The excitement for Splatoon Raiders might not have been as big as certain other first-party Nintendo titles in the lead-up to its release, but now that it’s out, the Switch 2 exclusive is getting a lot of praise from fans.

As highlighted by Kotaku, it’s been so positively received since arriving on Nintendo’s new system last week that it’s currently sitting in the “top-10 highest user-rated” games of all time on the review aggregate website Metacritic.

At the time of writing, it’s in seventh place, with a score of 9.3/10 based on more than 700 user ratings. The competition is mostly serious stuff, with Clair Obscur in the top spot. This user score also reportedly makes it the top user-rated Nintendo game on Metacritic.

In terms of 2026 releases, this current user score makes it the second highest-rated game of the year, behind Resident Evil Requiem. While there’s no guarantee it will stay up, this positive reception is a fantastic start for an entry that removes the core competitive multiplayer experience.

According to our own poll here on Nintendo Life, nearly 50% of respondents rate Splatoon Raiders an “excellent” 9/10 stars, with almost 25% of users awarding it a perfect score. We gave it 9/10 in our own review, calling it the “best single-player Splatoon”, with incredibly robust multiplayer options for anyone wanting to splat some Salmonids with friends and family.

“It looks good, runs fantastically, and you can play practically the whole thing with friends if you wish. Not only that, but Nintendo’s flogging it for a bargain price. It may not push any boundaries within the genre per se, but it’s difficult to find anything negative to say about it, it really is a must-play for almost anyone.”