Mythinks #16

Splatoon Raiders - Shallow Waters

Okay, I know this is a stupid little semantics game, but hear me out for a second.

When this game was advertised as the "First Splatoon spinoff", and I finally got my hands on the game, I couldn't help but feel a little whelmed by how little it differs. Not that I was expecting Splatoon Kart or Party or anything like that, but the term "spinoff" feels like it's setting up for a bigger departure than just very familiar Splatoon gameplay but with looter-shooter elements thrown in.

Not to say Splatoon Raiders doesn't differ whatsoever, Splatoon single-player content usually revolves around taking advantage of the game being both a platformer and a shooter, with appropriate level gimmicks and challenges. Raiders, instead, opts to be more about the action, but it's this shift in focus that makes Splatoon Raiders feel like it's awkwardly caught between worlds a bit. It's moved the focus onto action, but still wants to hold onto the micro-level structure where levels end before they get a chance to build to anything cool or do any environmental storytelling. It's just kind of one level above the Octarian domes that only had the function of housing video game levels inside of them.

It still tries to hang onto having level gimmicks, but they feel rather phoned-in this time around, more like brief reprieves between fight rooms so it isn't just Salmon Run the entire time. The sort of gameplay this would've been more suited for would be something like a brief 8 or 9-hour campaign with less but bigger individual levels that had room to breathe and build up to cool set-pieces.

That isn't to say what's here isn't of quality, but it does feel a little incongruent with itself, in trying to be a more action-focused Splatoon, but having too many breaks or dividing lines to a point where individual levels start blurring together into a vague haze only really differentiated by what color the backdrop was. Whether they made sure no level lasts longer than a couple minutes because of the co-op feature or because they're just really married to this structure where you're glued to one loadout for a whole level, and thus levels have to stay brief, could be anyone's guess. But for my money, Splatoon Raiders doesn't quite feel like a "spinoff", as it were, but something that could've credibly been part of a Switch 2 edition add-on, but got scope-creeped into its own title.

Unfortunately, part of that feeling is from the game feeling a bit like it's stretched itself too thin. The main enemies this time around being the Salmonids previously only really featured in the Salmon Run horde side-mode. I do think turning them into the new main enemy in this game was a good call. Octarians I can't help but feel like have always been a bit too passive, but Salmonids are a lot more deadly, which makes them more capable of keeping you on your toes. However, this does also mean the game features a whole lot of "been there, done that." With only a handful of outright new Salmonids added to the mix. Which is a shame, cause I think there could've been ample opportunity to add a bunch of new Salmonid types that could only really work in a single-player environment, but as is, these almost kind of feel like we're getting a sneak peek into some Boss Salmonids they're planning on adding in the next game's Salmon Run mode. The Smoker especially fitting the mold.

It does at least add the Strong Arms, as an extra-elite Salmonid that is kind of a terrifying miniboss of sorts every time it shows up. Or at least I hope they aren't gonna stick that thing in Splatoon 4's Salmon Run mode cause like. Dude. Or maybe do throw it in there, I dunno. Flyfish has been top "blow it up now" priority for long enough. Give the kiddos something to be *really* terrified of.

That to say, it's not like the Salmonid extended cast doesn't have enough variety to carry its own game, hell, it's better than most single-player shooters in that regard. But it is kind of only riding that benefit because Splatoon's gotten the chance to build up that catalog over the course of a few games. Sure, if this is your first ever Splatoon game, you're probably nonethewiser, but I can't help but feel a little bit like the game is letting its status as a budget title show a bit, reusing almost entirely some slightly reskinned assets. Not that there's anything wrong with economic reuse of assets, I just can't help but feel like I shouldn't be noticing it so hard, y'know? A feeling that could've been mitigated had the game been a bit shorter.

All of that said though, I do think while it isn't entirely redeemed by it, I can at least forgive a lot of these shortcomings by just how sick the in-the-heat-of-the-moment gameplay is. Personally, I'm not much of a looter shooter kind of person. Nothing against the genre, I just found myself bouncing off of stuff like Warframe and all of its various ilk. But I guess Splatoon can get away with it simply because all of its weapon pool is so much more interesting and varied compared to other such shooters.

JINX:

splatoon has this brilliant thing where the closest it gets to a conventional shooter weapon are the splattershots, basic stand-ins for what would be your assault rifles or what-have-you. but all the other weapon types are weird and have their own little spin to them. the sniper isn't just a sniper, it's a charged weapon you have to commit to planting yourself more or less in place in order to make the most effective use of it. the shotgun isn't just a shotgun, it's also a weapon with a deployable shield. it even has weapons that wouldn't really work in any other type of setting or gameplay convention, like the buckets very much being designed for sneaking attacks over ledges, or the giant paint rollers.

which, y'know, is basic splatoon stuff by now, but i do think splatoon's convention does play itself well to this slightly new angle where you'll be collecting randomized gacha drops. sometimes you'll be handed a strong-levelled weapon, but not of a weapon type you use very often, but that nonetheless encourages you to try it out. and i think encouraging that kind of experimentation is vital for a game like this where you're not always gonna be handed what you want. god knows we still, even after almost 30 hours of playing, decently into the postgame, still haven't gotten ahold of a four or five-star version of our preferred weapon type, the splatlings.

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But I do think it does good by not being stingy with these drops. Difficulty might have something to do with it, but in my playing on Survivalist doing lategame dungeons, the especially shiny stuff drops on a very regular basis. Even if you don't get handed what you want, I have come around to appreciate this game's version of the Range Blaster, getting handed a Primo Shark Toy Blaster, said "Primo" prefix being an additional modifier that even further enhances each weapon variant's unique quirk. And yeah, a long-range blaster with a ridiculously high fire rate with the added benefit of occasionally freezing enemies it hits. Pretty solid.

The premise of the whole game being Salmon Run waves does unfortunately mean not all weapons feel immediately useful. I'm sure the buckets have their uses, but they definitely feel a lot less reliable given they're not weapons all that built to handle humongous clumps of enemies. In fact, it's a little disappointing that this game's weapon catalog doesn't carry over more for the core games. Some cuts make sense, the Splatana Wiper doesn't feel like a good fit for a game like this. All you would really need is the Rail Stamper, the variant with the increased swing speed, and you basically got a better Wiper right there. The Ballpoint, too, is probably a little too weird a fit. But I can't help but miss that this game doesn't have, say, its own version of the Undercover Brella or Nautilus Splatling. It is kind of restricted to the less out-there and more "normal" weapon variants. Which is only a shame in my eyes, cause it's such a creative lineup of guns and gun-adjacent things, that any cuts are gonna be felt, a little.

The real cream filling in this game though are the new gadgets, which are things almost perfectly between a sub-weapon and a super, being various abilities that go on cooldown upon use. There's fifteen total in the game, most of which feel like they have their own slot the fill, even if some more than others. On top of that, there's also a big fat number of modifiers that alter these gadgets, whether it's more usual, expected stuff, like increased damage or area of effect, to some aspects that actually kind of change the entire use case of the weapon.

Take the Torqscrew for example, normally being, placeable damage-over-area-of-effect that disrupts the movement of Salmonids inside of it. But on top of that, you can turn it into a big defense zone where your damage resistance is increased so long as you stay inside of it. Or, more excitingly, the Floaty Fun mod that makes it able to suspend you in the air, becoming out of reach of most Salmonids. These mods acting a bit like skill points, which I think don't quite provide enough friction early-on, since it feels like I was very rarely, if ever having to make compromises to make room for my build, I could just have the strongest version of whatever mods I had available.

This thankfully is less the case later in the game, when you hit the ceiling on how high you can upgrade your mod points, though given I know you can flush a lot of money into upgrading these mods, including making them cost less, I can't help but wonder if that fixed issue gets undone. Though, the game's single-player content in the super postgame gets ridiculously hard, so. At that point why play fair, right?

These gadgets are cool additions, each one being assigned a particular type, in Speed, Power, and Tactical. You can only equip the gadgets that belong to one type of tank at a time, at least until you unlock the final level, where you can use that tank's subtype, which is one of the other tanks. The drawback being you can only equip one of that subtype's gadgets. It's fun to mix and match, and find synergies between these parts, especially the parts across different tank types.

This game being tough as nails is definitely a highlight, with it almost basically being a third-person shooter version of a bullet hell. Yes, you're arguably even more decked out in overpowered ambient damage fields and damage-over-time effects than even in Side Order, but the game responds plenty in kind. Though, it definitely is also a subject that highlights some more of this game's monotony.

For one thing, it feels bizarre that there's a complete lack of a "retry" button, and on top of that, every failed attempt boots you back out to the hideout ship, where you'll have to run onto the map screen again just to take another attempt. It's not egregious, thankfully the load times are pretty short, but it's still an amount of downtime that can test the patience more than any attempt to subside it by forcing you to take a moment to rethink your approach that doing it this way would seem to provide.

VIXI:

The game also really starts to get long in the tooth in the post-game content, challenging you with grinding out level after level of a 100-floor dungeon in 3-level chunks, each one getting harder around the time you're also starting to get diminishing returns on flat stat improvements. It almost feels like this corner of the game is exactly what made them feel like having to keep all the loot you've gathered, even on a failed raid was necessary. Just because asking you to bash your head into this content for long and getting nothing for it would be a cause of demoralization.

Though, I'm mostly feeling demoralized because it gets to a point where the ever-escalating challenge just starts getting really boring, and there's only so many ways they can reconfigure seven pre-built rooms before it starts feeling dull. And this is content they expect you to do on your own, so no calling your friends to come help out or lighten the mood any. Yeah, unfortunately, this probably isn't gonna be a game I'm gonna make it to the 100% ending of, just given how long it's taken, and having an extra final superboss at the end, while neat, isn't enough to keep me motivated.

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It's a shame a cool-looking fight is locked behind post-game content since the actual story final boss is such a dud. Like, it has the spectacle points, Splatoon final bosses usually do, but Splatoon usually backs that spectacle up with also being really cool to play. I think it's neat that the final boss of Octo Expansion turned into a big game of turf war, or how the final fight against Mr. Grizz in 3 felt pretty grand. Here, though, it's a fight laden with bad conveyance among a questionable platforming segment. And that's even when the bot is behaving and jumping to you when you call it. Goodness knows I've died a couple times because the bot just ignored the "come here" command.

And even when you get to the "fight" part of the final boss "fight", it's not much. You just enter a phase where you fight waves of enemies, charging up a "kill the final boss" meter, Deep Cut doing all the work for you. It's alarming how little you get to interact with the boss itself, it just flies out of reach, occasionally throwing a laser or missiles at you. At least with all the previous bosses up to this point, you still interacted with them a ton, and had to directly shoot at them. The "charge up power eggs" phases still feel a bit like a ham-fisted way to remind you that this is a game based on Salmon Run, but at least they still felt like active players in their own fight and not like they're looking at their phone in between big laser attacks.

On top of that, it feels odd how little meat there is in this game's story. Splatoon isn't a story-heavy series by any means, but there's usually at least some amount of drama or pathos going on. Like Commander Tartar's betrayal in Octo Expansion, Mr. Grizz's "revenge" in 3, or Marina being at odds with her own creation in Side Order. And even beside all that, the best parts of Splatoon's writing is seeing the ways the various characters interact, Octo Expansion's chat logs coming to mind.

By comparison, Deep Cut just don't feel like they got much going on. They set out on this adventure to do some treasure hunting, in part to help pay off the debt Splatsville has accrued over the years. They accidentally unleash a Salmonid eldrich god, but get what they wanted so all's well that ends well. But, I dunno, maybe that is fitting, seeing as they're basically Splatoonian Team Rocket. But for my money, the writing in this game didn't really charm them to me any more than I already was, which is a bummer because these side stories have objectively been an opportunity to make people fans of these characters more. Octo Expansion and Side Order being reasons why I like Off the Hook so much.

Splatoon Raiders is a very solid game, with some really cool gunplay and a fun spin on traditional Splatoon levels, even if they do blend together a lot, with not a lot to separate them other than the color of the backdrop. It's an excellent game on some shaky foundations, its problems kind of stemming from the way the game is structured and so back-loaded with filler missions. And it stinks to end a very solid game on a bit of a downer note, just slowly losing the motivation to keep going out of boredom.

It asks you to keep playing it for a while, long after you've hit the wall on it, expecting you to go back to old levels, not even necessarily to practice them or asking for any mastery, but just because it expects you to go for that grind of playing old levels over and over again that turned me off of previous looter-shooters I've tried. It's a fine enough entry in the Splatoon series, I can see myself booting it up to play with friends every now and then, but it's not quite the gold I'm looking for.

...Though. A game where some intrepid explorers set out to an uncharted place in search of valuable treasure to sell as a means to pay off a debt. You go into caves with sublevels that play a little different from all the above-ground parts of the game, each one capping off with a boss that holds the treasure at the end. The credits only roll a little after the half-way point of the game, where you return to said treasure hunting spot to completely flush the place out and find an extra-hidden secret True Final Boss at the end. Hmm.

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VIXI SCORE: 6.5/10

This is like, the most fun 6.5/10 ever. For what it's worth.

LUNA SCORE: 6.5/10

Largely in agreeance with Vixi. It's fun when it's really good! But the postgame is very big and very uninteresting.

JINX SCORE: 7.5/10

there's a version of this that's the best Splatoon game ever, which is what stinks, to me. it's fun to make goofy builds and show off. it's got the usual high skill ceiling stuff splatoon's known for, at least.

IONO SCORE: 7/10

It's like Cocomelon

CELESTE SCORE: 7/10

A little too intense for me, but still fun where it counts. Fun with a couple buddies!

CHIAKI SCORE: 7.5/10

Agreeing with Jinx, personally. It's a really strong game, the content attached to the game is just not that interesting. At least not interesting enough to stick with it as long as it's asking.

GAIL SCORE: 8/10

I think it's pretty good!! I like messing with funny weapon and gadget combos, hehe.

OVERALL SCORE: 50/70