Nintendo released the new Splatoon 3 Nintendo Direct this morning, and there’s a lot to process. The Direct gives fans a deep dive into the upcoming game and covers the game’s three main modes, including the new story mode. The 30-minute presentation covers a lot of ground, so we’ve narrowed down some of the highlights here.
Story Mode: Return of the Mammalians
The new Splatoon 3 story mode sends players on an adventure to discover the hidden secrets of Alterna, the Fuzzy Ooze, and how it all connects with Splatoon. Players will be Agent 3 and need to fight the Octarian Army with their Smallfry buddy.
Turf War
Naturally, the new Nintendo Direct includes quite a bit of gameplay from the new Turf War. It covers some of the new techniques in the game including the Squid Surge and Squid Roll. Using Squid Surge lets players swim up a wall in a single burst while the Squid Roll makes it possible to jump out of the ink while turning around, and if it’s glowing, it will repel enemy ink.
The Nintendo Direct also reveals something called Tableturf Battle where players can fight in a 1v1 competitive card battle spinoff based on Turf War. It also confirms that Splatfests will be returning and so will ranked. The new ranked mode is called Anarchy Battles and will feature four modes on rotation: Splat Zones, Tower Control, Rainmaker, and Clam Blitz.
Splatoon 3: Splatfest World Premiere Demo
Splatoon 3 will be getting a special demo ahead of its launch. The Splatfest World Premiere demo will take place on August 27 and will run between 9 am PT and 9 pm PT. It will have three teams competing in the new Tricolor Turf War battles.
The demo will be free to download from the Nintendo eShop starting August 18; however, the event will be starting a little while later.