There were so many new things added in the Isle of Armor DLC in Pokémon Sword and Shield, and these include additions anywhere from new Pokémon all the way to a brand new open-world island to explore. There are even a bunch of optional NPCs to complete tasks for, such as the Kanto trader and Alolan Diglett trainer!

With all the new content in this expansion pack, there were bound to be some things that fans quickly fell in love with, but also some that are tedious and frustrating. The following mechanics and gameplay features are the absolute best and worst things that this expansion has to offer for players that are about to take on the dojo!

10 Best - Pokémon Walk Behind The Player

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, as well as Pokemon, Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, both have this feature, and fans absolutely adored it in all of these games. This feature is only present while players are adventuring on the island.

The new Isle of Armor expansion pack allows Pokémon to walk behind the player, and it is very endearing to see some of the cuter Pokémon out of their Pokéballs on a stroll. This was an amazing feature, and players hope that it will be added back in future games, especially since Gamefreak already has all of the designs ready for the Pokémon that are present in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

9 Worst - Sharpedo Won’t Stop Chasing The Player In The Water

Sharpedo is a powerful Water-type Pokémon, and most fans adore it for its strong design and high stats. However, in the Isle of Armor DLC, it becomes a major nuisance because it will rush around the water, trying to start a battle with the player and their Pokemon.

This is reminiscent of how players used to randomly encounter Pokémon in the wild. However, at the very least, these Sharpedo can be avoided by looping around it, although it can be somewhat annoying. Overall this was an annoying feature, especially when players were trying to travel to the different islands because Sharpedo would constantly chase after them.

8 Best - More Pokémon Were Added To The Sword & Shield Pokédex

Fans were disappointed when Sword and Shield didn’t have every Pokémon from the franchise on their initial release; however, Gamefreak is attempting to rectify this by adding them within the DLC.

It was great to see some familiar faces such as Jigglypuff and Combee within this expansion pack, and hopefully, Crown Tundra adds an even larger assortment of new Pokémon to Sword and Shield.

7 Worst -  Leveling Up Kubfu

Unfortunately, before completing the Isle of Armor expansion, players have to do a bit of grinding to get Kubfu to a higher level around 60 or 70.

This came as a shock to many fans that were expecting to obtain Kubfu around level 50 or higher; however, Kubfu will only be level 10 when it meets the player. This grinding wasn’t a major issue for players that had XP candies ready, however, for fans that may not have touched the game within the past few months, it was a very frustrating feature since the base game and story of Sword and Shield doesn’t have very much grinding in it.

6 Best - Choosing Between Two Towers

Choosing between two towers offers replayability for the Isle of Armor expansion pack, and it also gives some player choice to an otherwise linear franchise.

The two towers in question are called the Tower of Darkness, and the Tower of Water. Players will obtain a Water-type Urshifu or a Dark-type Urshifu, depending on which one they end up completing. Overall, getting to choose between two different towers gave a great glimpse into the future of player choice within the Pokémon franchise.

5 Worst - Only A Few New Pokémon Were Introduced

There were not many new Pokémon that were introduced into the franchise within this DLC, the only ones that were new include Galarian Slowbro, Kubfu, and Urshifu.

This was not a large enough selection of new Pokémon. Fans are hoping that the Crown Tundra adds more new Pokémon into the game, because there was not a very large assortment of new Galar Pokémon compared to previous regions such as Hoenn and Sinnoh.

4 Best - Open World And Exploration

The open-world exploration in the Isle of Armor DLC was superb, to say the least, because it offered a completely different feature that fans hadn’t seen before other than in the wild area. Players get a full run of the entire island as soon as they reach it, and they can explore it to their heart’s content before even knocking on the dojo’s door.

Hopefully, future Pokémon games have a sense of this open-world feeling because it adds a whole new level of depth to a very linear franchise, as previously mentioned with player choice.

3 Worst - The Story Is Very Short

The story in the Isle of Armor is only around two to three hours long, not including side content or leveling up Kubfu.

This disappointed many players because it is much shorter than the base game, which clocks in at around 20 hours from picking the starter Pokémon to defeating Leon. A lot of players are expecting the Crown Tundra to make up for this by being extra long; however, this remains to be seen.

2 Best - New Gameplay Features

There are a bunch of new quality of life improvements and game mechanics that can be found within the Isle of Armor DLC. These include improvements and features such as the max soup and the previously mentioned Pokémon walking alongside the player.

Players are able to Gigantamax their Galar starter and even obtain Gigantamax Squirtle or Bulbasaur, depending on their choice. Although this is many things meshed together, there were simply too many little things added within the Isle of Armor to leave them all out, considering that they are some of the best parts of the DLC.

1 Worst - The Battle Towers Are Too Easy

The battle towers that players will face at the end of this DLC are very easy, and the Pokémon that the opposing trainers will have by their side are extremely weak creatures, such as Krabby.

It was disappointing to find out that these Battle Towers were nothing more than five trainers with one Pokémon each that could easily be one-shot by the player’s Kubfu. Hopefully, any future DLC or Pokémon games will not let players down as these Battle Towers did because they initially seemed like a very exciting and challenging aspect of this expansion, which is not at all what they turned out to be.

NEXT: Pokémon: The 10 Best Gold & Silver Characters, Ranked