Splatoon Raiders, a new Switch 2 exclusive from Nintendo, marks a significant departure from the series' usual turf-war format by introducing raid-based gameplay in the style of looter-shooters such as Borderlands and Destiny. The game reworks the franchise's core weapon system, decoupling sub-weapons from primary weapons so players can mix and match freely, and adds a robotic companion that assists during treasure raids against waves of Salmonid enemies. This represents a notable shift for a series long defined by competitive ink-based combat, potentially broadening its appeal to fans of co-operative shooters.

Players choose from three gadget tank specialisations — speed, power and technical — each shaping their combat style and resilience as enemy difficulty escalates. Although promoted primarily as a single-player title, the game does support co-operative multiplayer for tackling raids as a team, though this feature currently lacks clear in-game instructions on how to access it. Further details on Nintendo's plans for the title were still emerging at the time of writing.