Peering into the unannounced future of Pokemon

Let me peer into my crystal ball...

With it's eighth generation, Pokemon has entered entirely new ground in the way that they form their games. Some steps were taken backwards, to be sure, but a fair few marched decidedly onwards and now we're in a peculiar state wherein we could go a full year without a new mainline Pokemon game. To put that into context, such an occasion hasn't occurred since 2015 after the launch of, arguably the best games in the series to date, 'Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire'. (And even then, it was only because 2015 was taken up by the launch of 'Super Mystery Dungeon.' If we include major side titles and the odd staggered launch dates then the only year of no Pokemon was the year after the franchise's birth; 1997.) With little in the way of huge announcements being made at the past Pokemon direct, Nintendo being entirely quiet this whole year, and there just plain not being enough time to mount a marketing campaign before the end the year, it's wholly possible that Nintendo intend for 'Pokemon Sword and Shield' to carry the fandom for longer than a single year. (Egads!)

Of course, 'Gamefreak' and 'The Pokemon Company' wouldn't achieve this feat by making a title strong enough and with sufficient replayability to keep fans playing, that'd be silly; instead they've hooked us all on the 'expansion pass' train and set us off on the journey. This is very similar, in fact, to what the rest of Nintendo's major brands are doing, as they are all acting this generation as though they've only just discovered what DLC is and our tipping their toes in. (Luckily this means that they're still at the adorable; "charging for content that effort goes into" stage, they haven't figured out Microtransactions yet.) This appears to have been their plan from the start too, as 'Gamefreak' recently let slip how they started work on 'The Isle of Armor' before 'Sword and Shield' even shipped (which is long before they announced that such a plan would be happening) which means it's fully possible that there's a greater journey being planned here. What journey, you ask? Well, I believe that Gamefreak want to try and bring every single Pokemon from past entries into 'Sword and Shield' before moving onto the next game, using Gen VIII as a sort of genesis for their next series of games. (Which would explain the abrupt murder of the traditional national dex for Gen VIII.)

But then how could that be possible, I hear you ask. Afterall we've learnt very definitively that the contents of the 'Sword and Shield' expansion pass would only be 'The Isle of Armor' and 'The Crown Tundra'; which between them only reintroduce about 220 old Pokemon back to the franchise. Well, dear readers, I suspect that there is a secret expansion pass 2 that shall be announced not long after the release of 'The Crown Tundra' with the intent of extending the life span of 'Sword and Shield' for yet another year. Quite the accusation, I'm sure you're thinking, but make no mistake in assuming such a move would be outside of Nintendo's wheelhouse. Whilst the rest of the gaming community might gawk at the concept of a second DLC pass (unless you're part of Bungie, that is. Never forgive.) Nintendo pulled exactly that for 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' despite the game's director, Sakurai, indicating that he was done not only with the game but the franchise. (He's tries to get out but they keep pulling him back in!)

So let's assume that 'Game Freak' and 'The Pokemon Company' have set their sights on a similar announcement for 'Pokemon Sword and Shield', what actual evidence do you have to back that up? Well, only circumstantial and observational pieces, to be honest, but I feel there's potential for a compelling argument wrapped in there nonetheless. Take, for example, the wider story of the Galar region as we currently know it. Much of the events of 'Sword and Shield' and colourised around an Galar-unique gimmick we call 'Dynamaxing' which allows for Pokemon to grow huge and powerful through the exploitation of glowing beams of 'Dynamax energy' shooting into the sky. Despite the defeat of 'Eternatus' at the base game's climax, there isn't much resolution when it comes to the question of identifying what 'Dynamax energy' is or where it comes from. We know that Eternatus seemed to use a lot of it, but that's about the extent of our revelations on that matter. In fact, Sonia even devotes her new professor-position to forgoing the documentation of history and refocusing her talents to studying this anomaly. Wouldn't it make sense for the DLC to follow along with this mystery as she and her new assistant Hop slowly unravel it?

That certainly seems to be the direction that the DLC is going in so far, as many were 'delighted' (see: Horrified) to find out that Hop decides to crash your Isle of Armor holiday nearer the end of the DLC's storyline. He claims that he was dispatched here to find out more regarding 'Dynamaxing', and takes particular interest in the 'Max Mushrooms' exclusive to Armor that you have been using to 'Gigantamax' your fighting beasts. He learns little to nothing, as one would expect from the kind of person who still gets surprised everyone uses a type advantage against him, but he does leave an interesting stinger in some of his dialogue. He mentions that Sonia is out and about in research too, only she has gone to a place much more "Cold." Undeniably he is implying that Sonia is in the Crown Tundra, implying that some strange Dynamax shenanigans will be going on up there. (Perhaps those legendary-filled adventure dens we've been promised.) All this seems like background noise, but it could be the through-line of a plot that is actually leading to some wrap-up conclusion by the end of it.

"That still seems far-fetched" I'm sure you're thinking. "Just because there's a few returning characters doesn't mean it has a purpose to it. You need something more explicitly indicative. Where's your smoking gun?" And you know, you're right. I don't have any explicit indicator. Or at least I didn't until the closing moments of 'The Isle of Armor' DLC. As I'm sure anyone who played through this story will remember, as it's just odd-enough to stick in your head, after a surprisingly tough bout against your master Mustard, the old man encourages you to keep training "Just so we're ready for when the time comes..." Now this could just be some throwaway ominous line, had he not then persisted to say "Oh, don't worry! You'll find out what I'm talking about eventually!" Now if that isn't future DLC hints I don't know what is, and something tells me that 'The Crown Tundra' alone isn't going to be enough to resolve a set-up as obvious as that.

In some ways, though you'll have to forgive the slightly 'apples-to-oranges' comparison, this actually reminds me of the DLC saga for 'Fallout: New Vegas.' That game's storyline was fairly open and shut from beginning to end, meaning that there was little room for narrative expansion DLC as 'Fallout 3' had received, however, Obsidian didn't just do the 'one-off-story' route either. They created four very unique (and fantastic) DLC adventures and peppered the first three with hints about the fourth, even long before any latter one's had been announced. Most will probably remember the bewilderment they felt when hearing how their brief-companions didn't think of them again "until they heard about the battle of the Divide. Where two Couriers fought under an old world flag." It rang with this foreboding tone of mysticism and legend that completely undercut 'sense of being hunted' that the developers were aiming for. (For the better, I must stress.) Now, Mustard's little senile outburst can hardly be compared to such epic foreshadowing as Obsidian established, but you can see where I'm coming from, no?

However, at the end of the day this is all just conjecture and assumption; I have no insider knowledge or Oracle-like abilities to know what the future of Pokemon might hold. I just have my gut and every now and then that proves to be just enough. It's hard to imagine where Gamefreak might go with more DLCs, I'll admit. They're already giving us Legendaries from past games with 'The Crown Tundra' so it's difficult to figure out how they might top themselves with further DLC, but with the introduction of regional legendaries, the foreboding lore behind Regidrago, and the ongoing mystery of the protagonist's father still not being in the game, (Huh, that last one is just Gamefreak's style? Oh.) I think there's room for more stories on ol' Galar. But maybe that's just the fleeting fancies of a hopeful Englishman speaking...