Splatoon Raiders hands-on: The surprise looter shooter I didn’t know I needed

Splatoon Raiders is a singleplayer adventure set in the paint-spraying universe that’s been built on Nintendo multiplayer action, but that transition surprisingly feels incredibly natural.

I played Splatoon Raiders at an event in New York City a couple weeks ago inside of an actual art exhibit with paint splatters everywhere, and was genuinely kind of gobsmacked by how deep, hectic, and fun it can be. As someone with very little Splatoon experience, I had no idea what to expect, but it feels simultaneously like a perfect entry point and effortless extension of the universe.

Image via Nintendo https://embeds.beehiiv.com/a8d62108-86ed-4039-bf49-44877ba62c15 While Nintendo didn’t describe it this way, my impression after playing it is that Splatoon Raiders has all of the makings of a looter shooter in the vein of games like Warframe, Destiny, or The Division. While maybe not as large in scope as the others, it has the same sort of itch-scratching progression and loot chase feel that I’ve become very familiar with over the years.

In the opening events of the game, the musical trio known as Deep Cut crash-lands on the Spirhalite Islands, and it’s up to you, the unnamed pilot and Mechanic (that’s your custom player character), to get the team out of dodge. But not before going on a myriad of swashbuckling, treasure-hunting, gear-chasing adventures while fighting off waves of Salmonid enemies.

Image via Nintendo Each raid in Splatoon Raiders deploys you to a different area on the sprawling archipelago that is the Spirhalite Islands, each with different environmental hazards and enemy types to deal with. The narrative reason given to return home is that you’re tasked with finding treasures and materials to rebuild your method of travel, and that’s your main goal on each raid.

But you won’t be entirely alone. At your side at all times is one of the members of Deep Cut (Frye, Shiver, and Big Man) inside a mech that fights enemies with you. Each member has their own “ultimate” attack that you can charge up, but you can also summon them to your side and then bounce on the mech’s head to get out of harm’s way as Salmonids swarm you, firing paint on them from above.

The Salmonids vary in size and difficulty, all with their own unique attack patterns, but they will always show up right when you’re about to mine for some important materials, so you’ll need to clear them out before you can do so. It starts out simply, but as you progress through the islands and levels, it is very easy to get swarmed and overwhelmed by them as they spawn in.

Another loot-chase game that came to mind while playing was Monster Hunter. Splatoon Raiders feels similar in structure: go out on raids, kill enemies, grab loot and upgrade materials, return to base to level up and upgrade your gear, rinse and repeat. It’s a tried and true formula, but it also feels pretty new wrapped inside the charm of Splatoon.

It took me some time to get used to Splatoon Raiders’ gameplay cadence, but once I did, it became very satisfying. Surviving a raid requires using your various skills on cooldown, diving into ink to reload your gun, calling your mech buddy so you can bounce on their head to avoid damage, and collecting power-ups and materials as they drop. It’s a very enjoyable gameplay loop.

Photo by Scott Duwe As the Mechanic, you’re equipped with a weapon, and an ink tank that comes in three varieties, with each tank having its own unique set of Gadgets that offer skills to use in gameplay. The Speed Tank is built around movement abilities, the Power Tank utilizes raw attack strength, and the Tactical Tank (my personal favorite) is built around deployable skills like a turret or two bombs that you can string together to deal massive damage. There’s good potential for build-crafting when it comes to customizing your gear or weapons to a certain kind of play-style.

On top of there being over 100 weapons in the game, they can randomly drop from enemies on raids and roll with unique abilities and perks. Combine that with upgradeable Gadgets and tanks, and there’s a sense of constant progression that fans of this genre could find highly addicting.

Every raid you play through earns XP, new items, and different mods to put on your Gadgets to increase their efficiency, like a higher rate of fire or a bigger explosive radius, etc. Everything you do is in an effort to upgrade either yourself, your gear, or your hideout base, so it feels like there is always something to do while progressing through the story or replaying levels.

Along with basic levels where you traverse islands to get treasure, materials, and currency, there are bigger fights that culminate in areas called ruins, where you must use the mech to dive deeper through several sub-levels. In some of these fights, you’re on a timer and must slay Salmonids quickly while picking up dropped items to fill a progress meter before advancing. It’s hectic, challenging, and fun.

Reaching the final sub-level of ruins rewards you with a boss fight against a massive Salmonid that sometimes spawns in added enemies, further creating a sense of chaos that requires you to master your weaponry, Gadgets and their cooldowns, and movement. I was kind of shocked by how fun it felt.

There’s a surprising amount of min-maxing you can do in Splatoon Raiders, when it comes to choosing different ink tanks, customizing abilities, chasing down specific mods or weapon rolls, leveling up aspects of the Mechanic (HP, weapon damage, etc.), and finding an item called Salmonid Relics that you can equip on your gear for different buffs or abilities. I feel like fans of the loot-chase-upgrade-rinse-repeat genre should not sleep on it.

Image via Nintendo Outside of the opening tutorial, Splatoon Raiders is fully playable in co-op for up to four players, either online or local wireless, with multiple Switch 2 systems. And this is just another added bonus on top of what already feels like a very fun game.

Combining your abilities with friends, covering the battlefield with ink, and teaming up to take down tough foes is a blast, especially since enemy density gets quite thick on certain levels. There’s paint flying everywhere, in the best way, and loot is instanced, so you won’t have to fight over who gets what, making for an enjoyable experience if you wish to leave the solo play behind.

Another similarity to Monster Hunter is the ability to call for help. If you’re struggling with a level, you can send out a distress beacon (similar to Monster Hunter Wilds’ SOS Flare), and another online player will join your game and stay with you through its completion. That ability will then go on a cooldown, so be sure to use it only when needed.

I think there’s strong potential for Splatoon Raiders, whether it be via fighting the challenge alone in single player (the highest difficulty level increases the ferocity of the Salmonids but nothing else), or in a dedicated group of three friends. It genuinely feels quite fun to play, and the extra challenge is there if you seek it.

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Splatoon Raiders launches exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 on July 23, and it immediately became a game on my radar after playing it, whereas before I probably would’ve never given it a second look.

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