Splatoon 3: Side Order

Splatoon 3: Side Order is a 2024 DLC expansion pack for Splatoon 3, a 2022 third-person shooter video game by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. Announced in February 2023, Side Order is the second part of the Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass. It was released on 22 February 2024.

Splatoon 3: Side Order
Developer(s)	Nintendo EPD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Yoshiteru Fukuda Kenji Matsumoto Seita Inoue Shintaro Sato
Producer(s)	Hisashi Nogami
Designer(s)	Yoshihiko Ito Tadanori Sakata Taketoshi Akimaru
Programmer(s)	Takuya Kobayashi Toshikazu Kiuchi Kenichi Nishida
Artist(s)	Hito Matsudaira Akane Kamiya Reiya Nagae
Composer(s)	Toshiyuki Sudo Shu Tamura Toru Minegishi Ryo Nagamatsu
Series	Splatoon
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch
Release	22 February 2024
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter, Roguelike
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

Similarly to the base game, Side Order is a third-person shooter, though it blends this genre with roguelite elements such as tower climbing and strategic progression mechanics. It is played single-player. Players control Agent 8, an Octoling character who must ascend a procedurally generated tower. They can choose one of the twelve included weapon sets (known as Palettes) to use, most of which are taken from the main game.

Core Mechanics

Players navigate through a vertical structure known as the Spire of Order, which consists of 10 floors during the tutorial sequence and expands to 30 floors in future runs, earning "Membux" as they progress. Players can choose one of three scenarios to be the setting for their next floor, and sometimes a vending machine that can give players certain abilities if they have enough Membux. Each floor presents a unique challenge that must be completed to progress: combat encounters with enemies (known as Jelletons), objective-based missions such as destroying portals, and some objectives from the main game such as Splat Zones. Players can choose the floor scenario based on the offered chips, the Membux awarded, the objective to complete, and the map it's played on.

Progression System

An in-game screenshot of the Floor Selection menu. The player may choose one of the three scenarios offered which have varying difficulties and color chip rewards.

As a rougelite, the game implements a permanent progression system, and one specific to each run.

Upon reaching a new floor, players receive a "Color Chip" that can be allocated to their color palette to enhance various gameplay elements such as movement speed, weapon capabilities, or extra features for the player's supportive ally, the Pearl Drone.

When players lose all of their lives during a run, their collected color chips and Membux are converted into a persistent currency called "Prlz." This currency can be invested in permanent upgrades that affect future attempts, such as the number of Prlz. received per run or the base damage of weapons.

Boss Encounters

Boss battles occur at fixed intervals every 10 floors, serving as major progression milestones. These encounters do not award color chips but represent significant challenges and reward players substantially more Membux.

Plot

A report from Deep Cut, the hosts of the Anarchy Splatcast, details strange phenomena occurring in Inkopolis Square, the hub world for Splatoon 2, with some inhabitants losing energy and appearing to stand around mindlessly. They then announce a train line opening between Splatoon 3's hub world, Splatsville, and Inkopolis Square. While travelling on this to Inkopolis Square, the player's main Splatoon 3 avatar falls asleep as a glitch effect takes over the screen, turning the train into an empty and bleak version of Inkopolis Square.

The game shifts control to Agent 8 (now commonly referred to Eight), the protagonist from Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion. They are now in a virtual world called the Memverse (a portmanteau of Memcake and Universe, Memcake being from Memory and Cake.), where they are found by Pearl, who is now a drone. The duo enter the Spire of Order to find Marina, who has gone missing. In the elevator, they find Acht, a formerly "sanitized" Octoling and an old friend of Marina, who teaches them how the Spire operates and how to ascend through each floor, all which are filled with Jelletons, x-ray fish-like enemies. Upon reaching floor 10, they find Marina held captive and controlled by Order, a being formed out of wishes for an orderly world by people who have interacted with the Memverse.

 Marina then starts to sing the song "unconscious", a sad beat while Jelletons charge at you. This is what she says, "BZZZ,intruders confermed, commence grayscaling." 

After freeing Marina, Order kicks the group out and significantly increases the height of the Spire and the difficulty of the challenges within. Marina explains to Eight, Pearl (who is now back to normal, and can freely change back into a drone) and Acht that Order plans to use the Memverse to create a world of "perfect order" by luring citizens within and taking away their free will via "grayscaling", which causes them to enter a mindless state in the real world. They come across a locker containing 12 "palettes" that the player can equip to ascend the Spire; each palette corresponds to the memories of someone from the real world (including Pearl, Marina, and Eight themselves), but each contains errors - Marina explains that reaching the top of the Spire will allow the chosen palette to be reconfigured, and completing boss fights with a new palette rewards a key, allowing Eight to unlock more palettes. Memory log entries from Marina reveal that she created the Memverse to help other "sanitized" Octolings regain their memories in a safe and fun way by trying to reach the top of the tower, until Order assumed control. Eight then continues to fight their way through the Spire with the help of Pearl.

There are three boss battles, Parallel cannon, A big ball which is another form of Order, And last but not least, Order. The group eventually reaches the top of the Spire to challenge Order, who transforms into a powerful octopus form. Nearing defeat, Order attempts to "grayscale" all of Inkopolis, Splatsville, and the entire world but the group survives the attack and defeats it using Pearl's Color Wail attack. Order is reduced to a tiny infantile form known as "Smollusk" and stripped of its influence over the outside world, and the group leaves the Memverse and return to the real world. The player's main avatar then awakens upon arriving at Inkopolis Square. Deep Cut reports that most of the Inklings and Octolings have regained their energy and the Square has returned to normal, but a few people still appear to remain mindless.

Upon returning to the Memverse, Marina tasks Eight with ascending through the Spire and defeating Smollusk (who remains at the top floor) with each of the 12 palettes, stating that it is necessary to reconfigure all of them to avoid complications with each palette's real-world counterpart. Upon defeating Smollusk with the final palette, it admits that it is worried about being left alone forever now that the group's mission is complete. Marina states that it will still be necessary for the "sanitized" Octolings to reach the top of the Spire as part of their recovery, and that Eight can come visit the Spire whenever they want, promising that Smollusk will never be left alone for long.

Development and release

In a Nintendo Direct online presentation on 8 February 2023, Nintendo announced the Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass, featuring two waves: Wave 1, which includes Inkopolis, the hub world from the first game in the series, would release later that month on 28 February; while Wave 2, Side Order was set to release in 2024.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	78/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
IGN	8/10
Nintendo Life	8/10
Nintendo World Report	7.5/10
PCMag	4/5
TouchArcade	4.5/5

Side Order received "generally favorable" reviews according to the review aggregator website Metacritic, and none of the reviews they collected have been classed as negative. However, several reviewers said the game "lacked diversity" on the challenges you had to complete, potentially leading to the game feeling repetitive. The soundtrack was widely complimented, described as "stellar" and "on point," and the visual style was well-liked by many. Splatoon has been said to be a "perfect fit" for the roguelike genre, and the way Nintendo merged the franchise with it has been praised.