The Splatoon series has always been known for its fast-paced 4v4 action gameplay, where the ultimate goal in the main mode, Turf War, is to cover the ground with more ink than the opponents do, shooting them for PvP gameplay along the way. However, Splatoon Raiders differs from this predominant formula, and focuses more on the singleplayer aspect of The Splatoon series, which has always featured in every game, but has never been its main premise. But first, a brief history is important to understand The Splatoon series as a whole.

Ever since the series’ debut on May 28, 2015 with Splatoon, Nintendo knew they struck a goldmine with this new IP, selling 4.95 million copies as of March 31, 2026. As this value may initially sound low, the Wii U was only able to sell 13.56 million units, which means roughly 36.5% of Wii U owners have/had Splatoon. With this new success, Nintendo immediately knew what to do, which was to make a sequel for their newest console at the time, the Nintendo Switch.

Splatoon 2 made its debut on July 21, 2017, only four months after the Nintendo Switch was officially released, and it was an instant hit. It had sold over 13.6 million copies as of December 2022, making it one of the most successful games for the Switch. It was so successful that Nintendo felt the need to make another sequel for the game, Splatoon 3. They released that for the Switch as well, although that game dropped half a decade after Splatoon 2, releasing on September 9, 2022.

After those successes, along with Nintendo’s newest console, the Nintendo Switch 2, the company knew they needed to drop an exclusive title for the system to get more people to buy it. Splatoon Raiders was first revealed on June 10, 2025, on one of Nintendo’s mobile applications called “Nintendo Today!” and later Nintendo released a trailer officially announcing the release date to be July 23 of that same year.

When the game finally launched, people were blown away by the insane quality of graphics, especially when compared to Splatoon 3. However, they were admittedly underwhelmed. The driving focus behind the entire Splatoon series was its PvP gameplay, so Nintendo deciding to make a game completely surrounded by the PvE aspect made people a little skeptical over the value of the game as a whole. So, how does Splatoon Raiders compare to the rest of The Splatoon series?

Simply put, it’s amazing. While it lacks online versus play, it’s made up for in every other region. Splatoon Raiders is leagues ahead of any other story mode for Splatoon that Nintendo has ever put together, even the popular Octo Expansion in Splatoon 2 and Side Order in Splatoon 3, both added in later to their respective games as paid DLC. Splatoon Raiders makes an effort to pull people into their gameplay loop, travelling to islands and fighting against various Salmonoids, getting better equipment along the way. Additionally, instead of the old system of Splatoon weapons and clothing, Splatoon Raiders opts for a levelling-based system with the weapons, where fighting higher-level Salmonids grants you higher-level weaponry. Another change that Nintendo made is that instead of having specific articles that impact stats such as different headwear, clothes, and shoes, instead there’s only one option for clothing, a full body suit, and it has nothing to do with gameplay besides aesthetics.

A huge problem that previous titles ran into with their singleplayer campaign is that there wasn’t ever any substantial post-game content, primarily since they focused on being centered around multiplayer PvP. However, this issue was addressed in Splatoon Raiders as they added a plethora of things to do after beating the game. There’s a new endless mode which adds a lot of replayability, as fans can now replay the endless mode over and over until they eventually get burnt out, a positive change as opposed to the singleplayer content simply ending.

Ultimately, Splatoon Raiders is an incredible addition to the series, and it’s most certainly worth the $50 that Nintendo is charging for their online store. The only problem with the game would be how Nintendo decided to charge an extra $10 for specifically the physical version of the game, making it cost a total of $60.

Grade: A

Splatoon Raiders amazes again and again with a real idea of their identity, and a strong singleplayer presentation, making for one of the most valuable games of the year.

by Matthew Stinski

Published October 5, 2026

Oshkosh West Index Volume 123 Issue 1

Nintendo hits mark with latest ‘Splatoon’ entry ringing true