Merry festive season, my fellow inklings and octolings – Splatoon’s Chill Season went live today and boy, is it jam-packed with excellent new things. The best of which is the Enperry Splat Dualies armed with a new special weapon, and squids are going crazy for it.
I played a few rounds of Nintendo’s multiplayer game before work and at least 70% of Splatsville’s residents now boast a shiny new pair of dualies complete with the Triple Splashdown special and curling bomb sub – myself included.
Why is every squid and their brother using these dualies? It’s simple – they’re fun and have a great kit, but more importantly, if someone triggers their Triple Splashdown, it continues on even if the player gets splatted (as I unfortunately discovered). Two or three players setting off Splashdowns together is also stronger than the beloved Booyah Bomb, and can easily wipe a team.
The splashy special strikes good news for Splat Zones players as it covers a sizeable area, and can splat unwitting players immediately. As I played, three of us unleashed the Triple Splashdown at once, and chaos ensued. Well, not really, the opposing team got wiped out, and we just covered the map.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Splatoon 3, nautical nonsense ensues on the two new stages that Chill Season 2023 gives us. One has moving platforms that take you up and down to different areas of the map, and one has a gigantic ramen bowl hanging over it. Great, now I’m hungry.
There‘s also the new Splattercolor screen special that moves across the map, slowing opponents and reducing their visibility by turning everything grey for a while. So, expect screens and splashes to dominate turf wars for the foreseeable future. The usage rate will flatten out, but this newfangled weapon may make it into Splatoon’s meta.
Check out all the newness in the latest Splatoon 3 patch notes right here, and check out our Super Mario RPG review if you’re looking for some fresh Nintendo games to play.