The Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive spin-off Title of the Splatoon series, Splatoon Raiders, will be released this July, Nintendo has announced. Coming on July 23, the single-player focused squid shooter will be priced at $49.99 on the Nintendo digital eShop and $59.99 for physical, following pricing guidelines that the company has set with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.
Announced last year, Splatoon Raiders is the latest game to get a summer release date from the company, following the announcement earlier this year that Rhythm Heaven Groove will also arrive in July. Given the Hybrid nature of the Switch 2, Nintendo easily gets around the low in sales brought about by summer travel, given the chances you will have your Switch 2 on hand.
These Release dates were previously suggested in a leak that also stated that a new Star Fox game was close on the horizon, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time would get a full remake this Christmas, and the next 3d Mario game since Super Mario Odyssey was coming in 2027. This accuracy so far suggests there is a lot to look forward to on the Nintendo platform.
The trailer released yesterday begins with a look at the character creator that starts off the game, with the player taking the role of a character known as The Mechanic. You will be able to choose between different body types, voices, eyebrows, eye color, and hair style, which players of the mainline multiplayer series should not be unfamiliar with.
From there, the trailer transitions to gameplay, which again doesn’t look unfamiliar if you have played the series before. Players primarily use an ink gun to shoot at enemies, taking them down, and collecting orange orbs along the way, occasionally going into puddles of ink to refill. Previous mainline entries all had single-player narrative components with several of the same elements.
Where this game differs is that Splatoon Raiders is set on what looks like a large, open-world island chain that the player can freely explore. The player will also be aided by a tank that can be controlled by any member of the Deep Cut Band -Shiver, Frye, and Big Man. Based on the trailer, we also see that the Inkling will get the vast array of weapons and tools from the main series, rather than being stuck with only one or two choices.
Despite being billed as “single-player focused,” Nintendo has also confirmed that the full world of Splatoon Raiders can be explored with up to three other people. In a social media post, Nintendo added “Don’t worry about balance or difficulty. Whether you team up with friends or go solo, it all evens out!”
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