Our Verdict
Splatoon Raiders of-fish-ally earns our seal of approval as a fantastic game in the franchise. Whether you go it alone or get help from other players, searching for loot and mining ore has never been so fun, thanks to the amount of weapons and gadgets you can equip to blast enemies out of existence. Plus, you get to hang out with Deep Cut, which is always a fun time.
Booyah! The new squiddy inky game is here: I've put nearly 35 hours into Splatoon Raiders on Nintendo Switch 2, and I'm having a shrimply wonderful time. The reveal in June 2025 shocked us all, but I'm so glad this game exists.
Splatoon Raiders takes you out of the cities, literally shipwrecking you on a series of islands alongside Deep Cut, the celebrity trio from Splatsville. Upon these islands are levels to work through, where you can find treasure and mine Spirhalite gems to use for upgrades. That's what the four of you have decided to do with your time: look for loot to sell and make a fortune back at home at a prawn shop. Ha, prawn.
The gameplay of Raiders is basically Salmon Run, but in a different scenario. If you're not familiar, Salmon Run is a secondary area of Splatoon 2 and 3 where you fight hordes of Salmonids - giant, weird fish - in a team of four, in order to collect eggs for Grizz Co, instead of team vs team turf wars. Here, you can play on your own without the need for an internet connection or teammates. Honestly, it's refreshing, given how many times other squids disconnect during Salmon Run. Raiders also has the addition of gadgetry and relics, something not seen before - but who knows, maybe these will appear in Splatoon 4 if it becomes real.
You can sea kelp (eh? ehh?) from other players if you need it, or join those that require a bit of assistance. I tried it out during a couple of pre-launch sessions, and you're randomly matched up with other players who hit the 'get help' button. Look, some of the levels are super spicy, so we don't judge. It's nice to hop in and help blast some Big Shots alongside others, without it being the main focus.
The most important and customizable part of Raiders is how you choose to equip yourself. You select your own hair, skin tone, eyes, and brows, and can unlock fun clothing to dress up in, but the really important bit is your weapon and gadgets. Weapons resemble those in the mainline series, except this time they're made of stuff you find on the beach, such as bottles, ropes, and seaweed, whereas Splatoon Raiders gadgets are similar to the sub-weapons, but pack a bit more punch.
You start off with a measly selection, but as you swim through levels you pick up new weapons at random, and then can develop gadgets with the help of fellow shipwreck-ee, Deep Cut's Shiver. The more you play, the higher the rarity and quality of the drops you get. To begin, you'll be awash in a sea of one-star blasters, but you'll start to see two-, three-, and more-star items.
In Raiders, you also get a choice of three ink tank types to choose from, which have a different set of gadgets you can equip. My preference is the purple 'Tactical' tank, with the Shot Pot and maxed-out High Fiver to stop Salmonids in their tracks. I know I'm not great at aiming, so my build surrounds me in ink and plenty of pieces that require little thought to use, especially after upgrades, which allow them to trigger automatically, explode, and deploy more than one of each.
For those octo and inklings that have faced off against Salmonids before, you'll be pleased to know that all your favorite Salmon Run enemies and bosses make an appearance. Maws, Flipper Flopper, the bloody Steel Eel - they're all back and bigger than ever, populating the Spirhalite Islands. Overpopulating them, really, because there's a damn lot of them.
But there are also new and horrifying variants of beloved bosses that you encounter, such as the aforementioned Big Shot that now bounces around on a spring, making waves, or the freshly added flying Salivator that drops a nasty plastic bag full of stinky wind to shove you out of the way. This and more annoyances await you in each level, but boy, is it satisfying watching them disappear under your ink and shellebrate when they succumb.
Speaking of horrifying, on top of the regular Spirhalite gem mining and salmon-slaying raids, there are challenge levels similar to Octo Expansion and Side Order DLC that make you think about movement and limit you to certain equipment. Personally, I don't gel with these (I didn't with the expansions either; they nearly made me tear my hair out), but I made myself get through them in Raiders. Mostly. There are two I haven't worked out yet that are constantly waving at me from the map.
I also need to express how amusing this game is. I love Splatoon, but sometimes get sick of the multiplayer and timed battles. Here, you can take it at your own pace most of the time, as only some levels have a time limit. I have literally nothing bad to say about Splatoon Raiders, honestly. It's really, really fun with plenty to do. I wish we had bomb launchers as a gadget, but as they didn't feature in Splatoon 3, there wasn't much chance of them coming back to Raiders.
I'm not sure if there's much replayability of the story, but given the sheer amount of weapons and gear options - not to mention the specific upgrades you can attach - there are many different paths you can take in terms of splatting enemies.
Splatoon Raiders does exactly what it sets out to do. It's a fintastic solo-focused game, with multiplayer if you fancy it, whereas Salmon Run in the mainline series is only multiplayer. The game offers as much challenge as you want to put on yourself; all weapons and upgrades can be earned in the game, and you can take however much time you do or don't want, and even choose the difficulty you want to tackle.
It's also an absolutely classic Nintendo game that features whimsical bits and pieces like flowers that make wind so you can jump, air vents to throw you across crevasses, lava levels, and frozen hills to slide down. Yes, good news gang, there are ice levels. I heard the iconic Mario 64 music in my head as I rushed down an icy slide to crash into Salmonids.
If you're on the fence about Splatoon Raiders, I highly suggest you give it a shot. A Shot Pot, if you will. The marine madness without the multiplayer is sure to net you a good time. And, hey, if you get stuck, maybe I'll hop in if you call for help to assist you.