I’m not the most competitive of gamers. I enjoy going head-to-head with friends and strangers in competition to an extent, but I’ve never been skilled enough to regularly be a “top gamer”. The closest was during my teenage years where my brother and his friends from College would invite me to play some fighting games with them. I came off like some sort of prodigy, adapting to any new game’s systems within a few matches and becoming a top contender. I thought I was “skilled” until I began attending a university filled with fighting game fanatics that lived, ate, and breathed joysticks, frame counts, and combos. Simultaneously, my favorite modes during LAN parties of Unreal Tournament 2K4 were the PvE focused Invasion and the objective-driven Assault. Anything that counted on twitchy reflexes to stack on the kills was far less enjoyable because I would rarely break into the middle rankings.

I think Destiny 2’s competitive Crucible mode had left me feeling bitter towards any player-versus-player activity altogether. Games such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe notwithstanding, I was sick of going toe-to-toe with players far more obsessed with Destiny 2 and its systems than I was, all while chasing bounties and quests that required me to stack up kills. It’s bad enough that I knew I wasn’t on top of the rankings, but to demand a specific kill-count with specific weapons is to effectively punish anyone that fails to measure up with the wannabe digital athletes that live on those maps. Crucible effectively killed my interest in anything that wasn’t player-versus-environment.

Then, on a whim, I decided to start playing Splatoon 2 on Saturday mornings. I wasn’t quite feeling the hype for its upcoming sequel yet, and I had long since abandoned it as my friends were all gaming elsewhere. Nonetheless, I wanted to brush my skills up a bit for the sequel and so decided to dip myself back into its reservoir of chromatic ink.

I can’t believe I had forgotten how much I loved this game.

I’m still somewhat nostalgic for the original announcement of Splatoon and the general response to the game. It was an idea no one had seen coming from Nintendo, and yet it seemed so perfectly fitting in execution. Word from players and press at Nintendo’s booth was how fun and exciting the game was. Despite a degree of trepidation from Nintendo’s first foray into developing a competitive shooter, it was still absolutely thrilling to see such a unique idea emerging from the younger creative minds at the company. I enjoyed it so much I had even made a video for it. I would spend my mornings before work sitting down and getting a match or two in, simply wanting to start my day with a little bit of the joy that it offered.

Somehow, on the Nintendo Switch, it feels like I instead lost that same joy, and I’m not sure how or when. In fact, I was surprised to see I had clocked over 40 hours into the game before my return to it. Where did those hours come from? I suppose many were on-and-off from the Octo Expansion, which I’ve still yet to complete. Nevertheless, I know I stopped signing onto the game as I had no friends to regularly play with.

Which is why I’m glad I decided to jump back in anyway. Yes, it certainly does stink to not have anyone else to stack up with on the regular. Whereas I can easily get some friends together for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or even Mario Party Superstars, I don’t have many friends with flexible schedules capable of just signing on and playing Splatoon 2 with me. Nonetheless, Splatoon 2 is a rare game in which I’m fine being matched up with randoms.

I tend to be overly-cautious when I play, seeking high ground to hang back and cover specific territory. It’s not a bad strategy, but I’m working on playing more aggressively.

It’s not without its problems, as you’ll occasionally run into situations where players are regularly disconnecting at the start of a match. Though not impossible, there’s almost no hope for a team that’s down a player to win a match. Odds are if you’re down a squid kid then you’ve already lost, doomed to be overwhelmed and possibly backed into a corner. If there were anything I’d want Nintendo to improve for Splatoon 3, it would be providing a solution to even the odds a bit more when such a thing happens. Perhaps ink is spent more swiftly for the team with the advantage, or recharges faster for those at a disadvantage? Something subtle, but able to make the match worth competing in for a team that lost a member through no fault of their own.

Despite such issues, I’ve found most players at this stage to be highly skilled and of pleasurable demeanor – at least, as much of a demeanor as one can have without any open chat. It’s not like there’s no possible “teabagging” equivalent, but such mockery does not really show up in this game in any way. It certainly could be done, as players will always find a way to be crude or vulgar against their opponents. It just seems as if the players themselves have no interest in such things. Why waste time mocking your opponent when there’s plenty more territory to ink?

This extends even to the sweaty PvE mode of Salmon Run, whose… unique approach I have since come to terms with. The game mode is only available at certain times for whatever reason, though it seems like those times might be more frequent than they had been at launch. If you’re fortunate enough to jump in when it’s available, you’ll be tossed into a hectic horde mode that chooses the player’s weapons for them, swapping who holds what gun every round. This, I think, is a good idea on paper, but too often leads to players being given something they’re not really suited for.

The Heavy Splatling Gun is useful in very select situations. Situations it is less useful in can easily result in one’s demise.

Each weapon has its own advantages against certain enemy types. By randomly assigning weapons to the different players, it encourages them to fulfill different roles, change their playstyle, and shift their focus to where they can best serve the group. The problem is that not all players will be able to pick up on these adjustments when they play, and even if they know where their weapon would best be used, they may not know how to best position themselves or squeeze out of a dire situation. To provide an example, I am no good with the charge rifle, Splatoon 2’s equivalent of a sniper weapon. I understand that certain boss creatures are more vulnerable to the charge rifle than other weapons and that I should target them. I also understand that the gun is best used at a distance.

Unfortunately, I always tend to get surrounded by the lesser Salmon creatures that attack in swarms. Without the ability to communicate with my teammates, I’m unable to try and get someone to watch my back while targeting, say, taller foes whose weak points are only visible for a short period of time. Or I fail to notice that I’ve become the target of a series of missiles or am about to be swallowed up by a large, carnivorous fish because I’m too busy trying to aim down the sights of my rifle while charging that perfect shot.

I understand the role I am supposed to serve, but in the end I feel more like dead weight to the team. If I happen to do Salmon Run on a day that two of the guns in rotation are charge rifles, then I am guaranteed to be dead weight.

It might be better to try and provide players a limited choice of role, highlighting what class of weapon they perform best with. Perhaps it’ll be no guarantee they’ll get a certain weapon, but there ought to be a bit more control on the part of the player as to what they’ll get so that no one on the team shall be dead weight.

Each “boss” Salmonid needs to be taken out in a different manner. This one requires you to toss a grenade into each of its missile launching canisters once they open up.

Regardless, Salmon Run still manages to be an incredible time due to its combination of objectives. The first is simply to survive, which is pretty much the only goal in most Horde style gameplay modes. However, the second objective is to secure a quota of golden eggs that only appear when a boss creature is defeated. This creates a new variable, forcing players to perhaps take a risk swimming into dangerous territory to obtain an egg, immediately turning and fleeing away from the battlefield to store the egg in a basket. Time away from the battlefield means time for the salmon creatures to begin swarming part of the map, and the more salmon flooding the map the more chaos the player must sift through.

It’s an excellent, hectic, and exciting mode, and one that certainly appeals to a player such as myself. However, it does not quite run on the same philosophy as the competitive modes. The magic of Splatoon 2 and its predecessor are that you don’t have to be good at player-versus-player competition to contribute to your team. It is just as effective a strategy to flee enemy players, swimming your way to a less populated part of the map so that you can spray some ink elsewhere. While defeating other players contributes by removing them from the field for a time, avoiding death is just as much a contribution for your own team. Players do not win through kill count, but through the amount of territory covered.

Of course, it can certainly help to have both a decent kill count and a lot of territory covered.

This is the magic of what makes Splatoon 2 so accessible and enjoyable for all ages and skill levels, but Salmon Run loses some of that by forcing the goal to be direct confrontation. Sure, the hordes of Salmon have a far dumber A.I. than the actual intelligence of other players, but there’s so many of them, multiple bosses will be launching their special attacks at once, and the golden egg quotas encourage the player to jump right into the fray and put themselves into danger. It’s a mode where a player just trying to paint territory will barely contribute, and as such does not fit the accessible nature of the rest of the game.

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t really change that aspect of Salmon Run. It works because of how intense and sweaty it can become, and if you made it easier to succeed then it would not be as satisfying to complete. In addition, the quotas are usually low enough that you can rely on two or three other players to fill the basket with golden eggs quite easily.

The last factor I have not discussed in regards to my Splatoon 2 return is simple: I’m streaming it this time. I may not be playing the game with friends very often, but I am often with friends while playing. I believe I stopped playing Splatoon 2 in part because I was feeling more isolated during my sessions of it. I was playing other games with friends instead, and Splatoon 2 felt like a treadmill of loneliness. By streaming it, I now have friends that I can converse with while playing, and that I can hope to encourage to look at Splatoon 3 when it comes out.

Which I am now looking forward to more than I had before. While I still don’t understand why a Splatoon 3 is needed, I’ll gladly be purchasing the game on day one of its release. Hopefully I’ll have more friends willing to give it a try themselves so that I have someone to play with. I love this game, and I’m glad I’ve rediscovered the joy it brings me.