I have a very normal and not at all excessive love for Nintendo’s squidkid shooter franchise, Splatoon. While I missed the series’ debut on the Wii U, I couldn’t get enough of Splatoon 2’s creative, colourful world when I picked it up in 2017, and it wasn’t long before the series became my all-time favourite. I’ve spent thousands of hours on it in the years since, with most of these in the game’s PVE mode, Salmon Run; I’ll talk your ear off about Salmon Run lore or strategy (or just how silly the fish are) if you’re brave enough to mention it within my earshot, and I listen to the game’s killer soundtrack practically every day. So, naturally, when I was invited to visit Nintendo Australia for a hands-on preview of Splatoon Raiders, my reaction was one of restrained and purely professional anticipation.
Who am I kidding – I was just about bouncing off the walls.
Although each of the mainline Splatoon games has offered a story mode alongside the core PVP, Splatoon Raiders is the first in the franchise explicitly centred around the single-player experience. Splatoon 3’s treasure-hunting idol group Deep Cut is chasing rumours of…well, treasure, and gets stranded in the Spirhalite Islands when their helicopter crashes. Our preview started out on a fresh save that ran us through the game’s opening and tutorial before we skipped forward to some harder levels with more of the customisation options unlocked. You play as the Mechanic, the scrappy, practical pilot who gets caught up in the idols’ adventure, and with the help of Shiver, Frye, and Big Man, you explore the archipelago and take on the aggressive, amphibious fish protecting the island’s loot.
Ay! (I don’t know how you’re going to fit in there, Big Man…)
If you’ve ever dabbled in Splatoon’s co-op mode Salmon Run, you’ll immediately recognise your fishy foes as Salmonids. These enemies come in many forms from the tiny, spoon-brandishing smallfry to powerful bosses with distinctive attack patterns and weaknesses to exploit. But make no mistake – Raiders is distinctly not Salmon Run. With no golden eggs to ferry and a broader range of objectives, the gameplay is modified to better suit the single-player experience.
Splatoon Raiders is broken down into levels – raids – which take you exploring across the new island setting. A member of Deep Cut will accompany you in the Bot Buddy mech suit, giving you backup in battle, helping you to traverse difficult terrain, or drilling down into subterranean levels in search of loot. Your immediate objectives vary depending on your location; in one place you’ll clear out the Salmonids so your companion can safely break up Spirhalite crystals, while in another you’ll be farming power eggs to fuel the Bot Buddy’s drill. The difficulty then ramps up with area bosses – Seasoned Salmonids such as the Thick-Cut Salty Tongue – who must be defeated before your time runs out.
Enemy behaviour has been adjusted from traditional Salmon Run as well. An example of this is the Big Shot, who bounces around on a spring rather than hanging back at the shore to pelt you with cannonballs from a distance, and the Fish Stick, which now has a winder you can use to lower the height of its tall platform – essential for short-range weapons that otherwise might struggle to defeat the smallfry at the top. The gameplay is nevertheless familiar, with plenty of dodging and dashing through the ink as you fend off the hordes. Admittedly, what we saw of the Raider difficulty in the preview didn’t pose an exceptional challenge if you’re used to playing at high hazards, but the game offers both an easier Tourist difficulty and a step up with Survivalist, which should help the game appeal to newcomers and veterans alike.
The enemy designs in Splatoon Raiders are also fantastic, with fun new characteristics, behaviours, and clothing that help them stand out from their cousins in the main games. My absolute favourite is the Tong Chum, a goofy little guy who wobbles around brandishing a pair of tongs that’s about twice as tall as he is. If you’re wondering why tongs – and why also frypans, woks, and spoons, now that you mention it – food plays a central role in Salmonid culture, so expect plenty more of these silly details as you play.
That’s one biiig Big Shot
In classic stranded-on-a-deserted-island fashion, you begin your adventure with very little equipment and must build up your resources over the course of the game. Your starter weapon, a simple Splattershot Jr. shooter, is weak but a great painter and easy to use, and you’ll pick up alternatives across weapon classes by defeating Salmonids. Weapons are also levelled, although we didn’t have quite enough time with the game to see how levelling translates to power as the difficulty scales up over the long haul, and I’m keen to see more of this in the full game.
Raiders also introduces a raft of mechanics that allow you significant control and customisation over your loadouts. Notably, you can switch out your ink tank for a Tactical, Power or Speed-focused playstyle, and this can be upgraded to improve stats like damage and HP. Your tank also determines your choice of gadgets, the customisable sub weapons which offer stronger attacks on a cooldown. My favourite of these from the six we previewed was the Power Tank’s Splatchet, an axe which can pierce through armoured bosses like Scrappers and Steelheads with ease. You can also equip Relic Powers based on the treasures you’ve found, which give you helpful stat boosts according to your preferred playstyle.
The experience is infused with the recognisable blend of exaggerated humour, earnest goofiness, and over-the-top aquatic puns that make Splatoon such a delight, and the silly jokes had me laughing out loud more than once during my hands-on time with the game. The series’ visual flair also returns; there are some hilarious hairstyle options as well as pages of stylish outfits to customise your look, including some absolute stunners that will be unlockable using the Splatoon Raiders amiibo if you have a spare $80 (in this economy?) to drop on the set.
Thingamabobs? I’ve got 20
While Splatoon Raiders is built around the single-player experience, at the end of our session we had a chance to try out the game’s multiplayer mode where you can take on levels from the game in a squad. Difficulty in multiplayer is adjusted by significantly increasing the HP of enemies rather than totally overrunning you with bosses, and the result is that it becomes significantly harder to take down bosses individually, regardless of your weapon’s usual strengths against particular foes. You also can’t revive fallen teammates, instead drawing from a shared pool of six lives that run out when they run out. This has the potential to significantly impact strategy compared to traditional Salmon Run, and I’m itching to see how this plays out in a seasoned crew.
I’ve been hanging out for Splatoon Raiders since it was announced in June last year, and after this taste test, I’m even more keen for this game than I was before. As a bit of a diehard salmon runner, I can’t wait to see how the customisations, weapon levelling, and difficulty options interact with and transform Salmon Run strategy, and I’m counting down the days until release.
Splatoon Raiders comes out on 23 July 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2.
Previewed at an event hosted by Nintendo.
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