Wave 1 of Splatoon 3: The Expansion Pass launched over a year ago, adding Inkopolis Plaza from the original Splatoon as an additional hub to travel to, shop, and experience Splatfests. While the first wave was good for a bit of harmless Wii U nostalgia, for most Switch owners there wasn’t nearly enough content to justify the price of paid DLC (£22.49/$24.99). Those who quickly bought the Expansion Pass likely did so in anticipation of Wave 2, “Side Order,” an all-new single-player campaign slated for release in 2024; with Inkopolis Plaza being treated as nothing more than a pre-order bonus at the time. Now that the second wave has been released on February 22nd, 2024, is the Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass finally fresh enough to be worth the price of admission, or is it too much of a squid joke?
One of the biggest omissions from the single-player campaign that was included in the base game (as mentioned in our Splatoon 3 review) was the mysterious absence of Marina and Pearl, the main characters from Splatoon 2 and the cast members from outer space. pop idol band Off the Hook. As it turns out, that’s because they were supposed to be introduced as main characters in the DLC, and the fan-favorite duo now play a prominent role in the story. In the Side Order story, you play as Agent 8, an eight-year-old protagonist first introduced in Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion. After falling asleep on the train to Inkopolis Square, the main hub of Splatoon 2, you wake up in a strange, colorless world, where Pearl soon greets you. However, something is different, because instead of looking like the usual instinct, she is a… drone? She instructs you to help her find Marina, who is supposed to be on the top floor of a tower similar to the one in Inkopolis Square.
You will soon realize that the story goes far beyond this, and finding Marina is just the beginning of a much bigger story. There’s a pretty big plot twist that happens early in the game, so I’ll keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, opting to jump right into the gameplay details instead of going too in-depth. As for my thoughts on the story, it expands the world of Splatoon in a way that fans are sure to enjoy. As you may recall, Splatoon 2’s last Splatfest was Chaos Vs. Order, with Team Chaos winning, leading to the chaotic, post-apocalyptic themes of Splatoon 3. Now, the Side Order DLC flips the script, letting those who were on Team Order see what would have happened if their team had won.
Side Order is essentially a roguelite mod; the first of its kind for the Splatoon series. As you progress up the 30-story tower, each floor is a new level with a different objective to clear. You get three objectives to choose from on each floor that are marked by difficulty (easy, normal, hard, or rigorous), with higher “membux” payouts awarded for completing the more demanding ones. Membux can then be used on floors with Vending Machine Corners where you can buy lives, colored tokens, and various underground and special weapons. What are color chips, you ask? When you reach a new floor, you’ll unlock one of 62 “Color Tokens” that provide passive abilities in the Range, Strength, Support, Mobility, Luck, or Drone categories.
There are five main types of objectives: destroy the portals, protect the zone, track the turbine tower, sink the ∞-balls and defeat the fleeing enemies, as well as a boss battle that takes place on every 10th floor. In typical Splatoon fashion, the gameplay consists of spraying hordes of enemies with ink using your weapons, sub-weapons and special weapons in order to survive and complete the objective, but this time you have the Pearl drone to help you. You have a limited number of lives, and if you run out of them, you will be kicked out of the tower and must return to the first floor. When this happens, all of your membux and colored tokens are converted into “prlz”, a currency that can be used to make things a little easier on your next attempt by unlocking various permanent upgrades such as increasing your max lives or reducing the amount of damage you take from enemies . Sure, starting over can be frustrating, especially when you fail a terrifying final boss, but earning prlz helps you feel like it wasn’t for nothing, and what happens on each floor isn’t always exactly the same.
As a veteran Splatoon player with nearly 1,000 hours logged in the trilogy, I expected Side Order to be a walk in the park, but it actually provides quite a fun challenge. If you consider the game complete after finishing the main story, Side Order is an experience that lasts only 4-7 hours. However, as a roguelite, the campaign is designed to be played over and over again, and there are plenty of things to unlock even after collecting credits, including plenty of special cosmetic items that can be used in multiplayer modes. To see everything Side Order has to offer, it can take over 20 hours to reach 100% completion. Due to the lack of variety in the stages/objectives, it can get a bit repetitive after playing for a while, but I enjoyed the game more than enough to complete it using all the available weapon types (you only start with “double rows”, but you can unlock other weapons as you progress ).
Although the first wave of Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass was somewhat underwhelming, the release of the second wave, Side Order, makes the DLC an absolute must-have for Splatoon fans and those who love the roguelite genre. The Splatoon IP has always primarily focused on online multiplayer, but Side Order further proves that its single-player offerings shouldn’t be overlooked either. If you already own Splatoon 3, getting the Expansion Pass is a no-brainer for the price, but if you don’t, now’s a better time than ever to join the splatastic fun. The Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass is now available through the Nintendo eShop.
8/10
