07-30-2026, 04:38 AM
I beat Splatoon Raiders, and I have a lot of thoughts about it. Game of the Year? For me, I genuinely think the answer is yes (so far). I loved the series up until Splatoon 3, which was meant to be themed around chaos, but the loadouts, specials and maps felt so restrained in comparison to 1 and even 2 to some extents that I didn't have much fun online. Mahi-Mahi, one of my favorite Splatoon 1 maps, was turned from a fun and unique map to a Tetris block. I heard map design got better as time went on, but the launch period soured me heavily on the game, with so many of my matches ending in stalemates because of boring, symmetrical maps that don't allow for flanking, so you're just stuck splatting each other in the center until one team eventually manages to push forward.
The single player campaign was somewhat of a retread of Octo Expansion but still fun, and I've never been very big on Salmon Run, so overall I'd give it a solid 6.5/10; it was fun sometimes but I dropped it faster than 2. I didn't even buy Side Order because I'm not that a huge Roguelite fan and I heard it was lacking, neither having much content nor that many possibilities for unique builds. Yawn.
Raiders is basically a mix of your standard Splatoon SP campaign, mixed with some Octo Expansion, Side Order and Salmon Run. Ironically, Raiders feels very chaotic in comparison to 3; the power of the Switch 2 isn't used so much to show off the much better visuals (although the 4k and slightly improved ink and hair physics are nice additions) but to show off just how much s*** it can handle. I didn't actually measure frames or anything, but I'm very good at spotting framerate dips and I didn't notice a single one; considering just how insane late-game levels can get, I found that genuinely impressive. I have to give due credit to the interface team; after TOTK and MK World had such dreadful interfaces, Raiders shows someone at Nintendo still understands how to design a convenient interface. I never felt like things got too chaotic till the point I couldn't tell what was going on anymore, and a big part of that was because of the great interface.
And you'll spend a lot of time in menus, tweaking your weapons, powers, gadgets and so on. In comparison to Side Order, there's a ton of customization and possibilities to tweak your build to do some absolutely crazy s***. I typically prefer my games to gate me based on skill rather than gear, but I can't deny this is one of the best ways to handle it. Harder levels aren't just hard cause your gear sucks (though you absolutely need to keep tinkering with it if you want to stand a chance), but because you really have to concentrate and pick off the right targets before engaging with the rest of the group, lest you get yourself absolutely wrecked by a Inkstrike or Maws you didn't see coming.
So yeah, really liked it. Got a few gripes, like how it should've been easier to restart levels or how the visuals are a bit too desaturated at times, but they're relatively minor. Good ass game, got 40 hours out of it and for fifty bucks that's pretty damn good.
The single player campaign was somewhat of a retread of Octo Expansion but still fun, and I've never been very big on Salmon Run, so overall I'd give it a solid 6.5/10; it was fun sometimes but I dropped it faster than 2. I didn't even buy Side Order because I'm not that a huge Roguelite fan and I heard it was lacking, neither having much content nor that many possibilities for unique builds. Yawn.
Raiders is basically a mix of your standard Splatoon SP campaign, mixed with some Octo Expansion, Side Order and Salmon Run. Ironically, Raiders feels very chaotic in comparison to 3; the power of the Switch 2 isn't used so much to show off the much better visuals (although the 4k and slightly improved ink and hair physics are nice additions) but to show off just how much s*** it can handle. I didn't actually measure frames or anything, but I'm very good at spotting framerate dips and I didn't notice a single one; considering just how insane late-game levels can get, I found that genuinely impressive. I have to give due credit to the interface team; after TOTK and MK World had such dreadful interfaces, Raiders shows someone at Nintendo still understands how to design a convenient interface. I never felt like things got too chaotic till the point I couldn't tell what was going on anymore, and a big part of that was because of the great interface.
And you'll spend a lot of time in menus, tweaking your weapons, powers, gadgets and so on. In comparison to Side Order, there's a ton of customization and possibilities to tweak your build to do some absolutely crazy s***. I typically prefer my games to gate me based on skill rather than gear, but I can't deny this is one of the best ways to handle it. Harder levels aren't just hard cause your gear sucks (though you absolutely need to keep tinkering with it if you want to stand a chance), but because you really have to concentrate and pick off the right targets before engaging with the rest of the group, lest you get yourself absolutely wrecked by a Inkstrike or Maws you didn't see coming.
So yeah, really liked it. Got a few gripes, like how it should've been easier to restart levels or how the visuals are a bit too desaturated at times, but they're relatively minor. Good ass game, got 40 hours out of it and for fifty bucks that's pretty damn good.
I make games with my friend DJ Coco sometimes. Check them out here: https://cliax-games.com/
Or check out my blog: https://vertette.github.io/
Or check out my blog: https://vertette.github.io/