is a 2026 action role-playing third-person shooter game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch 2. It is the first spinoff of the Splatoon series and the fourth installment overall. Set on the remote Spirhalite Islands, Raiders follows a mechanic, accompanied by Shiver, Frye, and Big Man of the idol group Deep Cut, as they explore the islands in search of treasure and are intercepted by its hostile inhabitants called Salmonids.
Raiders has the player use ink as ammunition and a means of navigation to traverse various levels scattered about the Spirhalite Islands. The game features over 100 available weapons, divided amongst eleven classes, that are obtained randomly by killing enemies in a manner akin to a looter shooter. Raiders features "gadgets", secondary weapons linked to one of three types of player-worn "ink tanks" that specialize in mobile, aggressive and strategic fighting options. The player is accompanied by the Exploration Bot, a vehicle operated by either Shiver, Frye, or Big Man that assists in combat.
Development on Raiders began during the later period of Splatoon 3's update cycle. Inspired by the cooperative Splatoon game mode Salmon Run, developers wanted to offer unique gameplay experiences from past Splatoon games and create an approachable entry point to the series for newcomers. Raiders inherited the experimental design philosophy of the series' two previous downloadable content (DLC) expansions, Octo Expansion and Side Order. The customizable gadget system served to provide more dynamic movement and combat options. While the Spirhalite Islands were at first designed as having a light-hearted, tropical resort-like aesthetic, the team opted to make them dilapidated and unsettling. Deep Cut was chosen to take center stage in the story as developers felt they had been inadequately explored as characters in the single-player campaign of Splatoon 3.
Splatoon Raiders was released on July 23, 2026. It received generally positive reviews, being praised for its core gameplay, gadget system, and art direction, but criticized for a lack of innovation.
Gameplay
Splatoon Raiders is a spinoff of the Splatoon series and is primarily single-player and story-focused, unlike the multiplayer-centric mainline entries. Raiders is a third-person shooter, borrowing some gameplay elements from the looter shooter subgenre, that revolves around the usage of ink as ammunition and means of replenishing said ammunition by submerging into the liquid. Ink also serves as a method of navigation; players can swim through their own colored ink, while being slowed down when in contact with enemies' ink. Players choose to be either an Inkling or Octoling as their player character, who takes on the role of a mechanic. Their avatar's physical appearance can be manually tweaked and adorned with various outfits.
Each of the game's over 100 total weapons, differentiated in level and rarity, are divided amongst eleven classes, all of which return from past entries. Said weapons are based on paint rollers, paint brushes, water guns, and bow and arrows, among others. Players equip secondary armaments known as "gadgets", which supplant the "sub weapons" from previous Splatoon games. Gadgets typically enable specialized manuevers or powered attacks, and each is linked to one of three specific player-worn "ink tanks"—the Speed Tank, Power Tank, and Tactical Tank—with unique characteristics. The Speed Tank favors high mobility, the Power Tank centers on aggressive abilities, and the Tactical Tank enables strategic fighting options. For instance, the Flywire is a Speed Tank gadget that acts as a grappling hook to travel large distances; the Splatchet is a Power Tank gadget which lets the player kill multiple enemies with one sweeping slash; and the Bombloons are a Tactical Tank gadget that function as ink-filled explosives physically linked to one another. Gadgets' abilities can themselves be augmented using "gadget parts" obtained from Salmonids or treasure chests at the end of levels.
Using these weapons, players fight hostile salmon-like enemies known as Salmonids. Killing Salmonids rewards the player with random weapons. Returning from Salmon Run are two categories of Salmonid, known as Lesser Salmonids and Boss Salmonids. Raiders introduces Seasoned Salmonids, stronger variations on existing Salmonids. The player is accompanied by a vehicle called the Exploration Bot that is piloted by one of three Deep Cut members. Within the Exploration Bot, said member shoots enemies, provides a powerful special ability, and allows the player to bounce upwards to gain vertical height.
The game's levels, referred to as dungeons, fall under five categories. These include linear goal-oriented levels; open-ended explorable islands that require the player to collect a specific number of "power eggs" obtained from Salmonids; multi-level dungeons whose floors must be completed within a time limit; contained arenas that constantly spawn Salmonids; and gauntlets that primarily serve as tutorials for the game's gadget system. Alongside Raiders 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.
Synopsis
Setting The Splatoon series takes place 12,000 years into the far future on a post-apocalyptic Earth following the extinction of humans and most mammals, implied to be the result of rampant climate change. After this event, the planet is repopulated with evolved, terrestrial marine animals who in the present day reside in the regions of Inkadia and the Splatlands. Such creatures include the Inklings and Octolings, humanoid squids and octopuses respectively, whom players take control of. Within the Splatlands is the hub world of Splatoon 3, a city known as Splatsville. Shiver, Frye, and Big Man of the idol group Deep Cut host the city's news broadcasts, while the Mechanic is a Splatsville resident. Also within the Splatlands is the remote Spirhalite Islands; they are so distant from the mainland that they have their own climate and travel by helicopter is required to reach them.
The Salmonids previously appeared in Splatoon 2 (2017) and Splatoon 3 as hostile enemies in the Salmon Run game mode. The Salmonids depicted in Raiders are a "local variety" of the species native to the Spirhalite Islands. Having migrated from elsewhere, these Salmonids became so captivated by the deliciousness of Spirhalite that they have since forgotten their original homeland. Some time before the events of Raiders, a certain Salmonid discovered that a powerful creature being could be created by mixing Salmonid roe with Spirhalite; this creature became the first Salmonarch. This process was repeated over time, and the current iteration of the Salmonarch is of the seventh generation. The Salmonids of the Spirhalite Islands interpret the Milky Way in the night sky as their mother river, and have come to worship the Salmonarch, who is capable of generating a large tornado-like storm, as a benevolent, guiding figure.
Plot The city of Splatsville accrues a debt of over $60 billion, which occurs amid reports of the fabled Spirhalite Islands resurfacing from the ocean due to a shift in the Earth's tectonic plates. Shiver, Frye, and Big Man hire the Mechanic to fly them to the archipelago via helicopter, with the goal of selling its treasure to pay off Splatsville's debt. The crew spots a golden glow from within the center of the islands, encircled by a spiralling storm. The glow abruptly pulsates and attracts the helicopter and surrounding fog into the center, forcing the Mechanic to make a crash landing.
In the month since the crash, the group constructs a makeshift base called the Hideout Ship. When the Mechanic is dispatched to the islands to acquire extra materials, they encounter hostile Salmonids that drop Power Eggs upon defeat. After ridding the site of the Salmonids, they discover a derelict machine called the Exploration Bot that, once fixed, automatically locates nearby treasure and can be piloted by a member of Deep Cut. After the team reunites with Frye's tamed eels and Shiver's tamed shark, Master Mega, they follow a trail of treasure marked by the Exploration Bot.
In their journey, the group collects ancient Salmonid relics from a fallen civilization and uncovers documents scattered across the islands authored by a past explorer, revealing themselves to be the creator of the Exploration Bot. Further documents from the explorer, who never escaped the islands, warn that "gold" in the islands' center would "drive Salmonids mad". Once defeating three Salmonid bosses, Deep Cut and the Mechanic discover three mysterious devices that require the members of Deep Cut to sing traditional tunes to activate them. The devices show constellations of a golden object, the storm that brought them to the islands, and a giant three-headed beast.
At the center of the Spirhalite Islands, the group locates the golden object: a giant levitating Power Egg. Energy from within the Power Egg bursts into light rays that pierce the sky, causing Salmonids across the world to invade cities on land. After the Power Egg descends down a tunnel, the team chase after it. In their attempt to crack it open, the prophesized three-headed monster, the Salmonarch, hatches from it. Deep Cut rescues the Mechanic using the Hideout Ship's crane before being flung onto floating islands in the sky. The team uses the crane to destroy the Salmonarch's heads. Nearing defeat, a large crystal drill forms in the heads' place. Using the Exploration Bot, Frye's eels, and Master Mega, the group destroys the Salmonarch, ends the worldwide cataclysm, and returns home.
In a secret ending, the group acquires an immensely valuable "legendary relic" on the one-hundredth floor of the Bottomless Buffet, occupied by a large, violent Salmonid named Lord Saltimatum. If the Mechanic collected every prior Salmonid relic, a post-credits illustration depicts Deep Cut spreading the spoils of their treasure hunting across Splatsville.
Development Splatoon Raiders was first conceived during the later period of Splatoon 3's update cycle, specifically in parallel with the production of that game's Grand Festival event. The team wanted to explore the potential of a dedicated single-player version of Salmon Run, a cooperative game mode in previous Splatoon entries that involved attacking hordes of Salmonids to deposit their Golden Eggs into a container. Feeling that such gameplay adapted for single-player would be "hectic yet exhilarating", they sought to take advantage of the Switch 2's higher processing power to increase the number of Salmonids that could be present. When asked why the team created a single-player spin-off following Splatoon 3 as opposed to a fourth mainline installment, producer Seita Inoue stated that Raiders was envisioned as an entry point to the series for newcomers, leveraging the strengths of Splatoon's non-competitive features. Raiders inherited the experimental design philosophy shared by both downloadable content (DLC) single-player campaigns of past installments, Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion (2018) and Splatoon 3: Side Order (2024).
Gameplay