# Nintendo keeps making shooters more friendly and approachable

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/nintendo-keeps-making-shooters-more-friendly-and-approachable/
- Published: 2026-07-21T13:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-21T13:21:39+00:00
- Original publisher: The Verge
- Original article: https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/968220/splatoon-raiders-review-nintendo-switch-2
- Topics: Art, Celebrity, Culture, Entertainment, Gaming, Offbeat, Space, Technology, TV, Weird & Viral

## Key points

- Nintendo's Splatoon Raiders swaps competitive multiplayer for looter-shooter gameplay.
- Players explore solo missions to earn gear, similar to Destiny or Borderlands.
- Core ink mechanics and Splatoon's cast remain central to the new format.

## Summary

Nintendo has released Splatoon Raiders, a new spin-off that takes its family-friendly, ink-based shooter series away from competitive online multiplayer and into the looter-shooter genre popularised by games like Destiny and Borderlands. Rather than team-based matches, players take on missions and explore levels solo to earn gear and skills, marking a notable shift for a franchise that built its reputation on approachable competitive play, while retaining the core mechanics that made the series distinctive.

The game keeps Splatoon's signature ink-based traversal and combat, with players switching between humanoid and squid forms to move quickly, heal and refill ammunition, using weapons ranging from Super Soaker-style guns to giant paint rollers. Its story casts the player as a mechanic whose crew, including members of in-universe pop group Deep Cut, crash-lands on a mysterious island chain and must explore it for treasure and a way home. The gameplay loop follows familiar looter-shooter conventions of gearing up at a base, tackling increasingly difficult levels against enemy hordes or to collect resources, and returning with better loot to repeat the cycle.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.