Splatoon is one of Nintendo’s most recent successes. What started with Splatoon on Nintendo Wii U, brought us to Splatoon 2 on Nintendo Switch. The Inklings are extremely popular and even claimed their spot in Mario Kart and soon in Super Smash Bros. Nintendo wants to expand the Splatoon universe even further, and this Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2 is the perfect example of it.
Aimed at the solo player
The Octo Expansion is set to release somewhere during the summer and takes you to a strange subway station connected to a mysterious lab. You play as an Octoling, the main nemesis of the Inkling, for the first time in the series. This fact alone is a reason to celebrate for the fans since they’ll be able to customize their Octoling (male or female) to their likings. You can change the style and color of the hair as well as the general style of this new character. If you manage to complete the expansion, you’re even able to bring the Ocotlings to the online battlefields, something a lot of fans have been waiting for.
We don’t know much about the story yet, even after our hands-on with the game but it’s shaping up to be a story filled with mystery and surprising twists. While playing, it reminded me of my time with the Portal games, the setting looks rather familiar and the fact that you don’t really know what you’re doing down there also enforces this link between those games. I can’t wait to figure out what’s going on in the full release!
Shrines of Splatoon
But what exactly is the Octo expansion? Well, I think it can best be described as the Splatoon version of the Shrines found in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This DLC consists of more than eighty new playable levels. All of those are rather short but will all test your skills in different areas. The first mission I played was focused on the Ink Jetpack where I had to maneuver my way through an impressive looking level. It must be said, the developer really paid attention to detail since the stadium was filled with fun things to look at (a flying Game Boy Color is just one example). If you’re not used to your jetpack that much, this level will definitely prove a challenge but it’s never unfair. This is the main theme of the expansion too. Offering tons of challenges where you’ll really have to put your Splatoon skills to the test without ever thinking it’s just impossible or unfair. If you fail it’s simply because of your lack of skills.
Variation is the magic word
The level with the jetpack is just one example of the missions we played. Besides that one, we also had to guide a giant 8-ball to a certain goal, kill all the enemies before the time ran out, roll as fast as we could in our hamster inkball, and even tried to defeat a boss while the floor was dropping beneath our feet. It’s easy to see that this variation is the magic word for the expansion and it’s because of this that a lot of gamers will fall in love with the DLC. It’s different from other expansions we’ve seen, it’s fast, it’s clever, and it’s extremely creative.
While playing, you gain currency, this is used to start new levels or unlock certain weapons before the mission begins. The better the weapon, the higher the cost. Since this was a preview session, we couldn’t really see how we could make money the fastest way possible or how missions were selected. Do you have to clear them all one by one? Or can you simply select the one you would like to play? Only time will tell! What we can reveal however is the fact that there’s a connection to Marina and Pearl, those two will help you out when things get a little too difficult.
Early conclusion:
The Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion seems to be another great example of Nintendo handling post-release content the right way. It’s the perfect excuse to jump back into the colorful world of Splatoon 2 and we’re sure a lot of solo gamers will be happy with the amount of content. Of course, we’ve only seen a small fragment of the game but if all levels maintain this level of creativeness, we’re in for a treat.
