I never played Splatoon 1 (yeah big surprise another person who didn't buy a WiiU) but I always admired the series from afar. It was really exciting to see Nintendo not only start a new series, but one so different from any of their existing franchises, both in gameplay and presentation. I loved the vibe, the music, the character design, and was always very curious about the gameplay. For this reason, when I bought a Switch last year, this and Super Mario Odyssey were the games I bought with it. Now, nearly a year after I bought it, I finally played the game. Every time I was about to play it I either didn't feel like starting a multiplayer-focused game at the time or there was some other game that was more immediately enticing. But with Splatoon 3 rapidly approaching, I knew I had to finally crack into this.

Presentation wise, this is everything I hoped it would be. Splatoon's aesthetic is like two different eras of what people consider cool coming together in a fun explosion. Parts of it feels like something Nickelodeon would have conceived of in it's heyday, and parts of are like a cute tribute to street fashion culture and dance music. Like I said, it feels right at home with Nintendo without feeling like it's leaning on any pre-existing series. The cast of characters aren't all that deep but their designs and little bits of dialogue make them quickly endearing. And of course, they give you a really good custom character here. The inklings and the clothes you get for them are super appealing. Everything about this game feels like something I would think is the coolest thing in the world as a kid, which is why I'm so charmed to see the posts on this game that are clearly being made by children, I was absolutely one of them when I was their age.

Now, I've gone this far praising the presentation without mentioning the gameplay, and it's not because I'm building up to some reveal where I don't like the gameplay, I like it a lot. Definitely takes some getting used to, but once you really get a feel for movement and aiming, it's effortless and fun to pull off. I used gyro aiming, and I can definitely see why it's so highly recommended by players of this game. The big downside is that as a Switch Lite owner, it means I can't just hold my controller however I like because the console is my controller.

I guess my biggest gripe with this game is that, I'm not someone who cares about online multiplayer that much. Splatoon is simple, but obviously in order to consistently win and get a high ranking you have to learn how to get good at it. It involves learning the best strats, reading the tier lists, and understand "the meta". To me, as soon as you start mentioning "the meta" for a game, I zone out, I cannot be bothered to invest in multiplayer games in that way. In a way, Splatoon's multiplayer is made for people like me. Cooperation is important, but performing like you would on your own is still a viable strategy. Focusing on painting makes the shooter genre a lot more friendly and easier to understand to newcomers. But I feel myself hitting a wall with this game, I can feel that I need more of an understanding, and maybe this is just really lazy sounding but I don't feel like falling into that rabbit hole. I guess it means I like this mutiplayer, but not enough that I'm really desperate to get good at it. But who knows, I'm still only about level 14, and I have a feeling I'll be coming back to this game every now and then until 3 comes out, and maybe I'll change by then.

It must say a lot about me that the single player is easily my favorite part. The levels are super fun and have just the right amount of challenge. They definitely aren't easy, and they do a good job of teaching how to get above competent at shooting as well as introduce all the weapons. The hub worlds the levels are in are also a huge highlight, just figuring how to get to the next level is a joy. If I had any criticism, it's that I wish the levels all looked more like they were for their respective hub world, which are visually distinct, as there isn't much visually disconnecting the levels themselves. They're structured like big obstacle courses in the sky, which are really fun, but I wish they could figure out something as diverse as their multiplayer maps. I'm definitely picking up the Octo Expansion soon, more single player is the exact right kind of DLC this game should get.

I'm probably going to end up being day one for Splatoon 3, I really like this game and would love to see what they do next. If anything, I'm definitely looking forward to new single player. Sorry about the typos if there were any, I'll fix it someday.