Splatoon Raiders reinvigorates Nintendo’s shooter franchise with style, substance and salmon.
Sometimes, with a returning series, all it takes is the tiniest sound to give you the feels. It might be the jingle of a treasure chest opening in a Zelda game, the hollow echo that accompanies death in Grand Theft Auto V, or the iconic opening notes of the Halo theme.
With Splatoon Raiders, that sense of anticipation returned the instant I reached the game’s first menu. Setting the difficulty at the start, the familiar and satisfying squelch of confirming my choice was enough to tickle the excitement centre of my brain for the adventure ahead.
Four years after the last numbered Splatoon release, the series returns with a campaign-focused entry that Nintendo has positioned as the franchise’s first single-player game. It may be, but Splatoon Raiders is much more than a spin-off and, despite its campaign focus, much more than a solo experience.
Following a brief setup in which you take on the role of a rookie mechanic and team up with Shiver, Frye, and Big Man – members of Splatoon 3‘s popular idol group Deep Cut – you set out to battle hordes of Salmonids, collect Power Eggs, and gather an array of gear, cosmetics, and other rewards. It’s a loop with the same compulsive pull as the best of Borderlands or Destiny.
The game also shares a surprising amount of structural DNA with another Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Like that game, there is a repeating rhythm of fighting, collecting, upgrading, and heading out again, with each raid offering another opportunity to improve and experiment with your loadout. And just like Hyrule Warriors, you have assistance with each raid, this time from a member of Deep Cut who tags along in an upgradeable mech to provide support with combat and traversal.
The franchise has experimented with single-player experiences before, but they have often been overshadowed by the competitive draw of Turf War. Octo Expansion and Side Order demonstrated how the core mechanics could be adapted into more structured solo challenges, while Salmon Run proved that they could work brilliantly as a PvE horde mode. Splatoon Raiders takes the best ideas from all three and finds a sweet spot between them. In doing so, it feels like a new direction for the Splatoon formula.
Splatoon’s magic loop of ink as ammunition – which doubles as your method of travel before replenishing your supply – remains one of the most elegant systems in video games. And even without the team-based competition of the mainline games, that loop still shines.
The Salmonid foes are initially rudimentary in their behaviour compared with human opponents, and because of that, the opening hours of Splatoon Raiders can feel a little one-note. However, as the roster of enemies expands, combat tactics become more varied and the scope of the game opens up. Managing the ink loop becomes increasingly important, skirmishes demand more thought, and the skill ceiling gradually rises. If you’re coming to the series for the first time, the game gives you room to build your skills from the ground up without the pressure of competing against experienced players.
Collectibles include weapons, gadgets, and Relic Powers that act as passive buffs, alongside a choice of three upgradable ink tanks: Speed, Power, or Tactical. Together, they allow for extensive customisation and plenty of room for personal expression. I tend to gravitate towards a Splattershot with a Tactical tank, but Raiders gives each combination a sense of value, encouraging experimentation.
The loot system gives the campaign a sense of momentum so that even when you’re tackling familiar encounters or replaying stages, which you’ll likely have to do, there is always another loadout to try or another piece of loot to discover.
Many areas require more than running and gunning, and although I’d hesitate to call this a platformer, the game has a level of verticality that feels new for the series. It can also be brutally hard at times, and certainly isn’t immune to the grind. But despite these occasional spikes of frustration, it never feels like a slog.
Outside of the main raids, a series of side levels offers a more thoughtful break from the action, with challenges that give you a chance to become familiar with the game’s arsenal of gadgets and tanks. These areas are among the few places where mapping camera control to the gyroscope can feel a little fussy, but they’re still well-designed excursions, reminiscent of Zelda’s shrines or Donkey Kong Bananza‘s challenge courses.
As the paint flies and the fish fry, you’d be forgiven for thinking that performance might take a hit, but the game runs at a smooth 60 fps in both handheld and TV modes. The transition to Nintendo Switch 2 also gives an already impressive series a noticeable visual lift, with detailed characters and richly rendered environments bringing the Spirhalite Islands to life.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the idyllic waters of the Caribbean in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. Splatoon Raiders explores some similarly sun-soaked shores, but with a difference. Here, the consequences of industrial progress have taken their toll on the natural landscape. The islands you visit are corrupted by piping, paint, and other unpleasant byproducts.
The atmosphere of majestic places slowly falling into ruin is underpinned by a soundtrack that is discordant and sometimes unnerving, while still threaded through with the franchise’s trademark pop-punk sensibilities. It’s a briny, grubby world, but you’re not here to restore it. You’re here to raid, salvage, pilfer, and profit. It’s quite a mission statement for a Nintendo game.
Although Nintendo is marketing Splatoon Raiders as a solo pursuit, it needn’t be played as one at all. After the first area, the game opens up to allow for online play, and at any point, you can request help from friends or other online players, offer your assistance to others, or tackle the full campaign in co-op.
It feels like a recognition that Splatoon is at its best when shared. Playing alongside friends adds an extra dimension that, for me, stretches all the way back to sessions of Gauntlet in the 1980s. Encounters become more dynamic and thrilling when you’re coordinating with others, toying with different gear combinations, and responding in concert to the chaos on the battlefield. Splatoon Raiders may have abandoned the competitive multiplayer battles that define the mainline games, but it hasn’t abandoned the social spirit that makes splatting ink so much fun.
In the heat of the moment, Splatoon Raiders is about action, reaction, and short, satisfying thrills. But as it progresses, a story begins to unfold, tying together the game’s gadgets and mechanics with the background of Deep Cut. Splatoon lore enthusiasts will find plenty to chew over, but the story remains accessible and supplementary to the action, rather than something that requires a Splatopedia at your side for reference.
Splatoon Raiders works because it understands what made the series’ previous competitive multiplayer, single-player, and PvE modes so compelling. It brings those ideas together, weaves in some narrative, and gives them room to breathe. The result is a game that feels recognisably like Splatoon while offering a different answer to the question of what a Splatoon game can be.
It would be easy to dismiss Splatoon Raiders as a side story to pass the time until Splatoon 4 inevitably arrives, but it’s better than that. By retaining and remixing the best of the series to date, Nintendo has created an accessible introduction to the franchise that plays to the strengths of its hardware and dazzles with creativity, chaos, and camaraderie.
Game: Splatoon Raiders
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: July 23, 2026
