Splatoon Raiders review for Nintendo Switch 2
Posted on July 27, 2026 by Ethan in Reviews, Switch 2
System: Switch 2
Release date: July 23, 2026
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Typically, the Splatoon series is known for its competitive, fast-paced gameplay. Indeed, the numbered titles do focus on high-energy splatting action, but each one also has a story mode you can complete before you jump into battle. Splatoon Raiders takes an opposite approach, focusing instead on single-player gameplay set on the Spirhalite Islands. But that doesn’t mean this game doesn’t have great multiplayer options – despite its shift in focus, Splatoon Raiders is another great experience for anyone who’s been itching for a new entry in the series. For those who have tried Splatoon in the past and couldn’t get into it, that’ll probably remain the case here too – but for its target audience, Splatoon Raiders is a surefire hit worth playing.
Right from the beginning of the game, you can tell Nintendo has upped its Splatoon cutscene quality by a big margin. Characters are more expressive and mobile than ever, making them feel much livelier than in Splatoon 3 – and that’s saying something, considering how lively that game was. Splatoon Raiders sees Shiver, Frye, and Big Man of Deep Cut heading to the Spirhalite Islands in search of treasure, but crash-landing and relying on you, the mechanic, to help them defeat enemy Salmonids and claim loot. If you’ve played Salmon Run in Splatoon 3, this is sort of a mix between that and your typical Splatoon story mode. Almost all of the Salmonids from Splatoon 3 return, but with souped-up designs and even challenging upgraded versions that pose a huge threat. Not everything is reused, though, because there are plenty of new Salmonids thrown into the mix as well.
This results in a really nice variety of enemies across the board, and when tons of them start popping up all together, it forces you to think about which is most important to defeat first. That’s one of my favorite aspects of Salmon Run, anyhow, and it’s been perfectly captured here as well. There are also several all-new bosses to challenge, and to my delight, they weren’t simply reskins of King Salmonids from Splatoon 3 but new ones entirely. It’s clear a lot of work went into the enemy design in Splatoon Raiders, and it absolutely shows in the final product.
In essence, then, this is a highly customizable Splatoon story mode. There’s a huge number of weapons and gadgets to choose from to fit your preferred play style, as well as three different tanks (speed, power, and tactics) that give you access to different sets of gadgets. And some of them are genuinely very cool – my favorite was the Flywire, which lets you stick to a wall and charge forward just like the Zipcaster special in Splatoon 3. Chances are that no two players are going to share the exact same weapon, gadget, and tank setup, so the game winds up feeling very unique on a per-player basis. Though almost every level focuses on fighting Salmonids, there are light exploration elements as well.
Also, for the first time that I can remember, the levels actually feel grounded in reality rather than floating out in space – in previous Splatoon story modes, just about all of the stages (except for pre-final boss ones and such) took place in blocky, video game-esque spaces that definitely didn’t look natural. By “video game-esque”, I mean those levels very clearly looked like they were from a video game rather than a real part of a lived-in world, if that makes sense. In Splatoon Raiders, you explore islands, glaciers, and volcanoes, and though I personally would have liked a little bit more exploration, it’s a definitive step up from the cold blank walls of Side Order. Despite that, though, there’s still a subset of levels that does wind up looking pretty abstract like previous Splatoon games, and these often take the form of fun little obstacle courses with preset weapons and gadgets. So in summary, Splatoon Raiders takes the best of both – you’ve got natural levels where you can explore the terrain, plus blockier ones with more focused challenges. There’s definitely something for everyone here.
One interesting thing to note here is the music. If you’ve played Salmon Run in Splatoon 3, you probably remember all of the little jingles and simple melodies that play during Salmon Run shifts. They’re not meant to be particularly engaging, but more so atmospheric tracks that play while you take out a whole bunch of enemies. These tracks are supposedly composed by Salmonids in-game, which is why they go light on actual melodies and rely more on unnerving beats and sounds.
Splatoon Raiders takes this to another level, and in many cases, it doesn’t sound particularly pleasing to the ears. Several tracks that play during typical missions have some odd-sounding vocals and screaming noises that are particularly grating when you’re playing on a TV, and yes – these songs are probably composed by the Salmonids too. Yes, they probably aren’t supposed to sound super catchy, and are supposed to sound unnerving and reflective of the unfamiliar Salmonid society. That’s cool and all, but they do start to get on your nerves a little bit when you hear them time and time again in levels. As a side note, I’ve played over 1,000 hours of Salmon Run in Splatoon 3 and never got tired of its music – Splatoon Raiders’ soundtrack unfortunately is a bit worse off. That doesn’t mean all of the tracks in the game are bad by any means, though. In fact, it’s pretty much only the standard missions that have below-average soundtrack – the overworld themes and late-game tracks are just about as fantastic as you’d expect from a Splatoon game. All in all, then, its music is kind of polarizing: some songs are loud and harsh to the ears, but others are incredibly catchy.
If you’re on the fence about Splatoon Raiders, the good news is that it’s rather easy to tell if someone would like it or not. If you’ve enjoyed any previous Splatoon story mode, or Salmon Run, then you will absolutely like Splatoon Raiders too. If you’ve played Splatoon story modes in the past and lost interest or didn’t quite get it, that’s probably not going to change with the new entry. If you’ve never tried Splatoon before, Raiders can get really challenging, which means it actually might be good practice to learn the controls and mechanics before you eventually go up against enemy Inklings and Octolings in the numbered games.
Speaking of which, Splatoon Raiders’ customization options extend to the difficulty as well. You’ve got your run-of-the-mill easy, normal, and hard difficulty options, and they don’t affect the loot you get – they only affect the strength of enemy Salmonids, which keeps things fair and accessible if the highest difficulty is too tough for you. And believe me, it gets really difficult even on normal difficulty if you’re not overleveled.
Splatoon Raiders also has an incredibly extensive postgame full of remixed levels with the difficulty ramped up to eleven. Additionally, even though this is a single-player game first and foremost, you can actually play most of the game’s levels with friends. Salmonids are buffed according to how many players are in a lobby so that raids don’t become too easy, but each player’s individual difficulty setting is actually retained for the Salmonids they battle. This creates a widely accessible experience for everyone, and a surprisingly robust multiplayer experience considering Splatoon Raiders is intended to be a single-player. With this in mind, then, the game really does let you play however you like: with any play style you want, alone, or with friends.
For what it’s set out to do, Splatoon Raiders hits the mark. It’s an addictive take on the single-player formula with added RPG elements and tons of content to explore – with a particularly huge postgame that’ll take you somewhere around 50 hours to fully complete. The game has a good variety of enemies, some solid bosses, and as much challenge as you could possibly want. The focus on leveling up and grinding might not be for everyone, but it does create a replayable and enjoyable experience that you can even share with friends. Some of the music isn’t quite up to par with previous entries in the series, but otherwise Splatoon Raiders is a clear home run for fans of the Splatoon franchise.
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