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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a multiplayer game in possession of a passionate fan base must be in want of a single player game. So it is and so it was and so I think it ever will be. Enter Splatoon Raiders, a single player, well, mostly, we'll get there. Joint from Nintendo because the ever dedicated Splatoon fans are insatiable. But here's the good news, squid kids. It seems to be shaping up real nice, at least from the couple hours I spent with it. My demo started off with a cutscene to set things up. My character was a helicopter pilot, but my friends call me the mechanic. Flying treasure hunters, Fry, Big Man, and Shiver to the Spire
Light Islands when they all saw a big old light coming out of what looked like a hurricane. Things went sideways real fast and our copter went down. One month later, we've built a floating fortress with just about everything you could want except for a way home and we're hunting for treasure. When in Rome, right? Soon enough, I was setting off to hunt for treasure. If you've ever played Splatoon before, you'll feel right at home in Raiders. I started with the gyro controls and while that normally isn't my bag, it's Splatoon and they feel
great here. Pretty soon I was doing Splatoon things, inking up the environment, swimming around in it, and collecting mysterious shards. I'm not being cheeky, that's what they're called. Movement in Splatoon is a joy and that's no different in Raiders. Even something as simple as using a wooden plank to surf across the waves is awesome. As I moved forward, I came across my enemy, the Salmonids. They start small, these deranged fishy critters, but the solution, no matter their size, is to ink them up and paint over the ugly goo they leave on the ground. Theirs, hideous, yellow, likely stinky. Mine, beautiful, green, probably smells like lavender. They just can't handle that squid kid firepower, but you're doing
the environment a favor, too. When they go down, they drop eggs that'll come in handy later, but I don't fall in love with the goofy goobers until I see one that looks like a fat version of that one hyena from the Lion King with the droopy tongue. He's called Salty Tongue and I love him. He gets the ink, too, and drops a fancy weapon. More on that in a second. After that, I stumble upon a cute little robot that the crew hauls back to the hideout and the mechanic manages to fix up. From there, it's time to take that bad boy out on a new mission and kick the tires. My mission plays out a lot like the first level. Run around, explore the environment, fight salmonids, ink things up. The difference this time is that
I've got my handy dandy bot piloted by Big Man. The bot is helpful in combat, but can also boost me up in the air so I can glide to new places and leap to where I tell it, splattering the ground with ink. Lovely. The bot's real trick, however, is that it can drill into big crystals and get us more of those sweet mysterious shards and other goodies. The crystals themselves shoot these big old beams of light into the sky, so you know where they are. The trick is using your tools like the bot jump or flowers that blast you into the air or your ability to swim through ink to get where you're going, merging salmonids along the way. If things get hairy, the bot and your buddy inside of it give you access to
showstoppers. If you get enough of them, salmonid eggs. With Big Man, that means he hops out of your mech and you ride that bad boy like he's a horse while he's blasting away John Woo style. It's great. Salmonids don't like it much, THOUGH. AT THE end of the level, I find a huge crystal protected by salmonids who are popping out of a nearby grate to defend it. Between me and my bot, it wasn't a big thing. They got the ink, but it was a lot of fun anyway, just because Raiders always feels good as you play it. My reward for salmonid slaughter? A big treasure chest full of new ink tanks. Speed, power, and tactical.
The neat part about these tanks is they each come with different gadgets that provide cool and new abilities in combat. The speed tank, for instance, gives me blast boot, which allows me to eat myself through the air and land with a big splat that damages everything around me. While the tactical tank offers the turret by any other name still shoots just as good shot pot neat. Of course there are cool downs attached to all of these abilities because video games are only allowed to be fun sometimes but still I dig it. After another mission where I grab some more weapons and other goodies and discover the joy of floating I head back to base to sort through my wonderful tools. In addition to my tanks and the gadgets
that go with them I've also got gadget parts which do things like juice the explosions on your gadget abilities or make them bigger shorten cool downs add explosions to your ability charges and the like provided you have enough slots to equip that gadget part. You'll also gain levels as you play which can be spent to upgrade your health weapon damage and gadget part slots and even craft new gadgets. I was particularly fond of the power tank splatter lights which orbit you and spray ink everywhere and the bomb loons which are bomb balloons you can connect and do absolutely massive damage when you blow them up. Then of course there are various weapons to collect like the oil blaster and roller all of which can be
upgraded at your base. Finally you've got salmonid relics which grant bonuses like a double jump or reduced weapon ink consumption. It's a lot of customization but it means you get to build a character you like and you can get truly overpowered if you play it right. You can also just hang out and vibe at your base and read lore about the salmonids in the world too. No pressure. Then you head out on a mission and do it all again. Turns out Splatoon Raiders is kind of a rogue light with persistent progression. Who knew? But it does give you an opportunity to try out all your wonderful toys and things like shiver showstopper which summons a giant rocket powered shark.
Yes really. The blast through anything unlucky enough to get in your way. And based on what I played Raiders seems to be trying to do enough that while your core action blast through salmonids and get stuff rinse and repeat is the same things always feel different enough that it stays interesting. All of Splatoon Raiders craziness comes to a head in raids that take us underground, where I'm trapped in a small space and I have to collect a certain number of salmonid eggs in a limited time to make it to the next level. I won't lie to you, friends. I thought I was kind of nice at Splatoon Raiders until this point. I was cruising. But when I tell you I got smoked multiple times in a row doing this, I'm not kidding. But man, I dug
it. It forced me to refine my build, pick my spots, use all my tools, and learn how to play fast. Even when I was getting walloped, I was having a good time. Finally making it to that last level and beating the boss just as our time for that portion of the demo expired, my friends, I exhaled. And then we got to play four-player co-op, and it was rad. Nothing really changes in co-op. It's just more of the same, but with friends. I named my squid kid John Inkling, we got to work. I don't have much to say about the multiplayer. We only got about 10 minutes with it, except that you can go real fast if you want to, and that's an
absolute blast to play with all those gadgets and guns and showstoppers popping off at once. I had a great time, and this would definitely be my preferred way to play the full game. John Ink shall ride again. I didn't know what to expect with Splatoon Raiders, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a good time. It can be breezy, it can be challenging, it can be everything in between. I'm kind of shocked that it's basically a rogue-lite, but it works real good. Turns out all a squid kid needs for a good time on Spiral Island is a treasure to hunt and a robot to hunt it with.
Not bad considering it all starts with a helicopter crash. But bring some friends if you can. It's better when you're all spilling some ink together. Maybe the real treasure is the friends we made along the way. For more previews of the biggest upcoming games, don't miss our recent hands-on previews of Star Wars Galactic Racer and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. And for everything else in the world of video games, stick with IGN.
