Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero - Review

The Swanna Song of Scarlet and Violet

Console: Nintendo Switch

With the surprise that is "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Epilogue: Mochi Mayhem" now in the rear-view mirror, I want to take a moment to look back at the entire expansion for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. What all parts bring to the table together as well as tap into how the DLC and all the updates trickled out over 2023 impact the base game. This includes discussing aspects that I felt didn't have a place in my reviews of the two parts that made up the DLC, The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk. 

As such, it's important to note that to get the best context and a much deeper dive into this cumulative package, you have to read each separate review. Here, I'm focusing more on the big picture, which may or may not skew the perspective, and other stray observations. 

That's pretty much it for the opening. So without further ado, let's dive in.

'The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero' is set up similarly to the Sword & Shield Expansion Pass. A DLC that comes in two parts (now arguably three) of which the first can be played whenever while the latter is only accessible after beating the core game. It brings back around 200 Pokémon that weren't programmed into the games before alongside a handful of new ones.

There are some differences, however, not the least of which is that this DLC has its own, unique, title. It signals that, while split into parts, this DLC is meant to be viewed as one. It tells one larger narrative where, with Sword & Shield, we basically got two separate side stories packaged together. A better and more interesting approach but one on which the mileage may vary.

The story of both The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk is really enjoyable. They have likable and engaging characters with interesting elements such as Pokémon's version of the Momotarō Legends and the unexpected trajectory of one of your rivals: Kieran. 

Both stories flow out of the academy aspect of Scarlet and Violet, and the connection between Kitakami and Blue Berry Academy is clear from the start. Students from Blue Berry Academy, siblings Carmine and Kieran, are Kitakami natives. I very much appreciate Game Freak making this DLC feel more connected to Paldea and the two parts to each other, however, when looking at the combined story, it doesn't manage to actually tell a story that I feel is all that connected.

Take the epilogue. This one-hour adventure is a mythical Pokémon distribution done right. Instead of just handing the Pokémon to you over the internet the distribution triggers a small story event like it used to in earlier generations but bigger. It sees your friends from the main story, Nemona, Arven & Penny, visit Kitakami with you, meet your DLC friends Carmine & Kieran, and come face to face with Pecharunt, the trio master of the Loyal Three and Momotarō's Pokémon equivalent.

It's a fun little hour but one that shouldn't have been an epilogue to everything. Why? Because it's all about stuff that should've been a part of the 'core' DLC narrative. When looking at all the story elements of Scarlet & Violet, what has stuck the most with fans is the characters. I was pleasantly surprised that after the release of the epilogue, a lot of people online were a bit saddened that this was goodbye to Nemona, Arven, Penny, Carmine & Kieran. Gamers really got attached to these characters in a way I'm more used to seeing with the anime than the games.

I don't particularly feel attached to these characters, but seeing that others did is a great thing to see and a feather in this game's cap. As such, their absence throughout both DLC stories was felt. Even by me. 

And Pecharunt? Since the tale of Momotarō is such a core aspect of the Teal Mask, I don't understand cutting the Momotarō Pokémon itself out of that story entirely beyond some vague hints and mentions. It underserves that really cool aspect of the story and makes it feel incomplete.

Pecharunt, the poisonous peach that is Pokémon's take on Momotarō.

What about the 'Hidden Treasure of Area Zero' itself then? The grand return to the mystery that has loomed over you ever since booting up takes a backseat to the Kieran story. As such, it never fulfilled that promise of deepening these games' unique gameplay gimmick and tying up that narrative thread from Scarlet & Violet's story. All of this made the Teal Mask & The Indigo Disk feel more like side-stories than they should've, especially with that promise of returning to Area Zero and thus Paldea itself that the DLC set.

With the narrative aspects out of the way, how does the DLC stack up content-wise? In the Pokémon it brings and all the other extra bells and whistles meant to spice things up. 

Compared to Sword & Shield, the new content we get here isn't as impressive. When coming to this conclusion, I'm not looking at stuff such as the size of the DLC areas, the amount of new trainers or such. I'm not even including the average completion time since an hour or so more or less polled on ‘How Long to Beat’ doesn't make much of a difference anyway. 

The Hidden Treasure has some fun new ideas and content to play around with. The Synchro machine allows you to directly control your Pokémon in the overworld. A novel idea that, with some further development, could become something quite special. We have another type, the Stellar type, that has its own pros and cons that add another wrinkle to the game's big gimmick and has the potential to shake up the competitive scene. We got some light quality-of-life updates, easy ways to get rare items and such, and some other minor stuff that people have dug a lot more than I expected.

Yet, some of the much-requested and needed QOL updates, such as the return of the shift battle style, are not addressed and for the worse. That would've been such an easy fix to a point of criticism that just isn't here. I'm happy that the Rare Candy can now be used to trigger the evolution of level 100 Pokémon as it did in Sword & Shield, but I count myself lucky it was (silently) addressed at all. 

While neat, all of the things here don’t compare to the 'stepping stone to something greater' the free camera movement and open area design of The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra gave. That really felt like a 'taste of things to come' moment. We don't have anything here that is like that. Quite the opposite, this DLC gives more of what it already gave. The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero has the Stellar type as the 'gimmick shake up' whereas The Crown Tundra introduced Dynamax Adventures. To me, that one feels like a much more meaningful addition as it gave gamers another way to play with their friends and find rare Pokémon.

The Stellar type is neat but an underwhelming addition to this game's big gimmick. 

Scarlet & Violet are the first true open-world Pokémon games, which is great, but that comes with new problems and the removal of features that are sorely missed. Stuff that this DLC doesn't address. For example, Kitakami is a well-designed area with interesting locals, hidden routes, and a relaxing atmosphere that hits the feel of this relatively secluded Japanese village well, but even here you run across a sense of emptiness. Just making you able to get into houses in the old games would've helped this area feel more filled out. There's only so much a crop of interesting and cool-looking sets of new Pokémon can do after all.

Speaking of the Pokémon: there's a small thing that I've seen people point out about the new Pokémon in the DLC that I would like to mention. With them, Game Freak has not so much relied on new type-combination and high base stats to make them interesting or different. Rather, they've given these Pokémon unique abilities and moves that tie into their design (inspirations) to help them stand out against the other 1000+ Pokémon.

Sinistcha, for example, is the 11th Pokémon to have the Grass/Ghost type combination since this combo was first used in X & Y a decade ago. It's a 'convergent' Pokémon, meaning that it has a very similar design to an already existing Pokémon, Polteageist in this case. And yet, the Pokémon stands out. Not (just) because of the YouTube video they made about its pre-evolution Polchageist but because of its combination of a unique ability and signature move, it has tricks up its sleeve that make it a viable teammate and make stand out mechanically. I really like this approach and feel that this is a good, different, way to make Pokémon interesting and unique. 

Speaking of things I like: the difficulty of the fights in Blue Berry Academy is also a selling point to me. A more difficult experience in the single-player is something many older Pokémon fans have wanted for years now. We finally have that here, with more competitively trained teams and it was a delight to play. I hope that the good reception to the difficulty is something Game Freak takes into account for future titles.

A final word must be said on how Scarlet & Violet runs in its 'complete' form. It's still shaky. We have had quite a few patches that have improved things. The boxes now load in the Pokémon icons properly, and we have many of the weird glitches and bugs patched out, but the core problems remain. The frame rate drops, the stuttering and how the textures and collision detection can play up. Those are all still here. In Blue Berry Academy, it's even a tad worse than in the rest of the game.

I don't think that the performance issues 'ruin' the game or make it unplayable, but there is no denying that it is this game’s number one problem. A problem that shouldn't have been a problem to begin with, let alone should still be a problem over a year later. 

Conclusion

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is good and enjoyable extra content, but I struggle to see it as an improvement. It has some really cool and fun Pokémon that are more interesting because of the mix of unique moves and abilities. It has some novel new features to play around with like the synchro machine and some light QOL updates. I dug into the story and look of the areas, and I especially felt that the more difficult nature of the Indigo Disk gave rise to some really fun and challenging battles.

Yet, it can't escape the problems of the base game. The poor performance compromises the experience, and the lack of many, big and small, features that would've made these games better had they been addressed. It doesn't do enough to make this feel like a step up from what Scarlet & Violet itself offers. Not every expansion has to do this, mind you, but with the history of the Sword & Shield Expansion Pass and the general state of Scarlet & Violet, I feel like it could've, and should've, been more.