The story part of it is pretty short, but in general it's a pretty neat addition. The area feels far more like what the wild area should have been in the first place, although the abrupt weather changes still exist and are jarring.

I like that there's some story and gameplay integration going on here. The super fast Slowpoke's have priority in battle, and another character cheats in a match by placing toxic spikes at the start of the match.

There's a decent amount of quality of life stuff here too, such as a character who will reset EVs to 0, a way to turn any compatible Dynamax mon into a Gigantamax mon, ability to make apricot balls etc.

Following Pokémon also make a nice comeback, although it feels a little unpolished.

It also suffers from level scaling. I guess it's supposed to be accessed directly after beating the champion in the main game, but due to when it came out, most people will have level 100's by now, making it a breeze to sweep through. They did get by this by making Kubfu the only Pokémon you can use in the final gauntlet, but it's so easy to get to 100 with EXP candy that grinding is no longer needed, kinda ruining the whole "bonding" thing you're supposed to do.