Everything we know about the Pokémon Legends: Arceus DLC leaks

The first big Nintendo title of the year is Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which manages to push the franchise in an interesting new direction. As an open-world game, there’s naturally quite a bit to do, but as fans finish Legends: Arceus, they may be hungry for even more. A leaker going by @Riddler_Khu on Twitter, as reported by Nintendo Smash, has said that DLC is planned for the game, and while details are scarce, let’s dig in to explore the possibility of what comes next in the Hisui Region.

When might Pokemon Legends: Arceus DLC be released?

Riddler_Khu claims that the DLC for Pokémon Legends: Arceus is set to arrive in April, but looking at the franchise’s past history with DLC could provide an even better idea. Pokémon Sword and Shield were the first mainline games in the series to ever receive DLC, as before then Game Freak had opted for totally enhanced rereleased versions, such as Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

Sword and Shield were first released in November 2019, and the DLC was announced two months later in January 2020. From there, the first expansion, Isle of Armor, launched in June 2020, roughly seven months after the original games. The next expansion pack, The Crown Tundra, was then released four months later in June.

The timing of Legends: Arceus DLC would likely depend on the size of the update. If there’s a sizable expansion like with Sword and Shield, April seems a bit too early, so we’re likely looking more at May or June. April could be a good time to announce the DLC, especially if there hasn’t been a Nintendo Direct by then.

If there’s a smaller DLC or update planned, however, we can compare it to another title, New Pokemon Snap. Released in April 2021, New Pokémon Snap received a hefty 2.0 content update four months later in August. If Legends: Arceus is getting content updates instead of full expansions, it would make more sense that it arrives in April.

What we know about the supposed Pokémon Legends: Arceus DLC roadmap

Unfortunately, we don’t know many details about the Pokémon Legends: Arceus DLC. The tweet from Riddler_Khu had a cropped image of two characters from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, the detective Looker and your rival’s father, Palmer. There’s no context given to the image other than Riddler_Khu saying, “When you know what’s coming in April, everything will make sense.”

What seems most likely is that Legends: Arceus could feature the ancestors of both characters. As IGN points out, the game is filled with ancestors of characters from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. For example, Captain Cyllene is the ancestor of Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic, while Pesselle is quite obviously the ancestor of Nurse Joy. It makes sense that any additional content for Legends: Arceus would continue to introduce the relatives of prominent characters, especially since the new game’s story features so many references and winks to Diamond and Pearl.