after abandoning it originally back in 2022 when it came out, thanks to xenoblade 3 and its amazing side content consuming my life, I have finally come back and finished the main story of splatoon 3. i needed a game to hold me over until No Rest For The Wicked released. and wow, yeah, i should've finished it sooner. that finale was fucking awesome. the singleplayer is, of course, quite fun. the lore was actually super sick this time around too! but man... nothing about this game shouts innovation to me. nothing about it seems worthy of an entire new game on the same system as the last game. its basically just doing the splatoon 1/2 singleplayers again, with some octo expansion type levels in there too, but now with smallfry (who i barely used outside of clearing fuzzy ooze). and thats just... disappointing to me. even the multiplayer is basically just more of the same. Its not like i wanted them to remove the previous gamemodes, but they couldn't at least add a couple? we got clam blitz out of Splatoon 2, but we got no new gamemodes here, and barely anything else new in the game either. it really sucks to see. I love this series, been a fan since the early days of splatoon 1! so I say this from a place of love: despite it being a great game, i just can't help but feel let down. I still need to play side order, that very well could be the originality i'm looking for like octo expansion was for splatoon 2, but until then... lets just hope that splatoon 4 is more than this.

Just cleared credits on Hero Mode, the single player story mode. In short, Splatoon is a 3rd Person Shooter, following an inkling squid kid who paints terrain by shooting enemies, floors and walls with paint guns alongside other arsenal like buckets, rollers and brushes.

There’s many modes, Turf Wars probably being the most popular - working competitive in a group of four to cover the most terrain against a rivalling group.

This is mostly a Single Player review, since I’ve rolled credits on that and are still working towards playing the other modes. The single player campaign is always a good time, they’re on the level of the bonus stages of Super Mario Sunshine in terms of platforming but with much more versatility in movement.

The catch in Splatoon 3 is the exploration available in the hub areas, this used to be a matter of exploring zones to find the levels hidden in invisible grates.

Whereas the zones in Splatoon 3 are covered in fuzzy goo which will kill you upon touch, only your buddy small-fry can eat the goo when you amass enough disposable points to wipe them away. It creates an addictive pull between finishing missions to get more points and using them to clear more terrain to unlock mode levels, bonuses like decorations, playing cards and improving the music for each zone as you uncover the terrain - it’s subtle detail but cool addition. Sunken Scrolls are now hidden in the over world meaning stages can be speedrun without needed to check behind every single corner to find a collectable!

The stages themselves are like the Octo Expansion, you start in a desalination box basically with a choice of load-out for the mission. I like replaying stages with different load-outs for the full completion status and nothing else really. The story fills some gaps in the lore, namely Mr. Grizz and evolution of the inklings with some character info drops.

I really enjoyed the single player and are looking forward to more Octo Expansion tiered difficulty. Only towards the end did the levels become more difficult and enjoyable.