Nintendo’s single-player Splatoon spin-off feels flat despite fun weapon tinkering
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Splatoon Raiders, Nintendo's first single-player-focused spinoff from its inventive multiplayer shooter series, has launched on Switch 2 to a disappointingly ordinary reception, according to the Guardian's review. While the game can be completed solo, it is designed around cooperative play with up to three others, sending players out from a hideout ship on repeatable missions to upgrade gear and build their character, and in doing so it loses much of the original series' quirky, puzzle-like charm.
The review praises the inventive weapon and gadget customisation, which brings genuine enjoyment as players unlock new combinations and tackle escalating challenges, but criticises the thin story, involving an unnamed mechanic stranded with the returning band Deep Cut, for lacking the imaginative world-building fans expect. The reviewer concludes that the game feels like Nintendo softening one of its more eccentric creations into a conventional cooperative action title, ultimately falling short of the charm that defines the main Splatoon series. Splatoon Raiders is out on 23 July, priced at £41.99.
- Splatoon Raiders review calls the Switch 2 spinoff disappointingly generic
- Best played co-op; solo play feels lesser and less puzzly
- Gear customisation shines, but story and originality fall flat
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Splatoon Raiders is Nintendo's new spinoff of its popular Splatoon franchise, a colourful shooter series known for its inventive, puzzle-like level design and quirky ink-based combat. Unlike previous entries, which focus heavily on multiplayer, Raiders is built around a single-player-friendly structure, though it is designed for players to team up with up to three others on repeated missions from a home base, upgrading gear and characters as they progress.
The series' key attraction has always been its distinctive creativity and charm, alongside its cast of characters such as the band Deep Cut, who return here as part of the game's story. Splatoon Raiders has just launched on the Nintendo Switch 2 console, priced at £41.99, and matters because it represents Nintendo's attempt to adapt one of its most original properties into a more conventional, cooperative action format.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Enthusiasts of this new direction would argue that a spin-off is precisely the right place for Nintendo to experiment, and that building a repeatable, gear-driven cooperative structure gives Splatoon Raiders lasting replay value the mainline games often lack. They would point to the weapon and gadget customisation, singled out even by critics as genuinely enjoyable, as evidence that the core creative spark survives within a more conventional framework. For them, broadening the series into a format friends can play together over many sessions is a sensible way to grow the franchise without diluting the flagship multiplayer experience.
The case against
Defenders of the original series' distinctive identity would counter that Splatoon's appeal was never just its shooting mechanics but its surreal, self-contained world and puzzle-like level design, qualities this spin-off is reported to sideline in favour of a familiar hideout-and-missions loop. They would argue that pairing thin, underdeveloped storytelling with a generic cooperative structure risks reducing a genuinely inventive IP to something indistinguishable from countless other loot-and-level-up titles. For these fans, straightforward accessibility is a poor trade if it costs the series the eccentric charm that set it apart in the first place.
More coverage
- Eurogamer — Splatoon Raiders review
- Polygon — Splatoon Raiders review: Nintendo's take on Borderlands is a delightful mess
- GameSpot — Splatoon Raiders Video Review
- Destructoid — Splatoon Raiders review – Loot, paint, shoot, enjoy
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Splatoon Raiders review – Nintendo’s inky shooter fades to grey”.