Console Sport Evaluation · Nintendo Change 2
Splatoon Raiders
Platform: Nintendo Change 2 (Unique) | Style: Motion-Journey / Treasure Looking | Developer: Nintendo EPD | Reviewed by Klorvex Group
Splatoon trades the multiplayer area for a treasure-hunting island journey — and it is an absolute delight.
4 years after Splatoon 3’s final main replace, Nintendo has taken its inkling shooter franchise someplace no person anticipated: a single-player-first, co-op-friendly treasure searching journey. Splatoon Raiders shouldn’t be a numbered mainline entry, and it does not attempt to be. As an alternative, it is a assured, beneficiant spin-off that reuses the collection’ beloved ink-based traversal and fight toolkit to construct one thing nearer to a comfy exploration recreation with fight encounters woven via it, and on Nintendo Change 2 {hardware} it is one of the purely charming console video games we have performed all 12 months.
Setting: The Spirhalite Islands
Raiders is about throughout a scattered chain of islands collectively often known as Spirhalite, a sun-bleached archipelago dotted with sunken ruins, tide swimming pools, floating market cities, and long-abandoned splatformer-style vertical dungeons that clearly take design cues from the single-player campaigns of previous Splatoon video games, expanded into a lot bigger, extra open areas. You play a treasure hunter (totally customizable, as at all times) who’s been recruited by a ragtag crew of returning and new characters to chase down a legendary artifact rumored to be hidden someplace within the island chain, with rival hunter factions racing you to every dig website.
The construction is refreshingly non-linear. Fairly than a strict level-by-level marketing campaign, you are given a hub boat and free rein to sail between roughly a dozen main islands in no matter order you want, every with its personal biome, treasure vaults, and mid-boss encounter. It is a mild Metroidvania in disguise — sure vaults are locked behind traversal upgrades (a grapple-ink hook, a pressurized ink cannon that allows you to break sure wall varieties) that you will earn from finishing different islands first, which provides the entire journey a satisfying sense of interconnected development with out ever feeling like padding.
Every island additionally has its personal distinct visible id and light-weight environmental gimmick that retains the dozen-plus areas from blurring collectively over a full playthrough. One volcanic island is constructed round rising and falling lava-ink tides that reshape accessible paths on a timer, forcing you to plan routes round a countdown moderately than discover at complete leisure. A frozen island close to the sting of the archipelago introduces slippery ink-ice surfaces that change how your squid-form momentum carries between jumps. It is the sort of level-variety pondering that retains a dozen-plus-hour journey feeling recent from the primary island to the final, and it is clear a whole lot of design consideration went into ensuring no two islands clear up their traversal puzzles in fairly the identical method.
Gameplay: Ink as a Toolkit, Not Only a Weapon
What impressed us most is how completely Nintendo has reimagined ink mechanics for exploration moderately than aggressive fight. Squid-form traversal via ink trails continues to be the beating coronary heart of motion, however Raiders provides vertical ink-climbing partitions, ink-reactive puzzle switches, and current-based swimming sections that use the DualSense-style HD haptics of the Change 2’s up to date Pleasure-Con 2 controllers to genuinely convey the resistance of swimming towards a powerful ink present. It is a small contact, nevertheless it’s the sort of tactile suggestions that makes exploration really feel thought-about moderately than incidental.
Fight encounters, which crop up at set-piece vault entrances and roaming “Salvage Squad” rival hunters, borrow acquainted weapon archetypes from the mainline video games — splattershots, rollers, chargers, brushes — however rebalanced fully round single-player and co-op AI enemy habits moderately than PvP symmetry. Enemies flank, retreat to cowl, and use terrain-painting techniques of their very own, which retains fights full of life with out ever feeling like reskinned turf conflict matches. Boss fights, specifically, are terrific; a mid-game battle towards a colossal ink-slick sea creature that reshapes the sector’s terrain because it takes harm stands out as among the best set items in any Nintendo recreation this 12 months.
Co-Op: As much as 4 Gamers, Seamless and Joyful
As much as 4 gamers can drop out and in of the journey at any time, both domestically or on-line, and the sport scales enemy density and vault puzzle complexity accordingly. Co-op does not simply tack multiplayer onto a single-player construction as an afterthought both — a number of vault puzzles are explicitly designed round simultaneous switch-pulling or synchronized ink-current swimming that genuinely requires communication. We performed via roughly six hours of the again half of the marketing campaign in three-player co-op and got here away pondering it could be one of the best ways to expertise the sport, assuming you have obtained mates who’re equally prepared to yell “GO LEFT” at a puzzle swap.
Drop-in play is dealt with gracefully too. A participant becoming a member of mid-session is teleported on to the host’s present location moderately than needing to sail again throughout the map to catch up, and any progress made towards a vault’s completion is retroactively credited to the becoming a member of participant, which removes the standard friction of asking a pal to hop in for “only one extra island” late within the night.
“It is uncommon for a spin-off to really feel this fully-formed. Raiders is not Splatoon-lite — it is a genuinely new option to expertise every thing that makes this world particular.”
Presentation & Change 2 Efficiency
Visually, Splatoon Raiders leans additional into painterly, watercolor-inspired environments than any earlier entry, and the elevated horsepower of Change 2 lets Nintendo pack much more ink particle density, dynamic lighting, and draw distance onto display screen than Splatoon 3 ever managed on the unique Change. Even small environmental touches, like mild scattering via moist ink swimming pools or the way in which distant islands fade right into a mushy watercolor haze on the horizon, add as much as a definite visible id that separates Raiders from each its personal mainline predecessors and the broader crowd of colourful console platformers. Docked, the sport runs at a crisp 1080p concentrating on 60fps, and it holds that concentrate on constantly even throughout the busiest multi-enemy encounters and the most important ink-flood set items. Handheld mode drops decision considerably however maintains the identical body fee, and truthfully, this could be the best-looking recreation we have examined in handheld mode on Change 2 up to now — the sunlit, semi-transparent shallow water results alone are value admiring up shut.
The soundtrack, composed largely by the collection’ long-running music crew, shifts away from the J-pop/digital hybrid of the mainline turf conflict soundtrack towards a extra nautical, adventurous rating stuffed with accordion, sea shanty-inspired percussion, and the occasional burst of the collection’ signature vocal gibberish throughout boss encounters. It is a genuinely nice needle-drop second each time you sail into a brand new island for the primary time.
Customization & Development
Gear development in Raiders trades the mainline collection’ fashion-obsessed attire financial system for one thing a bit extra grounded, however no much less charming. Treasure hunters earn crafting supplies from defeated enemies and salvaged vault loot, which feed right into a hunter’s-guild crafting tree that allows you to construct fully new weapon frames moderately than simply re-skinning present ones. Unlocking a totally upgraded ink-current grapple hook late within the journey genuinely modifications the way you method earlier islands you have already cleared, encouraging backtracking that by no means as soon as felt like busywork throughout our playthrough, since beforehand inaccessible vault rooms and hidden treasure caches are normally well worth the detour.
Cosmetics are nonetheless very a lot current — hats, wetsuits, and boat decorations return in power — however they’re earned primarily via island completion rewards and non-compulsory side-quests from the sport’s giant forged of dockside NPCs moderately than gated behind a store. Anybody who’s spent actual cash on gear in previous Splatoon entries will doubtless respect how beneficiant Raiders is by comparability; nearly each beauty we unlocked over a full twenty-hour playthrough got here from simply enjoying the sport usually.
Who Ought to (and Should not) Choose This Up
It is value being direct about expectations right here: for those who’re a aggressive Turf Battle or Ranked Battle participant searching for the subsequent mainline entry, Raiders shouldn’t be that recreation, and there is not any PvP mode of any variety included. What you get as a substitute is without doubt one of the most polished, beneficiant single-player and co-op adventures Nintendo has revealed in years, constructed on prime of a fight and traversal toolkit that is had almost a decade to mature. Households and pal teams searching for a co-op journey that is not punishingly troublesome will discover loads to like right here, as will anybody who loved the extra exploration-focused single-player campaigns tucked inside previous Splatoon entries and wished Nintendo would construct a full recreation round that concept. We might name it one of many important Change 2 purchases of the 12 months no matter how you are feeling in regards to the collection’ aggressive facet.
Execs & Cons
- Non-linear island exploration with actual Metroidvania depth
- Incredible four-player co-op puzzle design
- Beautiful painterly artwork route, best-in-class handheld visuals
- Boss encounters rank amongst Nintendo’s finest this 12 months
- Rock-solid 60fps efficiency docked and handheld
- PvP-focused Splatoon followers might miss turf conflict fully
- Later-game vaults recycle a number of earlier puzzle concepts
- Story is mild and principally instructed via non-compulsory dialogue
Splatoon Raiders is proof {that a} beloved multiplayer franchise can pivot into one thing utterly completely different with out dropping what made it particular. It is assured, attractive, beneficiant with content material, and one of many important Change 2 exclusives of 2026.
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