I have a fractious relationship with competitive multiplayer games, which is to say I think they’re neat, but am generally terrible at them. Splatoon was different. Your aim doesn’t matter much when you’re a squid kid, fashion is just as important as skill, and since almost everything you do helps the team in some way, the whole atmosphere is just fun. The problem was that I found the series in 2021, during a quiet period as Splatoon 2 was laid to rest and before Splatoon 3’s announcement reignited widespread interest in the series.
Nintendo dropped support for Splatoon 2 two years after the game launched. That meant no more Splatfests, the quirky community events themed around such complex ideological positions as “mayonnaise vs. ketchup.” The steady drip of new weapons dried up, and the player pool gradually diminished.
People like me with healthy, normal lifestyle habits could no longer expect to find a match at 2 a.m. without waiting 10 minutes or longer, even if teammates were usually still easy to find during the day. Salmon Run, the grueling PvE mode where teams of four fought off invading hordes of mutant fish, shut down as well.
(Super) Jumping into Splatoon 3 from the day it launched on the Switch was a completely different, and much more exciting, experience. Much like Splatoon 2 was more of an expansion than a full sequel, Splatoon 3 doesn’t drastically change the formula Nintendo established in 2015 on the Wii U, but it does still make a range of substantial improvements The new weapon types such as the close-range wiper blade seem like tame additions, but they create entirely new playstyles and encourage you to think differently about team formations and how best to use even old, familiar maps.
Splatfests are back, and while the Tri-Color Turf War battles aren’t a hit with many fans, I enjoy how they shake up the familiar ground-splatting mode and force teams to plan more strategically than usual. The festivities will come to an end eventually, but Salmon Run is, thankfully, here to stay as a permanent mode.
If you get tired of all the splatting and trying on clothes, there’s even a surprisingly immersive tabletop card game to while away some time with.
All this is without even getting into the smaller quality-of-life improvements, things like letting you skip the intro segment every time you log in and the option to change gear between matches without leaving the lobby. It may only be a refinement instead of an advancement, but it’s certainly a welcome one.
Better yet, the community is more vibrant than ever. Fans are happily churning out art, creating backstories for the new idol trio, and delving into everything from the music to the stage layouts to find cleverly hidden bits of Splatoon lore.
I’ve had more fun with Splatoon 3 than I have with other games in a long time, and with the promise of new seasons and substantial DLC just over the horizon, I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
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