There’s been some wild turns in the Splatoon lore, from the return of mammals to the squiddy world, to amnesiac Octolings switching sides, and community-led choices to define some of the themes being explored in the sequels, but for all of that, single player and story aren’t really the first things that come to mind when thinking of Splatoon. That would, of course, be multiplayer. So making Splatoon Raiders a single player-focused game and without a new iteration of the multiplayer is a bit of a shift in direction.
The iconic idol trio of Deep Cut are off on an expedition following a mysterious map to try and find a sunken city when their helicopter is knocked right out of the sky by some really, really bad weather. It’s a blessing that they even survive, coming to on a beach near the eye of the storm, and then fretting over their pilot still being sparko. Skip ahead one more, though, and it’s pretty clear what the power dynamic is – there’s a lavish, multi-level ship constructed out of flotsam and jetsam, all of which was almost certainly put together by you, the Mechanic.
First things first, you need to make sure you look right, picking from Inkling and Octoling, and then choosing from six shipwrecked hairstyles – the best one is a rubber duck and coat hanger up-do, but you might rather look more like sashimi with a short back and sides, I guess.
Either way, you’re coming up to land and need to head out to explore the first fringes of the Spirhalite Islands. It’s the first taste of some more grounded level design that is situated much more within this world, as opposed to abstracted floating platforms in the aether. OK, so there’s still the fully bizarre sight of oversized kitchen utensils sticking out of the ground, which makes you question how big you think Inklings are meant to be, but it’s still more coherent, in a way.
It’s also still very familiar with all the ink splatting combat, the ink coverage you put down enabling you to dive into the ink and quickly nip around, while also splatting enemies until they explode. The initial difference you feel really is the setting, blasting across pristine white sands of the islands, bathed in harsh and hazy white sunlight.
There’s some neat little touches, like surfboard sections to zip you between patches of land, but the real changes come as you start to gain new abilities and some extra company while on a mission. Refitting a squat little Explorer Bot allows a member from Deep Cut to accompany you and help out, drawing some aggro from enemies, and able to lend some covering fire if you guide them to relevant places. The bot also allows for a Bot Hop to bounce you higher up into the air – you then float down on a swirl of wind as well. The bot is also key to your new Showstopper, which ranges from riding on its back with Big Man, to calling in a rainstorm of giant eels with Frye.
The goal through these missions is to find giant crystals and bring them back to base, but this is a region infested with Salmonids of all shapes and sizes, often coming in overwhelming swarms of these awkward looking creatures. I genuinely had a great time playing through a handful of stages and having my memories of Salmon Run rekindled for how to take out the various boss salmonid that appear, from rushing to take out the tower of cooking pots that is the Stinger, to baiting the Slammin’ Lid into slapping onto the floor so you can hop on top and take the UFO down.
The Explorer Bot isn’t the only added help that you have in facing this, and in addition to picking from the huge variety of returning main weapons (many in new cobbled together styles), there’s customisable ink tanks that come with distinct gadget abilities. The Power Tank has a charge ability that surges you forward, the Speed Tank has the Blast Boot to leap into (or out of) danger, and the Tactical Tank drops a turret to pling away with steady damage. Each tank soon gives you two gadgets to equip, and these can then be upgraded and modified in a modular system that feels similar to Call of Duty’s weapon customisation – each attachment has a points cost, and you can mix and match up to a certain points total. Add Relic Powers to your loadout, weapon upgrades general stat buffs, and you’ve got plenty of ability customisation to consider.
While the surface missions feel more attached to the world, there’s also multi-level dungeons that channel the more abstract vibes of old. The Bot drills down to various sub levels and you then need to blast Salmonid and earn Power Eggs to power the drilling down to the next level. It’s raw battling and your weapon of choice and gear can be key to deciding if you make it or not. Pick something that’s more about crowd control when the stage throws waves of heavy boss Salmonid at you, and you might struggle to earn enough Power Eggs in time. They culminate in new and bigger bosses, to provide a grander finale.
Failure isn’t game over, but rather still gives you the chance to earn resources and spend them on upgrades back at base before trying again – this isn’t a roguelite in any way, but there is a sniff of the genre’s metagame in this aspect. You can always try to play a different level if you’re struggling, picking a different destination from the non-linear world map. There’s also three difficulty levels – Tourist, Raider and Survivalist – if you want a greater or lesser challenge.
Difficulty can change for another reason too, with the game scaling the challenge up if you bring co-op buddies into the mix. In fact, a challenge dungeon that I’d breezed through solo was suddenly kicking our butts with the time limit, as we struggled to put out enough damage. I can definitely see more of a need to mix and match our loadouts to better tackle this. More importantly, though, I love having a proper co-op mode through the same story. As much as I loved Salmon Run (and tolerated the weird scheduling it had in Splatoon 2), being more than a horde mode feels like a real step forward.
After Splatoon 3, Nintendo needed to put a fresh spin on the series for whatever came next, and Splatoon Raiders is exactly that. There’s a lot that feels familiar in how it plays, so I do wonder if it will still feel totally fresh once you’re half a dozen hours deep, but the added mix of abilities, progression, the more grounded feel to the world, and co-op through the story are great changes.
