Splatoon Raiders

Splatoon Raiders is a spinoff of the Splatoon series and is primarily single-player and story-focused, unlike the first mainline entries.^[2] Players choose to be either an Inkling or Octoling as their player character, who takes on the role of a mechanic.^[3] Accompanied by the members of Deep Cut, who previously appeared in Splatoon 3 (2022), they explore a region known as the Spirhalite Islands.^[4]

Alongside Raiders's single-player mode, it also features a cooperative mode that allows up to four players, either locally or online, to play alongside. In co-op mode, the game's difficulty is adjusted depending on how many players are present.^[3]

Deep Cut is flown via helicopter near the tropical Spirhalite Islands by the player character, the mechanic, in search of treasure. This is due to a news article that mentions the Spirhalite Islands having resurfaced recently due to a shift in the Earth's tectonic plates. Due to a violent, hurricane-like storm, the group crash lands on the islands, and creates a makeshift home base within a month since the crash. The four begin their quest in raiding the islands for its valuables, but are intercepted by, and must fight, antagonistic creatures known as Salmonids.^[5][6][7]

Splatoon Raiders was announced on the Nintendo Today! app on June 10, 2025, alongside a new update for Splatoon 3.^[8] On April 21, 2026, Nintendo released a trailer on Nintendo Today! and YouTube, revealing the release date of July 23, 2026.^[9][10]

A new gameplay trailer was unveiled in a Nintendo Direct presentation held on June 9, alongside a dedicated Raiders Direct scheduled for June 30. Two promotional tie-ins were also announced: a set of Joy-Con 2 controllers with colors themed after Deep Cut will release alongside the game, and a Splatfest event for Splatoon 3 was held from July 10 to 12.^[11][12] Beginning from June 23 to the game's release on July 23, daily comic strips featuring the mechanic and Deep Cut, set before the events of the game, released exclusively on the Nintendo Today! app.^[13]

Summarize Fact Check

Metacritic assigned Splatoon Raiders an 81 out of 100 based on 70 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[14] OpenCritic gave the game a "strong" rating, with 83% of critics recommending the game.^[15]

Logan Plant from IGN gave the game a 9 out of 10, saying Raiders is "one of the Switch 2's best games". He praised its gameplay, experimentation mechanics, difficulty curve, and "roguelike" mission structure, while giving minor criticism to its visuals.^[16] Gamespot's Steve Watts complimented the game as a "great" and "flexible" addition to the series, hoping Raiders "marks a new beginning for Splatoon that can live alongside the multiplayer games", giving the game an 8 out of 10.^[17]

Among the more critical reviews, The Guardian gave the game a 2 out of 5, saying: "If you’ve played one of dozens of modern cooperative action games, you’ve played this."^[18]