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Splatoon Raiders is an exceptional third-person shooter that fills a much-needed void in the Nintendo Switch 2 library.
Arriving one month after Star Fox to boost Year 2 of the Switch 2, Splatoon Raiders is a brilliant spin-off for the usual multiplayer-focused Splatoon series. Now following the Monster Hunter template, players see themselves journeying across dozens of stages in search for new loot, upgrades and uncover a mystery in this new landscape in the Splatoon series.
Although Splatoon Raiders is single-player focused, gamers can team up with other players in these raid missions to provide players with endless replayability. Given how the challenge ramps up at a fantastic pace and that there’s so much to unlock, Splatoon Raiders is perfect for gamers looking for countless hours of enjoyment.
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Splatoon is among the most inventive, creative and enjoyable third-person shooters available and Splatoon Raiders takes the formula to another level with its fantastic gameplay elements. Overall, gameplay feels smooth, responsive and engrossing. Even 11 years after the first Splatoon released on Wii U, there is still simply no other third-person shooter that feels the way Splatoon does. The ink-based mechanic is as satisfying as ever, as gamers see different colored ink splattered across the map. Pressing the ZL button to morph into squid form to refill the ink tank and traverse the level remains one of the most unique gameplay mechanics out there and still incredibly engaging.
While players will want to advance the story to reveal answers to the overarching mystery and plot, the gameplay is the major sell here and the loot takes priority. As a result, the weapon variety and upgrade system is the most important aspect to Splatoon Raiders and Nintendo nails it in every aspect. Across dozens of hours of gameplay, players will experience an excellent upgrade progression throughout the game. Everything gradually unfolds at a nice pace to keep it manageable and not become overwhelming for the player.
Splatoon Raiders features immense weapon variety with so many unique options to choose from. Most weapons feel entirely different and offers gamers phenomenal replayability as they could easily go through the game with each unique weapon. Whether it’s using a weapon similar to a machine gun, a sniper rifle, paint bucket, paint brush, paint roller or umbrella, to name some, there is surely to be something for any gamer’s preferred play style.
That said, one of the most engaging aspects over the course of Splatoon Raiders was testing out the different weapons to see which play style was most preferred, only to unlock a new weapon that completely changed how the player can engage in combat. The random nature of unlocking weapons and upgrades actually keeps the game refreshing in this sense and allows the players to experiment with different weapons that they may have ignored in previous games.
In addition to general weapons, players have gadgets, relic powers, a custom tank and bot buddy with them to go into battle against the various, distinct Salmonoid enemies. It is in these areas, beyond the general weapons, that players will really get to experiment with different builds and play styles.
For example, the three unique tanks offer specific play styles based around power, speed and tactical, with each tank offering different gadgets to equip to provide offensive or defensive powers. In the power tank, for example, players can use the Splatelite gadget that when used, has discs orbiting the player that will deal damage to enemies that get nearby. While gadgets are on a cooldown to prevent the player from overly relying on them, players will unlock unique parts to improve damage, cooldown and other variables. Players can also unlock relic powers that grant additional benefits, such as improve health recover or the ability to swim faster during ink form, to name a couple.
Of course, players can earn experience, materials and in-game currency as they progress through stages to unlock skill points and upgrade the base hub. Players will also go into battle with a Bot Buddy, one of the NPC characters, that can unleash an epic ‘Showstopper’ attack to do massive damage to enemies after collecting enough power eggs to fill the Showstopper’s meter.
Gamers can replay stages to level up before moving onto other areas if they feel they’re not strong enough or want to try to become overpowered. Although there’s difficulty options available, Splatoon Raiders offers great challenge as the story unfolds. Nintendo adds unique spins to most levels that will keep players engaged and even entice calling in assistance from other gamers to help accomplish many of the ‘spicy’ raids.
Even though there’s dozens of stages and challenges, it doesn’t feel daunting because stages are relatively quick. The bite-sized level design makes for quick runs and drives the itch for ‘just one more run.’ For example, some levels may take 60-90 seconds while lengthier stages may take five to 10 minutes, depending on the player’s skill level, how much time they spend trying to find secrets or if they’re playing in a multiplayer setting. The rollercoaster-esque pacing works extremely well for Splatoon Raiders because it keeps the game feeling refreshing, rewarding and constantly enticing. There’s also compasses to find to unlock secret sampler levels to try out different techniques in platforming environments or combat arenas.
Splatoon Raiders includes many quality-of-life and gamer-friendly features. For example, upon completing a level, it will automatically pick up dropped loot in the final tally of rewards. This is an amazing feature for gamers who may miss something accidentally because they’re focused on the action, and more loot-based games should adopt this feature to avoid the frustration of accidentally missing loot. Considering how much loot there is, Nintendo wisely includes an option to mass scrap weapons and the interface is extremely easy to use. Another excellent feature is with the difficulty options, as possible loot drops are not tied to the difficulty settings. This is perfect for newer or younger gamers who still want to experience the best weapons and upgrades but don’t feel as comfortable playing at the higher difficulties.
From a technical perspective, Splatoon Raiders runs flawlessly without any glitches, crashes or other hiccups. The art style is timeless, the cutscenes are well directed with a Pixar-esque flair and the music is exciting.
Splatoon Raiders is Nintendo’s perfect vision of the looter shooter genre with a ‘Monster Hunter’ gameplay loop. It is constantly rewarding with dozens of weapons, gadgets, parts and relics to unlock across countless hours of gameplay. While the Splatoon series has mastered the multiplayer space with player vs. player action, Splatoon Raiders is the best single-player focused offering in the series.
With the immense number of weapons and gear to unlock, Splatoon Raiders feels like the most advanced game in the series that all of the previous games were building to. It’s a phenomenally unique third-person shooter that is ripe for an expansion and hopefully a sequel to see what other ideas Nintendo can implement with these gameplay mechanics and engaging weapons. Given that players can team up with friends to take on these challenging raids, Splatoon Raiders deserves to be in contention for best multiplayer and best action game at The Game Awards this year.
