Pokemon Sword and Shield Crown Tundra DLC launches October 22

By Don Reisinger Updated April 25, 2023

There’s a new, colder version of Pokémon Sword and Shield launching next month, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced on Tuesday, September 29.

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The upcoming DLC for the game, Pokémon Sword and Shield Crown Tundra, will be available on October 22.

The Pokémon Company will also launch a Pokémon Sword and Shield bundle on November 6. The bundle includes both Sword and Shield, as well as the two expansions. The company also said its cloud-based Pokémon Home service will connect with Pokémon Go by the end of the year.

In a livestream Tuesday morning, The Pokémon Company said that the DLC will let players explore the Crown Tundra region of Sword and Shield, which has a chilly look and feel, which will bring out cold weather-loving Pokémon.

When players arrive in Crown Tundra, they will meet an “expedition chief” named Peony who will ask them to conduct investigations on Pokémon throughout the region. Trainers will also explore a new Pokémon den with new environments and new Pokémon.

Crown Tundra will bring new Pokémon and some from past games. Players who beat the game will be able to capture every Legendary Pokémon featured in the series’ main stories, as well.

Players can also explore the world with three other people, though The Pokémon Company didn’t provide details on how this will work beyond, suggesting that groups will take on Dynamax Pokémon.

Additionally, players can form teams in the game’s main Galar Region to participate in a new tournament battle system called the Galarian Star Tournament. There, players will form teams of two and take each other on in a stadium.

Crown Tundra is the second expansion pass for Pokémon Sword and Shield following Isle of Armor, which launched in June. Digital Trends gave Isle of Armor 3.5 stars out of five.

Updated at 7:10 a.m. PT to include more details.

Don Reisinger is a freelance technology, video game, and entertainment journalist. He has been writing about the world of…

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