Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: Do You Need To Beat The Base Game For The Teal Mask

The Teal Mask DLC for Pokemon Scarlet & Violet involves a trip to a brand-new school filled with new adventures. While many are likely excited to jump into a new Paldean storyline, some fans of Gen 9 may not be totally finished with the base game. Thankfully, this won’t be impacting access to The Teal Mask.

Pokemon Sword & Shield were the first mainline entries in the series to receive DLC, which added The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra to the Galar region. You had to complete the first few hours of gameplay, but once you reached Wedgehurst Station, you could go to the DLC areas immediately. In contrast, the Pokemon Scarlet & Violet DLC is named The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, which is a location accessed after completing the story.

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Do You Need To Finish Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s Story To Play The DLC?

The Teal Mask DLC will be available on September 13, so fans have had almost a year to complete the story. The players who haven’t finished Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are in luck, as you don’t need to complete the base game to start The Teal Mask DLC.

According to the official page for The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero on the Nintendo eShop page, you need to have started the treasure hunt in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet before you can begin The Teal Mask, which should only take a few hours from starting a new game.

This doesn’t mean that you can totally ignore the main story in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, as the second DLC will require you to progress through the game. According to the same page on the Nintendo eShop, the upcoming The Indigo Disk DLC will require you to complete the story in both the base game and in The Teal Mask.

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The fact that you need to complete The Teal Mask before you can tackle The Indigo Disk suggests that there’s more to the story than just a fun side adventure to another school. It remains to be seen what will be revealed about the origins of the Paldea region in The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC, but it seems that both chapters are equally important to the story.