Pokemon Sword and Shield is getting a $29.99 / £26.99 Expansion Pass (no Australian price available at time of writing) this year, featuring two new adventures - and it’ll bring back more than 200 of the past games' Pokemon missing from the new Galarian Pokedex.

The Isle of Armor expansion will be available by the end of June, while The Crown Tundra will arrive in fall. You can pre-purchase the Pass today, which will earn you codes for Pikachu and Eevee uniforms to use in-game now.

Loading

The new expansions include entire new areas – accessible as soon as you reach the game’s Wild Area – and will introduce brand new Pokemon (with some exclusives depending on your version of the game), new Galarian regional forms and new Legendaries. Both will come with their own Pokedex, new characters, new outfits, and include Pokemon Dens with brand new Max Raid Battles. Players without the Expansion Pass can be invited into these Max Raids by those who do.

It also looks as though the Blue and Red starters will get Gigantamax forms, while the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres will get Galarian forms. See a full list of more than 75 new and returning Pokemon revealed for the Sword and Shield expansions so far here.

Isle of Armor is a giant island full of environments not seen in Galar before and includes a dojo where players can learn to Gigantamax the final evolutions of their Starter Pokemon. You’ll also be able to learn entirely new moves and earn new items. One new Pokemon available on the Isle is the Legendary Pokemon Kubfu, a Fighting-type that evolves into Urshifu, which can be a Fighting and Dark-type; or a Fighting- and Water-type depending on its Form. Which form it evolves into will depend on choices the player makes in The Isle of Armor's story.

Every New and Returning Pokemon Announced for the Sword and Shield Expansion Pass 48 IMAGES

The Crown Tundra is a freezing, mountainous area, where players can explore the full depth of Pokemon Dens familiar from Max Raid Battles. These Dens can include encounters with just about every Legendary Pokemon from previous games in the series. The Tundra will introduce Calyrex, a new Legendary Pokemon, who is a Psychic- and Grass-type.

Players can also get a “sneak peek” at the Expansion Pass today by heading to Wedgehurst Station and meeting a new trainer – Klara in Sword, and Avery in Shield. Meeting these trainers marks the start of the Expansion Pass story, and allows players to catch a Galarian Slowpoke right now.

In what will be welcome news for long-time fans, the new areas will add more than 200 Pokemon from past games who controversially weren’t included in the original Sword and Shield release (although there are bound to be new discussions about whether these were intentionally held back, or added after fan uproar). Free updates will allow players who don't buy the Expansion Pass to obtain those Pokemon through other means, such as Pokemon HOME, or trading.

Every IGN Pokemon Review Ever 54 IMAGES

We gave the games a 9.3 review, with Casey DeFreitas saying "Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are closer to my dream Pokemon RPGs than anything that’s come before." If you want to get up to speed before the Expansions, IGN's well-stocked wikis will teach you everything from how to evolve every monster, catch their shiny versions and, er, make all their favourite curries.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK Deputy Editor, and will be going straight for that Galarian Zapdos. Follow him on Twitter