Nintendo shifts Splatoon into solo looter-shooter territory with Raiders
The new Switch 2 game moves Splatoon away from its team-based roots while keeping the series’ accessible approach to shooters, The Verge reports.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
Nintendo is taking Splatoon beyond its usual competitive multiplayer format with Splatoon Raiders, a Switch 2 game built around solo play and loot-driven progression, according to The Verge. The shift matters because Splatoon has been one of Nintendo’s clearest attempts to make online shooters feel less severe and more welcoming to a broader audience.
In a review published July 21, The Verge’s Andrew Webster described Raiders as a departure from the structure that defined the first three Splatoon games. Those earlier entries centered largely on team-based competitive matches, while Raiders moves into the looter-shooter genre.
Webster wrote that the new game replaces the series’ familiar online competition with missions and dungeon-style areas where players collect equipment and abilities. He compared that structure to games such as Destiny and Borderlands, where gear rewards help players take on tougher challenges.
A different kind of shooter
According to The Verge, Splatoon has long stood apart from military shooters such as Call of Duty and Battlefield. Webster framed the series as Nintendo’s bright, paintball-like alternative to the more violent and bombastic side of the genre.
The series stars squid-like characters with a skate-punk style, The Verge noted, and has used colorful ink battles rather than conventional gunplay. Webster said Nintendo refined that formula across three main entries and helped bring competitive shooters to players who might not otherwise have engaged with the genre.
Raiders keeps that broader philosophy while changing the format, according to Webster. Instead of asking players to focus mainly on team matches, the game gives them a loop built around completing activities, finding better gear and unlocking new skills.
Why the loop matters
The Verge said repetition is central to looter shooters because players often replay missions in search of stronger or more interesting rewards. Webster wrote that this design puts pressure on the basic feel of play: weapons need to be enjoyable, areas need to be worth revisiting and rewards need to create reasons to experiment.
Webster argued that Splatoon is well suited to that demand because the series already excels at immediate, tactile play. The review points to the franchise’s weapon feel, level design and gear incentives as the kinds of elements that can support repeated runs.
The Verge’s assessment positions Splatoon Raiders as an expansion rather than a clean break from the series’ identity. Nintendo is applying the same accessible shooter design to a genre better known for grinding, progression and replaying content for better loot.
Nintendo has not abandoned the playful tone that helped define Splatoon, according to the review. Raiders instead uses that tone to rework another shooter format into something Webster sees as more approachable for solo players.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.