbing pokemon?

I miss when Pokemon wasn't embarrassing.

Just bought the expansion pass - £19.99 at Shopto in the UK.

@Maxie93,

No issues with you and others feeling the games visuals are not the best on the Switch, but an N64 game, surprised you did not go the whole way and state it looked like the Gameboy versions.

@farmer_humpf,

Awesome deal there, I thought the Amazon deal at £26.99 was pretty sweet.

@johnvboy I am referring to the cave screenshot in particular. And to be honest I stand by it.

It's like an n64 game but with greater clarity. There is absolutely no depth to the lighting at all, and overall pretty low poly terrain. Some baked lighting would of been an easy add and would help significantly.

Don't get me wrong the other scenes fair better, but that one in particular doesn't look a lot better than Pokemon snap to me.

That GMAX Blastoise reminds me of the Dark Blastoise card art from way back

@Maxie93,

I love the N64 to bits. but I do feel we look at it's visuals with nostalgia, and looking at them now they do look awful. any claim a modern games visuals are similar is incorrect.

@johnvboy I did say it was reminiscent not "the same".

What would you make to this comparison?

https://i2.wp.com/nintendosoup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/pokemon-sword-shield-ocarina-of-time-tree-banner-jun162019.jpg?resize=900%2C576&ssl=1

The Pokemon shot is far better, and as you would expect it's many generations later, of course the new game is not pushing the Switch hardware, but still miles apart.