Pokémon Sword and Shield - The Crown Tundra Reviews

Pokémon Sword and Shield - The Crown Tundra is ranked in the 56th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
7 / 10.0
Oct 23, 2020

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.

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7.5 / 10.0
Oct 23, 2020

Now that the season pass is in the hopper, it's easy to feel like Pokemon Sword and Shield are a transitional generation to something greater. Sure, I liked Sword and Shield for what they were and filled out my Pokedex in a matter of weeks, but there are several half-baked elements that needed more time in the oven to really bring the whole loaf together. For now though, with two DLCs under its belt, that loaf doesn't taste half bad with some butter.

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8.5 / 10.0
Oct 24, 2020

All in all, I think The Crown Tundra is the better of Pokémon Sword and Shield's two expansions. It's yet another step forward over improving the Wild Area, so much so that I think it could serve as a really good foundation for creating a full open-world Pokémon title. It's not without its faults, but I haven't been able to stop playing since I started it and don't see myself voluntarily letting up any time soon.

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Oct 26, 2020

If you enjoyed Pokémon Shield and are looking for more Pokémon to fill your time, The Crown Tundra is worth the price of admission.

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65 / 100
Oct 26, 2020

Pokémon Sword and Shield The Crown Tundra it's a finish line in Pokémon eighth generation, but also a sad and limited one. Mostly because nothing makes really difference, altough the challenges makes us curious it really doesn't enough.

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Metro GameCentral
GameCentral
Top Critic
6 / 10
Oct 26, 2020

It features some of the best moments from this generation of Pokémon but this final slice of DLC still suffers from a lack of substance and ambition.

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Dave Aubrey
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Oct 27, 2020

Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Crown Tundra is the better of the two DLCs for the game, though that's not saying much. It manages to weave Pokémon's modern sensibilities with some strong nostalgia for old-time fans like myself, and I found myself more than happy to cycle around The Crown Tundra for hours on end, catching all of the Pokémon I found. If that's not a good result, I don't know what is.

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7 / 10.0
Oct 27, 2020

The Crown Tundra gives you a lot more engaging content than The Isle of Armor, but it's still a bit lacking in polish. If you like Legendary Pokemon though, this is the DLC for you.

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4 / 5.0
Oct 27, 2020

These efforts seen in The Crown Tundra make up for the disappointment that was Isle of Armor and leaves Sword and Shield’s expansion pass off on a positive note.

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9 / 10.0
Oct 27, 2020

The Crown Tundra is more than just a small expansion with a slightly expanded pokédex and a brand new legendary to catch. This is one hell of a meaty campaign with some interesting puzzle-solving mechanics, a labyrinthine map to explore, tons of returning legendaries, and a roguelike mode that is way more addictive than it should have ever been. Whereas The Isle of Armor felt too short and undercooked, The Crown Tundra is absolutely worth buying if you own Sword or Shield.

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Travis Northup
Top Critic
8 / 10.0
Oct 29, 2020

Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Crown Tundra puts your legendary monster hunting skills to the test in a fun but short-lived expansion.

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8 / 10.0
Oct 29, 2020

Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Crown Tundra is a solid expansion that culminates the expansion pass on a highly positive note with a slew of new features and improvements.

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No Recommendation / Blank
Oct 30, 2020

Pok'mon Sword and Shield's final expansion is a fantastic, enticing endgame area that also shows just how great these games could have been.

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GameXplain
GameXplain
Top Critic
Unscored
Oct 31, 2020
Is The Crown Tundra Worth It? - REVIEW (Pokémon Sword & Shield DLC) video thumbnail
5 / 10.0
Nov 1, 2020

Ultimately, there are better RPGs on the Nintendo Switch to play. For the highest-grossing media franchise, Pokemon is an emperor with no clothes. Instead of giving loyal fans bang for their buck, they’re now asking for DLC that barely adds instead of improving. If Pokemon is the king, it’s about time the fans had a coup.

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8 / 10
Nov 1, 2020

Although it may come at an additional cost, Pokemon Sword & Shield's Expansion Pass has salvaged the games for this fan.

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8 / 10.0
Nov 1, 2020

The new items, moves, locations and of course Pokémon add a lot to the replay value. Dynamax Adventures alone are worth the price of admission for both DLC expansions. If this is the direction that the franchise is going to take from now on, I’d say that Game Freak definitely nailed it on their first try.

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7.5 / 10.0
Nov 2, 2020

There's not as many new Pokémon as I'd have liked, and two-thirds of the legendary hunt is lacking. But, with new features, tons of legendary Pokémon, and a cool new environment to explore, this is an expansion worth picking up.

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8 / 10.0
Nov 2, 2020

Crown Tundra is the conclusion of the first expansion of the Pokémon franchise. Both Galar's extra adventures have a "test" feeling, a taste that could be a title in the main series entirely in open areas or even open world. Crown Tundra was important for having continued the evolution from this perspective, and managed to attract a greater charm in its construction than its predecessor. This first attempt was not perfect, but Crown Tundra managed to close the package with a little adventure as fun and promising as the possibilities of the future.

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Lords Of Gaming
Daniel May
8 / 10.0
Nov 2, 2020

As flawed as Dynamax Adventures are, this add-on showcases so much of the future for Pokemon. Yes, Dynamax Adventures should be revisited, but it is still a great addition to the series. Vast open areas should be the standard for Pokemon games now, not just a great showpiece. On that point, bringing back Roaming Legendary Pokemon was the best way to highlight the Wild Areas’ value. You need to regularly change your team for Legendary Clues, so thank goodness you have universal PC access. Finally, letting the player choose which Legendary Pokemon they wanted was a wise design choice, reinforcing a good precedent for future Pokemon DLC.

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