Should you travel to Kitakami?
Step out of the Paldea region as you take a school trip to the land of Kitakami. The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. Even more Pokémon, places, and stories await in this 2-part DLC for the Pokémon Violet game! In Part 1: The Teal Mask, join a special school trip to the land of Kitakami and learn about the local legend of the Loyal Three Pokémon. Your base of operations will be Mossui Town, a communal hub where locals gather and shop among picturesque fields and rice paddies. Visit Kitakami Hall to the East of the village and experience the traditional Festival of Masks. Encounter the newly-discovered Legendary Pokémon Ogerpon as you unravel local folktales.
I reviewed Pokémon Violet back in December 2022 and while I could see it was quite glitchy at launch, I could see it had potential to become a great title in the series. I hadn’t played the game in a while so going back to it for the first DLC chapter was interesting to see how far it had come since I last played.
There are sadly, still performance issues throughout but it definitely feels better than it did at launch. The new DLC takes you to the land of Kitakami for the first of a 2-part story which this concludes after 6-7 hours and you then have to wait till some time towards the end of the year for Part 2: The Indigo Disk which will take you to Blueberry Academy and you’ll need to finish the first part of the DLC to access it.
The story itself is well written and presented decently throughout the experience. Some might argue that the price tag is expensive for a 6-7 hour experience, but I have to remind you that it’s for two expansions and you get the first one now, the other later on. It would be nice to have a date cemented in stone for Part 2, but I can’t imagine them leaving it too long.
Kitakami is a nice new area with a good amount of new Pokémon to fight and capture. It does feel like a decent expansion and I personally can’t wait to see what The Indigo Disk delivers.
The Verdict
The Teal Mask is a nice first part of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC. It has a decent story, likeable characters, a new area to explore and plenty of new Pokémon. It may not be long or improve the performance of the game, but if you can overlook that then you are in for a treat.