With its stylish squid kids blasting each other while dressed in the freshest urban styles, the Splatoon franchise is Nintendo’s most modern and youthful series. But the first game, which debuted on the Wii U, is now more than a decade old. Splatoon Raiders ($49.99) marks the Inklings’ Nintendo Switch 2 debut, and it’s inarguably the boldest reinvention yet for an already experimental shooter series. Splatoon Raiders ditches the series’ trademark, competitive multiplayer shooting, to focus entirely on single-player and co-operative raids. I’ve been playing the final version of Splatoon Raiders for weeks, and while it still feels more like a remix than a new title, I enjoyed experiencing familiar Splatoon thrills in the reimagined context.
What Is Splatoon Raiders?
My biggest question going into Splatoon Raiders involved, well, nearly everything. Nintendo describes it as a “single-player-focused” Splatoon game, but allSplatoon titles have had solo campaigns. Would this be a bigger version of that? An expanded version of the roguelike spin-off Side Order? Early footage mostly resembled Salmon Run, a horde-style co-op mode introduced in Splatoon 2. Would Splatoon Raiders build on that or be something entirely new?
The answer, to be reductive, is that Splatoon Raiders is Nintendo’s take on a looter-shooter, a Splatoon version of Borderlands or Destiny. Compared with other Nintendo franchises and studios, Splatoon and its younger developers have always seemed the most aware of gaming trends. So, hopping on the looter-shooter bandwagon makes sense.
Splatoon Raiders’ gameplay will be familiar to anyone who has played past games. You still skillfully swap from shooting ink in kid form and swimming through it in squid form, taking out enemies all the while. On Nintendo Switch 2, the wonderfully colorful mess has never looked sharper thanks to the increased visual fidelity.
(Credit: Nintendo)
But now all that squidding serves a new purpose: raiding large island levels to collect loot. As in Salmon Run, you shoot waves of fish enemies as you raid, but the loot is the goal. Good loot makes you stronger and able to collect even better loot, and so on. If the idea of a Splatoon looter-shooter appeals to you, then Splatoon Raiders should be on your radar.
Weapons, Gadgets, and Skills
The weapons you scrap together cover the entire spectrum of Splatoon armaments, including simple blasters, giant paint rollers, and ink-shooting sniper rifles. Your loadout also includes gadgets in three varieties: power, speed, and tactical. For example, a speed gadget lets you boost across the field to reposition yourself, while a tactical gadget lets you lays trap to better control the enemy’s actions. You can equip two gadgets at once, but they must come from the same category, and they operate on a cooldown.
Even as a solo game, Splatoon Raiders encourages teamwork. You can call in an ally, one of the members of the in-game band Deep Cut, for a devastating showstopper attack, like unleashing a giant shark or a flood of eels. But don’t forget about your helpful robot, either. Not only do you need it to collect re Using the robot to boost myself above the fray completely shifted the momentum several times in my favor
As a looter-shooter, Splatoon Raiders has many upgrade types that I explored over several days of play. You can customize weapons and gadgets at will, tweaking different attributes and unlocking more slots for more upgrades. For example, you may prefer a horizontal slash over a vertical one. There are also permanent upgrades to health and attack power, as well as rare relics that enable unique skills, like the ability to make multiple jumps. Everything you collect, from earned experience to gathered loot to eggs that enemies drop, feeds into this system.
(Credit: Nintendo)
All this makes Splatoon Raiders a game where it’s easy to create vastly different playstyles. Nintendo has dabbled with skill points before, like in last year’s Donkey Kong Bananza. But I appreciated that Splatoon Raiders favors evolving gameplay effects over invisible stat boosts. It amps up the creative potential and reduces the annoying tedium common in many other looter-shooters. It has the irresistible chaos of a broken Diablo build.
Maps, Modes, and More
The game’s location, the Spirhalite Islands, showcases various types of raids. Some levels are large multiplayer maps, with multiple paths to explore. Others have a tight, considered design, especially the islands meant to highlight a specific weapon or gadget. Some levels impose a strict time limit as I faced a gauntlet of enemies. There are even boss fights that progress the story.
You can play Splatoon Raiders solo or play co-op with friends. You can even call in strangers online to help. If anything, co-op felt even more chaotic than a standard Splatoon competitive match due to the extra variables in play, including the enemy gangs and the array of weapons. I liked that the co-op modes let me focus on playing a helpful role, like sneaking up behind shielded enemies or taking on towering bosses, instead of worrying about every single action.
(Credit: Nintendo)
Final Thoughts on Splatoon Raiders
As someone who likes Splatoon’s vibes but isn’t especially competitive, I initially had a good time with this new spin on the formula. But I wondered how much was there to do? Splatoon has always been a great core idea that’s been spread a little too thin across three very similar games, and Splatoon Raiders shares many of those elements despite the revamped structure. Fortunately, the full campaign has much to tackle, and even revisiting older levels with new loadouts reduces the sense of grind. And like the live games it apes, Splatoon Raiders has a post-game to encourage even more looting and shooting.
Splatoon Raiders shares something in common with Pokémon Pokopia, this year’s other big Switch 2 exclusive. Both games cleverly use their respective franchises to elevate a style of game I’m otherwise indifferent toward. Farming is more fun with Pikachu, and I would much rather loot and shoot with Splatoon mechanics than with more pedestrian alternatives. For me, this Splatooter loop, while enjoyable, is too innately mindless to fully love. But for the rest of the world, folks much more willing to embrace this proven genre mashup, Splatoon Raiders has the potential to expand this phenomenon to a new audience and give existing fans a new obsession.
