Almost a year and a half after the last broadcast of a Nintendo Direct, the video game giant chose to put the cover back on February 17. With The Legend of Zelda license anniversary taking place four days later, the announcement of various remakes and additional information about the highly anticipated Breath of the Wild 2 seemed obvious.

But it was without counting on the surprises of which the Japanese firm has the secret: the development of Splatoon 3 was thus unveiled on the occasion of a trailer which ignited the community of fans.

We will come back to certain points of this video which give us information on the path taken for this Splatoon 3, as well as on the elements disclosed by the official license media following the release of the trailer.

A post-apocalyptic world emerging from the shadows

Since its inception, the Splatoon license has chosen to develop its context and its lore essentially in an indirect way, in particular through scrolls disseminated in the solo modes of the two released opuses.

It is about a Great War between two species which are the Inklings and the Octarians, the first playable in the two games of the series, the second since the arrival of the Octo Expansion, the DLC developed for Splatoon 2.

Until then, no image of the world outside Chromapolis, the city that was the hub of the license, has been shown the way it was done in this trailer.

We see there a desert environment that seems to have been devastated, in which the remains of the Eiffel Tower are testimony to the conflicts of the past.

In addition, the character we are following wears an outfit torn in places and there is a mention in a tweet from Nintendo of America of the “Splatslands”, all references that are not without reminiscent of the series Borderlands or the Mad Max anticipation films.

A Salmioche for company

One of the new features presented in the trailer is quite unexpected, since the character is accompanied by an enemy from the PvE mode of Splatoon 2, the Salmon Run. This creature, this time devoid of hostility, seems to be a Salmioche who also benefits from customization options.

One can wonder about the role he will have to play, in particular in the single player mode, which seems to take the direction of Chaos.

Indeed, like Splatoon 1 where the result of the very last festival influenced the scenario of the second opus, the direction which seems to be taken here seems to find its foundations in the ultimate festival of Splatoon 2 which opposed the teams Order and Chaos.

The latter having won the victory, the choice of images presented on the occasion of the Nintendo Direct is not trivial: even if it is still too early to know to what extent the chaos will influence the story, the post- apocalyptic is brought to light in these few minutes presented.

Goodbye Chromapolis, welcome to Splatsville

Newly arrived in Cité-Clabousse (from its English name Splatsville) after a train journey, the Inkling of the trailer discovers a city that will be the new central place of the Splatoon 3 experience.

The more imposing architecture that that of Chromapolis resembles what one can find in certain districts of China and if the presence of the usual stores of weapons, outfits and accessories is obvious, that of the dealers that we know is less certain, this geographical displacement being able to bring new characters with him.

On the other hand, the maintenance of the rules of the canonical PvP Territory War mode is announced, but the clashes will now take place in the environments of the city, bringing with them new maps and scenery, while mention is made of  “disorderly battles”, precision supported by the abandonment of the symmetry of the maps which seems to emerge from the trailer.

Revisited gameplay

The presence of new weapons was confirmed by the presence of the bow in the foreground (obviously a new class of weapons), an equipment capable of launching 3 ink threads simultaneously and presented as a “primitive but effective weapon”.

More generally, the whole of the arsenal knows a modification of its design, which had not been carried out between Splatoon first of the name and the second opus.

The images also show new special weapons including one inspired by the tornado launcher present in Splatoon 1, while the other appears to be akin to a revisited version of the pigmalance. We also see a robotic crab that could be a special weapon or a new type of bomb.

An unprecedented movement is also announced when the character takes the form of a squid, which allows ink to spurt and twirl at a good height.

But the most significant change in the gameplay presented in the trailer is in the way of entering the battlefield of PvP mode.

In the first two games, a starting point located on the ground and common to the four participants of the two opposing camps also serves as a reappearance point when they are eliminated. Now each player has their own starting point, represented by what appears to be an espresso machine floating in the air.

The participants are then propelled onto the map and if they appear to land on predetermined points, Nintendo confirms that some leeway is granted on the choice of the landing point.

Even more customization

The trailer released during Nintendo Direct also shows more possibilities for customization, such as more outfits and hairstyles, or new color possibilities for the eyes, which include trios of colors, never before seen in the series.

In addition, the elements already present in the second episode are no longer gendered, all can be chosen whether the character for which we have opted is female or male, even if the hairstyles remain as long as they are separated into two categories reserved either for Inklings, or the Octalings.

Considering all the elements that have been featured and described in the trailer and official Nintendo media, Splatoon 3 is shaping up not to be an avoidable iteration, but a sequel in its own right echoing the latest Splatoon 2 festival in July 2019, which saw Camp Chaos claim victory.

Moreover, the communication around the title repeatedly uses the eponymous term as well as its derivatives and if the whole of this presentation demonstrates a desire to bring something new while retaining the foundations of the PvP mode known by the players, all all eyes will be on adventure mode.

Will it stay in the realm of 3D platforming or offer a more open story tinged with action-adventure? Will chaos reign? What about the iconic duo of Splatoon 2, Perle and Coralie?

In any case, Nintendo very recently launched a recruitment campaign with the aim of expanding the team in charge of the development of Splatoon 3, which suggests a still important work before being able to reveal more gameplay elements and images.

Announced for 2022, fans are hoping for a release of this next opus during the summer, as was the case for its elders. The arrival of new images and information in the course of this year was also mentioned, we will not fail to relay it in our columns.

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