Pokemon Devs Reveal Real-World Inspirations Behind Sword and Shield’s Expansion Locations

Yes, you can actually visit these locations in real life. Sorta.

Last week, Nintendo and Game Freak revealed an expansion pass for Pokemon Sword and Shield. Along with several new customization features, the pass will also introduce two new areas to explore — The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra. Today, the official Pokemon UK account revealed the real-world locations that inspired the creation of these two new areas.

After providing a reminder about the expansion pass, the tweet read, “Did you know? The Isle of Armor was inspired by the Isle of Man, and the Crown Tundra was inspired by Scotland!” It also showed off the following images from the trailer, showing off the differences between the two:

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. Along with its tranquil beauty and Celtic-Norse history, it’s also become the home for the renowned Isle of Man TT motorcycle races (and accompanying video games) and is also home to a breed of the Manx cat. You can read up about it on its Wikipedia page.

And, of course, Scotland has its history as part of the United Kingdom. You can learn more about it in detail here on Wikipedia. It does make for a right spot when it comes to Crown Tundra’s wintery setting.

The tweet didn’t indicate whether the developers at Game Freak paid a visit to these locations to capture them more accurately within the game. However, judging by what we’ve seen in the first trailer thus far, they look like they’re worth exploring. And who knows, Pokemon fans might book a vacation in real life and see what they can capture in Pokemon GO (depending on cell phone reception, obviously).

Check out the latest trailer for Pokemon Sword and Shield’s expansion below. The Isle of Armor is set to debut in June, while The Crown Tundra will follow in the fall.

Pokemon Sword and Shield’s expansion pass is available for pre-purchase now on Nintendo Switch. You can also find it on the Nintendo eShop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRUWgM31BRQ&feature=emb_title