Pokémon Sword & Shield is now finally complete with the release of The Crown Tundra, the second part of the DLC pass to go alongside The Isle of Armor. But how does it stack up compared to its great – if inconsistent – main game? Well, we'll tell you, because we’re nice like that.
We have to be honest, our first impressions of The Crown Tundra weren’t outstanding; as you arrive you’re forced into a conversation, and inevitable Pokémon battle, with a father and his daughter. You’re given the option to interject and help the daughter out of an embarrassing expedition with her father, or just leave their business as their business; we decided to try the latter, just to test the waters. But oh no, even though the conversation ends you can’t go any further into the world, you must settle this disagreement between two perfect strangers. We were immediately hit with a worrying sense of ‘here we go again’.

The father of the two, Peony, is a rambunctious caricature of an overzealous and over-excitable dad. He’s over-the-top, dramatic, and painfully cheesy. We love him. He has all the ingredients of an irritating character, but his dialogue and cheery disposition along with his genuinely hilarious names for quests somehow make him work. His daughter Peonia is a much more straight-laced individual, and has little time for her father’s antics, but she too is likeable and didn’t grate on us.
After being driven down a very straight series of conversations and brief moments of walking before another conversation with the same character or characters (something that we complained about in our review for the base game, as well as The Isle of Armor), you’re taken into the first new addition to this DLC, Dynamax Adventures. In these you must venture through a Max Lair and take on any number of Dynamaxed beasties with three others before potentially getting your hands on a rare legendary at the end, also Dynamaxed. You can’t use your own Pokémon in these, rather you have to pick from a selection of rental Pokémon instead.
At first we felt this was a bit naff, why would anyone want to take in some randomly generated monsters instead of the ones we’ve all been raising? But after giving it a go, we can see why. By forcing you to not use your own ‘mon you’re instead thrown into battles and strategies you otherwise wouldn’t encounter. It also means the battles are balanced nicely, stopping the whole thing from being a cakewalk, and truth be told our first run was a lot closer than we expected. You’re required to get to the end without getting knocked out four times, just like a standard Max Raid Battle, but any losses are universal throughout your entire run — sneaky! At the end you’re asked which Pokémon of the ones you caught you want to keep, and realistically it’ll nearly always be the legendary from the end, but it’s nice to have a choice.

After this you’re thrust into the town of Freezington and your adventure starts proper. You agree to replace Peony’s daughter on his ‘Adven-tour’ and are given three quests to follow.
The primary quest has you discovering all about Calyrex — known to the natives as the King of Bountiful Harvests — and where they’ve been hiding all this time. You’ll meet the king himself, speak to him (which felt quite jarring and of whom we weren’t all that fond of), perform a series of tasks to bring him back to power, and eventually shove him in a tiny ball for your own amusement.
This is where the bulk of the direct narrative happens, and it’s fine, but nothing much more than that. We found it hard to get invested in the world or its characters due to how we’ve only just bloomin’ arrived, and the tasks didn’t amount to much more than fetch quests. Not terrible by any means, but hardly memorable either.

The second quest is all about the fabled Regis that first appeared in Ruby & Sapphire, who are residing in ancient ruins that no one has been able to access for countless years. When you reach one of these ruins you have to solve an achingly simple puzzle and then — boom! — it’s regicide time. Given just how obtuse and complicated it was to get these giants in their original games, we were quite disappointed with how straightforward it was this time around; one of the puzzles is so basic you can solve it the first time you read it, and without having to have anything specific about your person.
We understand that paid DLC shouldn’t necessarily lock its rewards behind gameplay too complex, but even if you needed to go adventuring to discover the clues rather than them just being plastered upon the door we feel it would’ve given this quest not only more weight, but a considerably longer run time. As it stands it’s nice to see the Regis return, but we think they deserve a little bit more love, especially if these ruins have supposedly kept the presumably ultra-dim-witted populace out for years.
The third quest though? Oh sweet lordy, this one's good. The premise is simple, you run up to an oversized tree and that’s the cue for the original three legendary birds to appear in their shiny new Galarian forms. A cutscene is triggered that is dramatic, exciting, and well animated, and had us figuratively screaming ‘why isn’t there more of this?’ at the screen. The three birds run off after your phone starts ringing, and they scatter fiercely to the three different Wild Areas in Galar. That’s right, this is a quest that has you not only exploring the new Crown Tundra, but also the Isle of Armor and the original Wild Area. You’re not given much to go on, only that they’re there and you have to track them down.

When you arrive in the areas it’s not straightforward either, you have to work out where they are and how to catch up with them on your own, which compared to the rest of the quests and very much like Galarian Zapdos, is no small feat. The birds are tough, and thankfully they don’t have the same poor draw distance as the rest of the Pokémon so if you lose sight of them, it’s all on you. We loved this quest: it’s new, original, and slightly harkens back to the Legendary Beasts from Gold & Silver. Plus those new designs? Gorgeous!
Overall, the quests are a bit of a mixed bag. None of them are out and out bad, but we would like to have seen the same open-ended solutions and genuine excitement we felt from the Legendary Birds example. Regieleki is adorable though, so bonus points for that. There is also a semi-secret fourth quest found elsewhere in the area that’s about halfway between the Legendary Birds quest and the Regis quest, but we don’t want to spoil anything too much. It’s pretty good though.
But what about the Wild Area itself? Well, like the DLC as a whole, our initial impressions weren’t glowing. The landscapes were samey, full of fog, and confusing at first glance, but as we explored a little bit further – and we left the area full of fog – things immediately improved. There are swathes of connected cave systems, narrow paths, big open space, bodies of water, the works. It’s far less open overall than the Isle of Armor (and left us gagging for the ability to hop down cliffs), but what it felt more like than anything else was a large series of the old routes found in older games (and this one), but evolved.

Narrow paths and strict one-way systems sort of go against the ideology of a quote-unquote ‘Wild Area’, but it absolutely works in context here. What initially felt restrictive and claustrophobic allowed us to explore in a manner we hadn’t been able to anywhere else in the game. We really hope that this is a sign of what we can expect in future instalments because this combined with the bigger Wild Areas feels like the direction the series should absolutely be going in.
As for performance and visuals, well, it’s still marred with the same framedrops and slowdown as the base game, and the Crown Tundra isn’t exactly the most varied of environments. It’s serviceable, but a bit more visual variety in the independent biomes would help enormously with navigation, as the lack of landmarks and extremely basic town map can make things a bit of a chore.
Conclusion
In short, The Crown Tundra is another fine addition to Pokémon Sword & Shield, but it emphasises many of both the highlights and shortcomings of the base games. The highs are excellent, white hot flashes of wonderment, but they’re a little spoiled by a foundation of ageing game design. We would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed The Isle of Armor, but considering if you’ve paid for that you’ve already paid for this, it’s hard to argue otherwise. The Crown Tundra offers a glimpse of a possible future, and what it does well it does seriously well, but the series as a whole deserves to be completely dug out of the nearly 25 year-old design philosophies that made the originals great. The world has moved on since Pokémon first arrived, and it’s time for the series to catch up.
Comments 39
The Crown Tundra review - a familiarly condescending title sweetened by the subtitle's good-hearted memetic reference.
Wait calyrex can TALK
Fire Pokemon go ssssssssssss
Seems about right from what I've played so far. Dynamax adventures are a lot of fun due to RNG and rewards. Having proper matchmaking is way better than having to join via the Y-Comm aswell. The wild area is fantastic and the new Pokemon are all pretty cool.
I don't like the writing though as Peony is flatout creepy. I also think they dropped the ball with the galarian star tournament by not having fixed levels. This just means we will stomp with high level Pokemon once again thus there is no challenge whatsoever
I want the cartridge version NOW!
I'll try it out tonight....mostly because I've already paid for it. Crown Tundra does seem more promising than the Isle of Armour though.
...still not over the games handing out legendaries these days, I used to wait entire generations to get certain Pokémon!
Just started this now and so far it's more of the same. I like how the Legendary Pokémon aren't part of the Crown Tundra Pokédex, meaning it's much easier to have a full regional Tundra dex without having to worry about legendary trades.
Do you need to complete the armor Pokédex or something? I played armor for like 2 hours and then got bored, tried to play the new thing that I paid for, and it says I need the whole Pokédex? I don’t have like 4 hours to catch and breed all these things maaaaan
Wait did Nintendo life just quote a meme?!?! Maybe I treated you too harshly...
But about the dlc... I haven’t even beat sword and shield lol. Ive had too much on my plate this year, hopefully I’ll get around to it but I doubt it.
@pip_muzz I dislike that a little, I like to be able to have all Pokémon I got in the Pokédex but I don't mind having it complete.
And if I wanted a complete one, getting the legendaries was always a nice challenge via Wonder Trade in the 3ds games and GTS on DS.
But opinions will differ
Here’s what I’m expecting from the next game in the series: all Pokémon have a 100% catch rate, gym badges are given to you merely by opening the gym door, your “rival” decides not to even pick a starter because he just knows you will be the champ in less than 24 hours, rare candy injections into all of your Pokémon (even ones in your Pokédex) after every 10 steps, and a new completely original mechanic where your Pokémon turns even bigger than before.
I’m so hyped to go explore the new area & catch some new (and legendary) Pokémon. My daughter’s 7th birthday is on 11/6 and I picked her up a Switch Lite & Pokémon Shield (plus Expansion pack) as a gift. Can’t wait to team up with her & my two son’s for some awesome 4-player Legendary Max Raids. Let the good times roll.
Dyanamax Adventure is good but dissapointing to others. After catching all legendary Pokemon, you cannot catch another one. This makes one-time only.
Not to mention one little detail... who's that Pokémon?

Do you know, The Pokémon Company?
Or do you pretend not to?!
@AlexSora89 Datamining and Leaks ruin everything. That's why most of us are disappointed with the final release of returning Pokemon in Crown Tundra.
I'm liking it so far but I'm slightly biased on giving it a plus since Fossil Pokemon like Tyrunt and Archen are FINALLY obtainable in something other than a regular Poke Ball.
That said I'm iffy on Dynamax Adventures, Some Legendaries can be handled solo (with CPU support) whilst others feel like they need more human players in the match to succeed. I'm also not a big fan of the Legendaries' Shiny status only being visible after being caught but I have a feeling that was done to prevent people from going AFK once the Legendary popped up.
Oh, and I'm finding Peony's antics to be REALLY grating so far. He's basically an older Hau/Hop, two characters I LOATHED when playing through Gen 7 and SwSh.
@chardrich AFAIK you've only been able to get one of each Legendary per save file (barring glitches and oversights like HGSS's Shinjoh Ruins event) since RBY. Why would SwSh's Legendary handouts be any different?
good for them
The music is kinda sad like at the town holy cow so sad music love it
I take it they still never added level scaling like they were supposedly going to do?
The Dynamax Adventures actually give you some meaningful choices, which already makes them way more strategic than standard raid battles. Last night I actually had to decide if it was better to use reflect or hit it with a 4x Ice Beam. 😯 I was also hit with a situation where it was debatable whether I should Dynamax.
It's not exactly Fire Emblem, but it's so much better than picking the right Pokemon for the match up and jamming A for the rest of the battle.
Plus I feel like there's an actual sense of accomplishment when you finally snag what you're after. It felt great to catch that Zygarde after so many failed runs.
The thing I have really taken from both parts of the dlc is the game should have been open world to begin with. This new part shows how easy it is to implement towns in that kind of environment rather than having them as separate maps. It sadly at times feels like this generation was more of a test for future games and the direction they should go than anything. I have gotten plenty out of the game but at times it feels both full of stuff to do and empty at the same time.
I didn't immediately know what to do for the Registeel puzzle...I actually liked hunting down the regi temples.
Glorified 3ds games. Why I couldn’t get into them this gen.
@TexanSansei *Per Save File. Just create a second account on your switch and do it again for the other Regi and horse. That's what I did for the Urshifu's
I want to get this but I’m still working on the main game. Only started it this month. Perhaps in December.
Pokemon doesn't need to change its basic design. That's what makes Pokemon fun. If you don't like it, that's cool, but don't try to change something because YOU changed, move on to something else that suits your tastes and let people enjoy what they enjoy.
>> At the end you’re asked which Pokémon [...] you want to keep, and realistically it’ll nearly always be the legendary from the end
Not if you want to hunt for shiny legendaries. Don't keep the ones that aren't shiny and you can retry as many times as you like. Once kept, that particular legendary cannot be captured again.
Also, in Dynamax Adventures the stats and shininess are determined after the capture, so during raids the Pokemon will always be in a normal color.
@chardrich If there were no leaks, it would only delay the disappointment, the missing pokemon would still be missing, leaks or not.
I'm only up to Freezeton and about to talk to villagers about a certain something (just trying not to spoil to much) and the cutscenes every two seconds are obnoxious. I really hope GF takes the complaints about this to heart for real and cut down on them next gen. This was an annoyance last gen and it's continued into this one
Not to mention the rambling dialogue.
Unfortunately sounds like the two parts are worth nowhere near the £27 GF are asking for them.
@Duffthemonkey No, you don't have to complete any Pokédex, I haven't finished the Armor one yet either. You must have misread... Perhaps when the scientist gives you the specialized Dex for the Crown Tundra?
@SwitchLife yeah, I thought I had downloaded the update, and checked online and was talking to the right person, but my game hadn’t updated yet. Just did, and got on fine. At least I didn’t go on a public forum and embarrass myself about something I was totally wrong about, I mean, can you even imagine?! Lol
Don't sweat it, that's what forums are for.
Completely forgot this thing existed
I think its underated i checked the user review score on metacritic the other day and it was 9.9 out of 10. Last time of checking it was 9.1 user score. So the public like it. I just got a minkaya and i can't use it in ranked battles but it is what is with that.But i do have access to a pokemon with a 3 turn deathmove called jinx. what this does it kills a pokemon in 3 turns unless the pokemon switches out which it can't if it your rivals last one, the only downside is the jinx is destroyed in 3 moves also. But enough about jinx this game is amazing and what pokemon should have been. And i can't use jinx in online battles either. But its is still an amazing game and hopefully i can get a killer online team up soon.
"After being driven down a very straight series of conversations and brief moments of walking before another conversation with the same character or characters (something that we complained about in our review for the base game, as well as The Isle of Armor)"
That's why we needed voice acting, and better cutscenes, to add more variety to these interactions! Hopefully, they are considering it for the next main entries.
In terms of the DLC itself, I really enjoyed the new Pokémon, but this game seriously needs more lore, and also to treat these legends more seriously. The Crown Tundra itself really looks wonderful, and the highest point I agree with your review is how deep it is, it should definitely be the foundation for the landscapes in future games. This one really felt like a big region to explore without knowing what you will see, unlike the Wild Area. I hope we see one day an completely open-world region that goes beyond just a walking simulator. I almost wanted to climb in the style of Zelda: Breath of the Wild!
Oh, and you now have over 600 Pokémon to catch, quite ironic remembering the Dex issues... I really wanted them to focus on new creatures this time, but they're being pressured to bring back previous gen Pokémon every time and that's what probably affects the number of creatures they're introducing. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed Black and White, the amount of new Pokémon really contributed to the surprise factor.
What the future holds for next year is a mystery, a new Expansion Pass based on all Ireland? Or a Sinnoh-inspired game? It's so intriguing.....
I appreciate how each open-world area in the game has a more complicated geography than the last; it shows they're exploring what can be done with the game environment. A previous commenter has the right of it in that the Crown Tundra is a road map for creating a completely open-world experience: routes, towns, the whole nine. But speaking of maps, if they're going to place the character into an intricate open world, they need to improve the character's map functionality proportionally. Somewhere as complicated as the Crown Tundra cannot be effectively navigated with a map that marks your location at one fixed point whether you're on the far east or far west of an area. Even Red/Blue had a map that was able to distinguish different placements along a single route, so it isn't something the series needs to break any traditions in order to do.
That's my take on the open world design, anyway. Overall positive, and hopeful for where they take it in the next game.
Sounds lacking just like Isle of Armor and the base game. I'll save my £27
Really not sure how the same reviewer preferred Isle of Armour over this tbh. The content here was far better and more rewarding than raising a pokemon up to level 70 and picking a tower to explore. The story was far more engaging and interesting and the area, while a little confusing, more interesting to explore. I do agree it's an aging design though but I don't see the core gameplay ever changing whilst there is a competitive scene attached to raising pokemon. The fanboys would lose it.
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