I wasn’t sure what to expect from Splatoon Raiders when it was revealed. The series is known for its third-person mechanics and competitive multiplayer, where you shoot ink at enemies, objects, and other players. It’s about as close to live-service as Nintendo has gotten, and it’s one of the most popular franchises in its stable.
Splatoon Raiders, a new entry, seeks to do something different. And I find myself preferring it to the mainline series after a slow start that nearly put me off the whole thing. Splatoon Raiders is effectively a single-player experience with roguelike elements as you battle against the ghastly Salmonids. And after spending the last week raiding for treasure, I’m happy to say I’m hooked even if it took me a bit of time.
Splatoon Raiders’ Gameplay Loop Tries To Shake Things Up For the Series
And while every game in the series has its own campaign, there’s nothing quite like this, as it’s essentially Splatoon’s take on Borderlands or Destiny, and what I mean is how you earn weapons, grow with them, and then develop builds based on the raids you’ll embark on across the various islands in search of treasure.
The first few hours are meant to acclimate you to the mechanics of Splatoon. I forgot how hard it is to play through Nintendo tutorials because of the handholding most of its games exhibit. But once I got past those first hours, Raiders quickly became one of my favourite games in the series because it expands on the series’ mechanics in a natural way. And I think it’s because the developers decided to do something different, rather than giving us levels where we could ink everything, upgrade weapons, and then head into multiplayer against others.
It’s all very familiar to fans of the series. You can still use gyro controls to aim and shoot ink, press ZL to reload ink, recover health, and move faster. That’s the good thing here: you’ll be acclimated rather quickly, and it makes the overall experience sing because things are just as intended. It is so much fun swimming through ink, popping up behind a group of enemies, and splaying them with various colours of ink. The core is still as fun as ever with a new twist as it takes ideas from Salmon Run or the roguelike DLC Side Order.
The character progression and RPG elements are front and centre, and they’re some of the most important elements that you need to focus on if you want to defeat the Salmonids. The player will go on a high-stakes adventure as the Mechanic alongside the musician trio Deep Cut (Shiver, Frye, and Big Man) as they explore the mysterious Spirhalite Islands to pay back some debts incurred through Splatsville.
Gadgets and Gizmos, I Have Plenty
The Mechanic’s Ink Tank is a major component of your arsenal against the Salmonids and comes in three versions: Speed, Power, and Tactical. You gain additional upgrades by using the tanks in battle and as you level up your character. Your tanks also add permanent skills, and every tank has its own gadgets and powers. The Speed Tank focuses on mobility, the Power Tank focuses on delivering damage to enemies, and the Tactical Tank prioritizes putting you in charge of area-of-effect damage.
In addition, you can equip two gadgets to the tank, which serve as mods for your character, and with each level you gain a gadget part to use to upgrade your HP, weapon or gadget damage percentage, and even gadget slots. Levels are doled out at a pretty good pace, so you’re constantly given the opportunity to gain new upgrades.
Tanks can be swapped out as you see fit, and it’s even necessary to keep swapping between the tanks, as Raiders even incentivizes you to keep changing your arsenal. So between the tanks and the Gadgets, you’re constantly switching out gear. That alone is valuable to someone like me who likes to experiment with builds because you’re forced to try combinations you normally wouldn’t. I gravitated to Power builds, but the Speed and Tactical offer unique experiences that stand apart.
Gadgets like the Shot Pot are great for keeping enemies at bay, as they continually fire at them. The Splatchet is one of my favourites because it’s great when you’re facing the odds, as the Mechanic dashes forward and slices at enemies while splashing everything in ink. There is a cooldown, though, for most gadgets, so don’t expect to be able to spam the abilities to win.
We’ve also seen the Splatellites, which shoot out ink around you to protect you, but the Splatchet is easily my favourite way to shift the tide in my favour. Thankfully, you can unlock two slots, so there is enough variety to mix and match how you approach them – like the Splatellites and Splatchet working in tandem.
Later on, you can unlock the ability to develop gadgets for each of the three tanks. The Speed tank can develop a Blast Boot to create a quick leap that leaves behind an explosion when landing or a Dash Bomb, while the Tactical tank has the ability to develop its own gadgets like the Bombloons, capable of dealing damage after exploding near enemies and can be chained.
Build Your Character
It all begins to feel familiar once you’ve opened enough slots for your character to feel powerful. Between the tank classes, gadgets, and Exploration Bot, which is another layer that needs to be managed but ultimately feels like a great accomplice, it helps to create a rewarding gameplay loop.
The Exploration Bot is piloted by a Bot Buddy, where you can pick between the Deep Cut trio Shiver, Fry, and Big Man, with each offering their own ultimate you can use by collecting salmon orbs by defeating Salmonids.
Levels are all chosen from a map you choose from your Bot Buddy. The map itself is covered in fog but opens to more and more islands where you’ll push back the Salmonids by completing raids. The raids are usually brief encounters with dozens of enemies rushing at you across small stages filled with platforms to maneuver around, and also surfboards to move between the inlet islands in a bid to prevent you from being overwhelmed.
Splatoon Raiders feels less like the mainline games at first because those games have more platforming sections. Selecting a level and heading to discover treasure might have you using your Bot Buddy to mine for Spirhalite shards, the essence of most of the gadgets and the key to, well, mostly everything related to this land. One level might have you defeating enemies to earn a certain amount of the currency while another level has you fighting off waves of enemies while mining a larger crystal. In those levels, the Salmonids are pretty feisty and will overpower you. Thankfully, you have three chances to succeed.
There are levels where you head to sublevels, often featuring the same type of objectives but with harder-hitting enemies. You’ll still tackle waves of enemies, but they become increasingly harder as time counts down, and you’ll need to have the right weapons, gadgets, and relics to succeed. Diving in without preparation spells a quick end for your character.
What I was disappointed to see is that levels are pretty contained in Splatoon Raiders. While I appreciate how snappy everything feels, the levels themselves are pretty small. I understand some instances become increasingly chaotic, but I would’ve loved to see something that showcases the Switch 2’s capabilities in a way that complements the gameplay but never materializes.
Almost all content can be played solo, and if you get stuck, the Call for Help assist temporarily calls in others. Or for those who wish to play with friends and strangers, there is co-op to dive into if you desire to keep pressing on with a few others, where difficulty scales based on how many players are with you. I can see this being a blast if you and three buddies can co-ordinate a time to seek out treasure.
Verdict
Splatoon Raiders is a genuinely great twist on the Splatoon formula. Going in, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as I left the tutorial, I knew this is a game that I find far and above more my jam than the mainline games. It might not have the deepest story, but what Splatoon Raiders does have is a sense of adventure, and the island hopping in search of treasure does just enough with its story and characters to keep you entertained through to the credits.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: Switch 2
