Nintendo has announced that the Splatoon 3: Side Order DLC will be released on 22nd February, rounding out the game’s Expansion Pass with a fresh single player campaign.
Side Order sees you play as Agent 8, who wakes up in Inkopolis Square to discover that the world has been completely drained of colour and now has the giant Spire of Order looming over it. A drone that claims to be Off the Hook member Pearl leads you to fight off wave after wave of enemies as you go up the floors to the top of the Spire and learn the secrets and new story twists and turns.
There’s a push for this to be a replayable new mode for the game, with colour chips able to boost your abilities and improve your runs.
Side Order is coming out pretty much a full year after it was announced. The first half of the Expansion Pass was a return of Inkopolis as a hub, letting you return to hang out with the Squid Sisters and have them play during Splatfests. It’s basically just an alternate hub world, with a full feature match for the regular hub in Splatoon 3. You can shop, hang out, and use whichever hub you prefer with no advantages or disadvantages. The real meat of the pass is this second DLC.
This will be a good excuse to go back to Nintendo’s shooter series, which while not revolutionary was a nice reminder of their inventive take on the multiplayer online shooter. For our Splatoon 3 review, I wrote:
“Splatoon 3 is a bit like your mum making your favourite meal when you head home for the holidays. It’s been a few years since the last game — while there have been some great improvements and additions, it’s the same old Splatoon we know and love, and that’s still pretty great.”