I’ve had my fingers crossed for a single-player Splatoon game ever since… well, since Splatoon 1, now that I think about it. I love a bit of online Turf War battling, really I do, but the very best parts of the series for me have always been those stellar single-player campaigns, which annoyingly seem to wrap up just as I’m really getting into them.

Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion and 3’s Side Order came close to fulfilling my dream, but I always wanted something more. A bit more platforming, a bit more of a chance to stand on its own feet, a bit more of a campaign. I wanted Splatoon Raiders.

This might have been the Switch 2 game shrouded in the most mystery for me. It was the first major Nintendo Today game reveal, and the subsequent trailers made it look like little more than Salmon Run with some gameplay tweaks thrown in for good measure.

Well, after almost two hours with the game at a recent hands-on event, I now have a much better idea of what this one has in store, and I am far more excited to dive in properly next month.

As a very basic set-up, the Deep Cut trio (that’s Shiver, Frye and Big Man, for those not in the know) have crashed on the tropical Spirhalite Islands after a freak storm, and it’s up to you, their mechanic, to hunt down items and treasures to make their island stay a little more comfortable.

After a swift character creation that will be familiar to anyone who played Splatoon 3 — or all those who watched the Raiders reveal trailer, where a strange amount of time was given to picking out a haircut — my playable Mechanic was sent out on their first tutorial mission.

Immediately, the old Splatoon muscle memory started to take over. Raiders plays just as smoothly as its mainline predecessors, and as I navigated the opening island and its beginner enemies, I was reminded of just how intuitive its shooting and swimming feel in practice.

It’s quite the looker, too! While the Spirhalite Islands aren’t nearly as vibrant as the Splatlands, they’re just as interesting to look at, with giant utensil-lined shores and ink that feels a lot more reactive on Switch 2 — there’s a satisfying goop to it as it initially slides down a wall that brought a bigger smile to my face than it had any right to.

Traversing these early islands via a small surfboard (very cool), I soon picked up the Exploration Bot, a miniature mech that can be piloted by any one member of Deep Cut (your ‘Bot Buddy’) and accompanies you on future missions. It’s a great addition; the bot provides shooting support in combat, and a couple of different movement options, too, like the ‘Bot Hop’ that chucks you into the air to reach higher platforms and take the high ground over enemies.

With my robo companion in tow, I started clearing some of the game’s opening missions. The Spirhalite Island levels are similar to the single-player stages you’d find in the previous game’s campaigns in terms of platforming and enemy splatting, though the main focus is on finding treasure drops and materials, which can then be used to upgrade your gear back at base.

Some of these stages are more platform-heavy than others, and some are the inverse, tasking you with taking out waves of Salmonids within a time limit. Some of the latter were genuinely tough, and I had to run at them a good few times before breaking through — there are three different difficulty levels, but I was too stubborn to drop mine down.

Fortunately, the weapon and loadout customisation is the best the Splatoon series has ever seen. Sub-weapons are replaced by Gadgets, which you can develop and tweak between runs to change their damage radius, impact, cooldown time, and the like. Any Gadget can be taken out with any weapon, and you can carry two of them at once (deployed with ‘L’ and ‘R’) to personalise your big hits.

There are three different tanks you can carry on your back (Speed, Power, and Tactical), which grant you special attack abilities. Your Bot Buddies come with individual ‘Showstopper’ attacks, which are similar to offensive Special Weapons in the main series. You can even use gear to tweak your character’s stats like health, damage and ink reload time. I poured most of mine into damage, and I didn’t regret it.

All this is to say that no matter how many times a wave of Salmonids or a final dungeon boss (yes, there are dungeons and bosses on the Spirhalite Islands) brought my run to an end, there was always a sense that I could fiddle with my abilities and come back stronger next time. It’s certainly not a roguelike, but the promise of always improving, even when you lose, makes for an undeniably strong ‘one more go’ pull.

If all that isn’t enough, Raiders also offers online co-op, where you can dive into levels with three other pals and take on the challenges together. Just like in standard Splatoon, it’s a royally fun time with friends, and the unified objective makes for a nice change of pace over the usual opposition Splatting.

However, just as our teamwork was kicking in, the session came to an end — with a disappointing defeat at the hands of a nasty boss, no less.

I was only able to see a fraction of Raiders — a few Gadgets, and only a handful of the levels — but I left feeling confident that I’m going to play this to the bitter end next month. If the stages themselves can keep on innovating, coming up with new platforming challenges and more interesting ways to tackle the enemies, then the Splatoon formula may have finally found its true single-player potential. Let’s hope it still has some surprises in the tank come launch day.