Splatoon’s main draw has always been its multiplayer but I’ve always been a huge fan of its fantastic, but rather overlooked, single player modes. The campaigns for all three games are great, particularly Splatoon 3’s, as well as the excellent Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2. And now we are getting Side Order, a new expansion for Splatoon 3 that takes the core fundamentals and applies it to a rogue-lite, which is apparently just the hot new thing everyone is doing right now with many games like Hitman and God of War getting the same treatment. I got to spend a little over an hour hands-on with it, and surprise surprise, it's really good.
I came away from my time really excited for Side order. A rogue-lite take on splatoon ended up feeling so natural that I’m kinda surprised it wasn’t already a thing because the pieces have always been there. You got the variety of weapons Splatoon is known for, the enemy variety and horde like nature that comes from Salmon run, and mixed with a compelling progression system. If you're someone that loves Splatoon but eventually fell off the multiplayer for other games, side order might just be the perfect way to jump back in. I’m excited to see how the final version stacks up when it releases in only a few weeks on Feb 22nd.