Splatoon 3‘s Expansion Pass is out now on Switch, with two waves of DLC due out later this year. The first brings back Splatoon 1‘s Inkopolis while the second looks like a new mini-adventure titled “Side Order.”
Announced during Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct, Wave 1 will arrive sometime this spring. In addition to the first game’s beloved social hub returning, players will get to visit all their favourite old shops alongside new and returning merchants. Most importantly, the Squid Sisters will be performing there during Splatfests.
Here’s the trailer:
The #Splatoon3: Expansion Pass is coming! For the 1st Wave, relive a functional version of Inkopolis from the original Splatoon game!
And for Wave 2, get ready for Side Order, an all-new single player campaign! #NintendoDirect pic.twitter.com/llFFVO4Wae
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 8, 2023
More intriguing is Wave 2, which doesn’t yet have a release date. The trailer simply shows an Inkling wandering into a painterly, dreamlike sequence that’s as trippy as it is haunting. It’s called “Side Order” and looks like it takes place in a white ash-covered version of Inkopolis Square. I have no idea what it all means but it’s already piqued my interest as much if not more than anything in the base game.
Nintendo’s colourful party shooter set sales records in Japan when it came out last fall and has already gone on to sell over 10 million copies since it launched. The online connectivity has had its fair share of problems, but the rest of the game lived up to the hype.
Splatoon 3 wasn’t a full-blown sequel so much as a bigger, more robust continuation of Splatoon 2. Like Blizzard’s Overwatch 2, it’s basically supplanted the previous game and with this new Expansion Pass it looks like Nintendo is building on that foundation by bringing in both new and old content. Here’s hoping Nintendo continues to do so for a while yet to come, unlike it’s done with some of its other online multiplayer hits.
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