Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3 moves the action from Inkopolis to the sunny coastal town of Splatsville in the Splatlands region, where Inklings and the newly playable Octolings converge from all around. Visually, it's a shift toward a rougher, desert-like, street-fashion-soaked style that suits the series and sets it apart from its more cleanly colorful predecessors. The core gameplay remains faithful to the series – painting territory in your own color, transforming into a cephalopod for quick movement, and competing in team Turf War matches and ranked modes – but Splatoon 3 adds a new weapon class, the Stringers (ink bows), and the Splatana, wide wiper blades for close combat, noticeably broadening the range of possible playstyles.

Also new is Tricolor Turf War, a three-team match that appears during Splatfests. The single-player campaign, Return of the Mammalians, is the most expansive in the series and tells a darker story about a strange furry entity controlling the inhabitants of the Splatlands, with a visually spectacular finale. The cooperative monster-wave mode Salmon Run, popular from the previous installment, has become a permanent part of the game instead of limited time windows, allowing it to be played anytime, and the collectible card game Tableturf Battle was added, translating the territory-capturing principle onto a board and becoming a surprisingly addictive side pastime.

Splatfests were revised into a three-way clash, pitting three factions against each other instead of two, and the game regularly receives new weapons, maps, and cosmetic items through seasonal updates as well as the paid Side Order expansion, which offers a roguelite challenge with the heroine from Octo Expansion, Agent 8. The developers also gradually improved connection quality and the speed of returning to the game after a match, things the community had long criticized in previous installments. Splatoon 3 became one of the fastest-selling titles in Japan and confirmed that Nintendo managed to build the original brand into a mainstay with a loyal community outside of the traditional Mario and Zelda franchises.