This is a weird case. I wouldn’t fault anyone for saying they didn’t like this DLC. Its rooms/floors can feel repetitive, the final boss is anticlimactic and, even if it does serve the narrative, the almost completely white color scheme can feel overbearing and downright boring after a while. I also have personal issues with it, namely I think there are just a few less floors than I would like, and there should maybe be an option for playing runs that last longer than 30 floors, maybe even 50. But even acknowledging all that, this DLC is such a cool concept and the gameplay itself is so well-designed and simply enjoyable, that those issues barely matter.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure this is the first roguelike Nintendo themselves have made. And it sticks the landing quite well! The feedback loop of upgrading your gear, losing and getting permanent upgrades is a familiar but powerful formula that hasn’t lost its efficacy in Nintendo’s hands. A big issue that people also thought the DLC would have is that it looked really easy in the trailers, but that was probably just because the developers chose to mostly highlight the Easy or Normal floors. There are also Hard and Rigorous floors, as well as bonus challenges that potentially net you doubled rewards, and Danger-modified floors, which have a forced secondary challenge.

While I otherwise feel like this system of choosing your difficulty based on the current situation is quite genius, I don’t think the Danger modifier is properly implemented. It’s introduced as something that you have to tackle at least a few times per run, unless you want every selectable floor to become a Danger floor, but that never happened to me even when I purposely avoided them. Not sure if I somehow outsmarted the game, but that risk-reward system never opened up to me.

However, outside of that one small hiccup, the DLC is really fascinating, and honestly might be my favorite over Octo Expansion. Although Octo Expansion was not a bad experience by any means and it still is the best Splatoon’s story mode has been in its traditional style, I somehow enjoyed Side Order much more, and can imagine myself enjoying it for upwards of 50 hours in the future.

That’s another interesting aspect; although I recognise Octo Expansion is probably the superior overall experience, with less obvious issues and more interesting level design, Side Order’s replayability, simple fun and sheer compatibility with what the Switch is supposed to stand for might make it my favorite Splatoon mode yet. It could well be the Prime 3 of the Splatoon series: very different from what came before, clearly trying something new by focusing on a style the franchise hasn’t generally tried up to that point (for Prime 3 it was a story-heavy cinematic shooter, departing from the earlier metroidvania-y feel, and for Side Order it’s making the DLC story mode a pretty extensively replayable roguelike), and ultimately it’s my favorite in the series despite the second game’s offerings probably being objectively better.

Maybe I’m easy to please. Or maybe it’s just good game design.