It was always going to happen, but now it’s officially been confirmed: New Pokemon Snap is getting free DLC next week that’s set to add three new areas, 20 new Pokemon, and the ability to shrink the NEO-ONE in order to examine specific areas from a whole different perspective. It’s unclear at the time of writing whether this is a one-off update or if it’s the beginning of an ongoing trend, but one thing is for certain – New Pokemon Snap deserves the opportunity to become a bona fide live-service game.
I know a lot of people are sceptical of live-service models given their propensity for being predatory. Pokemon itself has been subjected to no small degree of criticism recently due to the prevalence of multiple microtransaction currencies in Pokemon Unite, which employs a tactic often used to complicate valuation against real-world money. New Pokemon Snap is different – if anything, I can’t think of a single game I’d rather see get the live-service treatment than this.
Related: Nintendo Should Have Never Cancelled The New Pokemon Pinball Game
For one thing, this update is free, and the amount of microtransactions in Snap is absolutely zilch. While there are leaderboards – which I personally was world number one on for the first week after launch – there’s no way to give yourself a competitive edge over your friends. Either you’re good behind the clicker or you’re a worse photographer than Todd Snap. Outside of friendly competition, Snap is also entirely single-player. I’m not asking for an aperture battle royale or a game where you can fork over 15 quid for a fisheye lens – what I want is for New Pokemon Snap to never die.
It’s obviously unsustainable for Bamco to launch free updates forever, so I’d like to make it clear I’m not advocating for that. Next week’s update is essentially DLC as opposed to a new content drop in something like Genshin Impact – most people have never had any issue paying for expansions, so what’s the problem with New Pokemon Snap hypothetically launching quarterly DLC for a tenner a pop?
There are 898 Pokemon registered in the Pokedex right now, while New Pokemon Snap itself has already constructed phenomenal levels across more biomes than I thought possible. Aye, there’s a jungle and a desert and a reef, which all seem fairly standard, but it’s the way in which they’re structured that makes them stand out. I personally reckon Snap should implement a full space level in honour of Gen 7’s Ultra Beasts, but it’s unreasonable to suggest that what we have right now is anything less than brilliant. The only new areas that would need to be introduced would be alternate paths as opposed to entire islands – I don’t want something as short as the Bidoof Dam in Florio Nature Park, but Shiver Snowfields’ alternate routes changed the worst map in the game into the best one. There’s a lot to be said for taking a map people know and altering it in a way that perfectly reinvents it.
Even with the additional 20 ‘mons coming next week, there are still over 600 Pokemon that aren’t in New Pokemon Snap. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Gyarados is finally getting a spot in the roster after originally being left out for some ridiculous reason, but there are so many ‘mons that were unfairly ousted from a game they’d be perfect in. I mean, New Pokemon Snap clearly displays a preference for Gen 1 and Gen 8, and yet there’s no Dragonite or Grimmsnarl. Where’s Alakazam, eh? Where’s Lucario? Dragapult? Garchomp?
I loved New Pokemon Snap when it launched back in April. In my review, I awarded it four out of five stars on account of it having what could only be described as objective issues. Still, it’s by far one of my personal favourite games of the last five years. After pumping dozens of hours into it over a very short period of time, I needed to take a breather for a bit. But if it regularly received updates introducing new ‘mons and locales, and innovative little functions like the shrunken NEO-ONE? You’d better believe I’d be whipping out the aul Nikon once every couple of months to brush up on my Pokemon photography skills.
New Pokemon Snap is a single-player game that could easily have fallen by the wayside after the original hype died down. The slightest sliver of new content, though, and people are rooting out their Photodexes as if the house is going to burn down. I’m not the biggest fan of live-service games in general, but if there’s one game out there that truly deserves that treatment? Come on, we all know it’s New Pokemon Snap.
Next: I Love That Nobody Communicates In Pokemon Unite
