Today's Pokemon Presents livestream gave us our best look at the upcoming DLC for Scarlet & Violet yet. While we see the obvious features - new Pokemon and characters - the latest trailer also showcased a few minigames, including one that looks pretty familiar.
In the first part of the DLC, the Teal Mask, players will be tasked with helping a photographer snap shots of various 'mon in the new area. If that sounds a lot like Pokemon Snap, that's because it is. At least judging by the gameplay shown off today, it seems like the Teal Mask is borrowing from the photo-taking Pokemon spinoff, letting us take shots of Pokemon across a range of environments, and trying to catch them in the best poses.
According to the trailer, we'll be introduced to the new photo mode by Perrin, a character we'll meet in the Teal Mask DLC. She tells us that she needs help photographing a "certain Pokemon" in the region. We then see the player get a shot of a Sudowoodo, very helpfully posing for the camera. It's not clear if that's the full extent of the new photo mode, but hopefully, there will be more 'mon for us to snap.
Even outside of this specific minigame, the DLC adds improvements to the existing photo mode. With the new roto stick (basically a selfie stick), you can take wider shots, getting more of your pals in the frame. New poses have been added too, making the photos a bit more exciting.
On the whole, this DLC seems much more laid back, featuring a bunch of ways to mess about with friends online if you don't fancy a Pokemon battle. The whole new area appears to be more of a hang-out spot than a story expansion, although the trailer does hint at the region having its own history to uncover too.
The next part of the DLC, The Indigo Disk, is the exact opposite. This seems much more suited for single-player, with a vast area to explore and catch new Pokemon, and even an Elite Four to take on.
While this is a whole lot of news to get through, there's still likely to be a bunch of Pokemon fans leaving the showcase disappointed. Rumours were flying around that we were going to get some kind of Pokemon Black & White follow-up, potentially even another Legends game set in Unova. Alas, the Direct closed off with this look at Scarlet & Violet's DLC. It doesn't seem that the devs are ready to reveal any details on a new game just yet. But given the performance issues we've seen in recent titles, that might be for the best.