There’s no doubt that Splatoon is a unique idea.
It takes the idea of a shooter and introduces the concept of diving into ink that you splatter
around an arena.
Whichever team has the most ink at the end of a match, wins.
Simple in concept but, as the game demonstrates, there’s a ton that you can do with it.
And that was before the reveal of a single player campaign.
So it’s time to break out the old Analysis Machine for something it’s never done before.
This is the first time we’ve analyzed a completely new IP.
And let me tell you, there are a ton of secrets and hidden details to be found.
The new trailer begins by showing off another look at the multiplayer.
And since we never analyzed the E3 reveal trailer, we’re going to add in those details
as well.
So first up are the teams themselves.
There appear to be several colors to choose from: green, purple, orange, dark blue, pink,
and light blue.
That’s six different colors for a game that seems to focus on 4 on 4 combat.
But why are there so many different colors?
Can Teams vote on a color before the match?
Or are they automatically chosen based on which level you’re playing on?
Well, we don’t think it’s either since we see multiple ink combinations on a single
level and the fact that there are set ink combinations.
It’s always green vs. purple, orange vs. dark blue, and pink vs. light blue.
Not once are the colors mixed up in any other combination.
Now that could just be for the trailers though we still have no idea how those colors are
chosen.
Maybe it’s just completely random which match-up is used for a match.
But there’s another immediate difference between the start of the E3 trailer and this
new single player trailer.
The Inklings that come in are all equipped with the same weapon for the E3 trailer, the
super soaker-esque gun, while there are a variety of weapons in the new one.
Along with the super soaker, the Green Inklings are equipped with a pistol, a sniper rifle
and a paintbrush.
Meanwhile, the Purple Inklings are equipped with the same guns except instead of a paintbrush,
it’s a paint roller.
The E3 trailer does show off some of these weapons though.
First up is the paint roller which allows the Inkling to put down a steady stream of
ink.
This makes it an ideal close-range weapon that will pretty much instantly take out another
player.
But the obvious weakness is, of course, its limited range.
Getting close to other players could get challenging.
But the new trailer shows that the paint roller has a second attack as well.
The Inkling jumps and slams it down sending a small ink wave in all directions meaning
it does have some range.
Next up is the sniper rifle which even has its own laser sight.
None of the other weapons have aiming reticles at all so it has an immediate advantage.
seems to have a small steady stream of ink coming from it at all times.
But it doesn’t seem to actually mark anything.
It might just be this world’s version of a laser sight.
And like every sniper rifle, it’s devastating from a distance as it launches a huge glob
of ink when fired.
While this could still be a potent weapon at close range, we wonder if its weakness
is that it cannot spread ink as fast for your team.
Its main use is to take out enemy players.
Unfortunately, we never get a look at the paintbrush and pistol in action in either
trailer.
Since the super soaker seems to work like an all-around assault rifle, we think the
pistol might be better at a longer range, but maybe not as good for spreading ink around.
It’s difficult to say exactly.
The same can be said for the paintbrush though perhaps it actually works a sword and would
give players a bit more range than the paint roller.
This could be done by sending out a “sword wave” of ink to damage other players.
Otherwise, it could be run across the ground like the paint roller though naturally not
cover as much surface area.
But there were two other weapons that were shown off in the E3 trailer that don’t make
an appearance in the new one; namely, the rocket launcher and the mine thrower.
The rocket launcher seems to work as you’d expect except that the blast actually sends
out a huge whirling tornado.
It’s definitely devastating to enemy players and sure to cover a wide vertical surface,
but it may be slow to fire repeatedly.
Meanwhile, the mine thrower sends out a pyramid-shaped mine that explodes with ink soon after.
The explosion covers a wide area but proper timing will be a necessity for hitting other
players.
There also looks to be more choices than just what guns you can use.
The Inklings seem to have full customization options as they can be seen in different clothes,
headwear, shoes, and eyewear.
Your Inkling will have a good chance of being completely unique to you since many of them
are wearing very different outfits.
Some pieces of those outfits are the same as others though which provides further evidence
of the customization.
But there might be one other thing that can be customized for your Inkling.
At one point in the trailer, we see one activate a shield in order to take on four players
at once.
While in another, an Inkling tosses a water balloon shaped ink grenade.
And in the E3 trailer we can see them use a rocket launcher and a triangular mine.
And thanks to our playtime with the E3 demo, we have a good idea of how three of these
items will work.
For the rocket launcher, as you played a match, a meter would fill over time.
Once it was full, you could push in on the right analog stick to activate it and give
yourself a temporary power boost.
We also encountered the triangular mines which seem to explode based on enemy proximity.
This is a stark contrast to the ink grenades we see in the trailer that explode on impact.
So we think it’s possible that before the match you can choose your secondary weapon,
between the proximity mine, the ink grenade, and maybe the newly revealed shield.
The likely caveat to using these bonus weapons is that each uses a large amount of ink meaning
that you’ll have to be tactical in their use.
We doubt that both of these abilities will be available to all players so maybe one has
to be chosen before a match, much like the primary weapon.
There’s no sign of any other options though we’re positive that more options will become
available.
Another interesting detail about the Inklings themselves is their death animations.
In both trailers, when they’re killed, their clothes burst from their body and a squid-shaped
spirit can be seen floating away, much like Pikmin.
But what’s really cool is that it isn’t just a stock set of clothes that drop away
but what the Inkling was actually wearing.
For example, this one was wearing a pair of glasses and they’re still there in the middle
of the explosion.
It’s a small detail that helps give the game even more personality.
Finally, we get a look at all of the maps that can be found in the multiplayer portions.
From the E3 trailer we have the one that we were able to play on in the demo, the city,
then there’s a construction yard, an oil platform complete with a bridge in the background,
and a beach resort with a skate park.
It’s an interesting mix that shows several of the layouts.
Then there’s the recent trailer which shows several new ones including a fort in the middle
of a lake near the woods.
You can even spot power-lines in the background and totem poles shaped like squids.
The other new map looks to be in the middle of a mall with a wide open central area.
Each map has a unique look and obstacles with layouts rarely following a symmetrical design
for both sides.
But we wonder if certain maps will have hazards, namely the ones without walls on the side.
In these cases, water forms the barriers so the question becomes whether the Inklings
can accidentally fall in the water.
And we’re pretty sure if that happens, they’ll be killed.
After all, water looks like a hazard for the Inklings in the single player portion.
While not much is known about the story for the single player campaign of Splatoon, a
basic synopsis was revealed on the Japanese website.
The protagonist, your Inkling, puts on something called the Hero Suit and travels underground
to confront the Octopus Army Corps, who are planning to invade the Inklings’ world.
The Inkling must enter the Octopus Army’s facility in order to put a stop to them.
It seems to be extremely basic, but the trailer hints that there might be more to it.
The only other characters that pop up besides your Inkling and the Octopus Army are an old
Inkling and a cat.
The old guy looks like a half crazed general, but he might be the one that warns the squids
of the Octopi’s plans since he does come up from the sewer.
But will he take another role?
We think it’s possible that he might serve as the tutorial guide since another scene
later on shows him near some platforms.
Then there’s the cat, who we also saw in the E3 trailer as the referee for the multiplayer.
We don’t seem him do much of anything in this scene as it’s pretty much just a cut-out.
Though with all of the customization options and the fact that his fur is shaped like a
suit, we suspect he might serve as a shopkeeper.
Perhaps he’s the one that you talk to in order to buy new accessories and maybe even
weapons.
What has us really scratching our heads though is the rest of these sequences.
They seem to randomly show events and propaganda related to the Inklings and Octopi.
In one we can see an Adam and Eve-type of Octopus, complete with censoring leaves, then
a newspaper clipping of an Octopus giving a speech, followed by a sighting of the Loch
Ness Octopus, and a map of all of the underground domes that the Octopus Army have built.
Making heads or tails of this is almost impossible, but it does seem like there’s a history
to the Octopi.
There’s one more of these sequences that looks to depict more of the history between
the squids and Octopi.
The first image is an assortment of comic panels featuring the Inkling protagonist,
the old man, and some Octopi.
All the dialog is written in a unique language, but some of the panels look like they show
how the story progresses, at least based on the synopsis.
What’s really interesting though is that there’s dialog at all.
Could characters actually talk in single player?
Or will it be a jibberish language like in Banjo-Kazooie?
The next two images show off artwork done by the Inklings based off all the tags and
stickers in the multiplayer maps.
But it’s the second image that’s really cool.
It depicts a blue Blooper from Super Mario Bros while the borders are of the Octoroks
from The Legend of Zelda.
And what do you know?
They’re squids and octopi respectively.
Maybe we’ll see more of these two classic enemies, at least in artwork, throughout the
game?
Moving on, the next series of comic panels is even stranger.
These seem to be from the perspective of the Octopus Army.
From left to right starting at the top we can see the cat, a squid version of the tripods
from War of the Worlds, another look at their underground cities, a traditional octopus,
an Octopus giving a speech, a human skull, an Inkling with a captured Octopus, and that
tied-up Octopus smiling.
What does it all mean?
We haven’t the faintest clue.
But the best we can come up with is that it’s propaganda for the Octopus Army.
And that theme continues with this next image that actually shows the anatomy of an Inkling.
This has to be propaganda too though since the Squid version looks mean and even the
humanoid version has sharp teeth.
There’s a whole smear campaign going on down to a biological level!
And that’s still not as strange as this last image that shows a more realistic version
of an Inkling on the right and a squid to its left.
There are other symbols too, but this looks like some kind of scientific study in the
same vein as Leonardo da Vinci.
So what’s all this mean for the story?
It means that there’s definitely a long standing rivalry between the two species and
even if the story is basic, the style is going to be something that needs to be seen.
Beyond just the story, the trailer gives us plenty to see when it comes to the Inklings.
That includes an up-close look at the protagonist, the Inkling in the Hero Suit.
The suit itself looks extremely basic so we wonder if players can customize this Inkling
like they can in multiplayer.
Could the customization options be shared between the two modes or will certain items
only be unlockable in one or the other.
There’s no real evidence to say one way or the other, but it may be possible to pick
what color ink you use.
Throughout the trailer, the Hero Inkling changes her color from green to light blue to orange
while the Octopus Army always uses the purple ink.
So maybe the other five colors can be chosen before each mission?
Once the gameplay begins we can see the HUD for the Inkling.
At the top left is her health bar which is segmented into five sections.
You would expect that means she can only take five hits, but we don’t think that’s the
case.
During one scene, we can see her take consistent damage and rather than draining segment by
segment, it gradually decreases.
This could mean that her health can be recharged if less than a full segment of damage is taken.
We’ve seen no indication at all of how health would be regained though.
There is an odd moment however where we swear the Inkling was hit by an enemy attack yet
no health was lost.
Is it just glitch with the hitbox or is there something more going on?
The rest of the HUD shows a cutout of some object, likely something that has to be collected
in each level, and a counter with the symbol of an orange ball over a fish.
This is a reference to the other collectible that can be seen throughout the trailer.
The balls can be found floating around several stages while there are also balloons marked
with the same symbol that’s on the HUD.
They must be entirely covered in ink in order to break open and collect the balls inside.
But what do they do?
Well, you remember that cat that we suspected was a shopkeeper?
Because of the presence of that fish in the HUD icon, we think this might be Splatoon’s
currency.
The more you collect, the more you can buy from the shop which could include everything
from clothing options to ink colors to weapons.
And we include weapons because the entire single player portion only shows the Inkling
using the super soaker.
It would be odd to have all of these fighting options in the multiplayer but not in the
single player so we wouldn’t be surprised if better weapons could be purchased and maybe
even upgraded.
The Inkling can do more than run and shoot though.
Like the multiplayer, she can change into a squid in order to move through the ink which
will both refill her ink pack and allow her to dodge enemy fire.
But it has several more applications in single player.
When you dive into the ink, it will actually confuse the Octopi.
You can even see a question mark form above their heads when she disappears into the ink.
As soon as she pops out, it changes to an exclamation point.
So there might actually be a limited form of stealth gameplay here.
At least enough to get the drop on enemies.
That ability gets expanded too as the Inkling is able to ride along a thin stream of ink
in order to reach a higher platform.
Before this, it looked like you could only travel along solid, ink-covered surfaces,
but this indicates that any line of your own ink color can be traversed.
But did this line of paint already exist or did the Inkling have to spray it there in
some way?
The top-end does sort of look like a nozzle.
And what other forms could this mechanic possibly take?
And could it make some kind of appearance in the multiplayer?
So we know a lot about the Inklings, but what about the Octopus Army Corps?
Just what kind of army are they?
Well, once again, the trailer provides plenty of examples of just how they’ll work and
the many types you’ll face.
Right off the bat we can see three different kinds of Octopi.
There’s the standard one who rides around on an ink blaster, one that’s equipped its
ink blaster with a shield, and another that’s wearing a snorkel and riding a blue-colored
blaster.
Now so far, none of the enemies have been shown diving into the ink, giving the Inklings
a distinct advantage.
But just as snorkels allow people to breath underwater, we have a feeling it might let
the Octopus breath while in the paint, meaning he might be able to dive into ink pools just
like the Inklings.
The next Octopus is wearing a helmet with a propeller on it, allowing him to both fly
and shoot ink.
Plus there’s the fun little detail that he’s wearing helicopter landing rails on
his feet.
Looks like the Octopi like to go all out!
Then there’s the fish-like Octopus that slowly travels along eating your ink and converting
it to Octopus ink.
The sixth Octopus enemy is actually a robot though they made sure to give him some sneakers.
It’s a sly nod to the way he attacks, running at players before exploding, sending ink everywhere.
Then there’s the trio of giant Octopi.
Beyond just their size, they’re each facing a different way to approach them and are equipped
with face masks.
This likely means that you’ll have to find some way to take those off or hit them in
another spot.
They even seem to be in a pool of their ink so it’s possible that they could rotate
and shoot their ink all around.
Interestingly, there’s another Octopus that uses a shield like the one from before, but
he’s stationed on a turret and not a mobile platform.
But what he loses in mobility, he gains in height and, presumably, range.
The Octopi also have plenty of traps at their disposal.
At one point the Inkling is trudging through their ink while a machine raining down more
ink comes at her.
She doesn’t take damage from being in the ink, but her health does drain away as it
passes over her.
We think this trap might have even hunted her down since we can see a laser pointer
coming out from it.
It could actually scan for the Inkling and then give chase once she’s spotted.
We also get a look at one of the bosses.
It looks like a simple cube with an ink-covered face on one side.
Though we don’t see much of the battle, the goal is likely to completely cover him
in your ink.
Interestingly, your ink does stick to the other sides of him so it may be possible to
dive into those pools in order avoid getting crushed or even getting to a better vantage
point.
But the most intriguing member of the Octopus Army is the Octopus Girl.
She looks extremely similar to the Inklings in that she has arms, legs, and her tentacles
make up her hair.
She’s even equipped with a similar gun.
So what is her role?
Is she just another enemy?
Or perhaps a rival Octopus that can match your skills in every way?
It would certainly create more of a challenge for the single player campaign.
And if she does have every ability that the Inklings do, could this type of Octopi make
an appearance in the multiplayer?
Okay, that’s all of the characters, but we still haven’t even mentioned how the
levels will play out in Splatoon’s single player!
Thanks to the story, we do know that every level will take place in various underground
domes that the Octopi are using to prepare for their invasion of the surface.
They long for the surface so much that they project images of it onto the panels of the
dome.
And all of them seem to be somewhat related to what kind of platforms are set up inside.
They can range from industrial areas, an airship at sunset, a destroyed city block complete
with traffic lights floating around as debris, panels that display the stars, a city block
that resembles the multiplayer arena, a railway system with some tracks just ending in the
abyss, and even a mountainous forest high above the projected cloud-line.
There looks to be a lot of variety and that’s without getting into the actual layout of
the levels.
It won’t just be running and gunning, but some unique platforming as well that uses
the abilities of the Inklings.
You have to cover platforms in ink in some places in order to make a longer jump as a
squid as well as inking the walls so you can travel vertically.
These are only a few of the basic examples, but there looks to be stage specific stage
hazards as well.
One has the Inkling riding on a platform that only moves when a fan is sprayed with ink.
Simple enough except that flying Octopi are attacking at the same time with very little
room for you to move.
This same fan returns in a later section to help a platform rise vertically.
There are no enemies, but there are secrets to find such as this grate that you could
pass by.
By spraying ink through the gate and along the wall, you could make your way to the other
side, potentially finding a secret.
Then there’s the turret that you can man to shoot streams of ink at incoming enemies.
What’s strange is that while the Inkling is shooting down Octopi, the one on the right
is carrying a special block.
We see what this block can do later.
As you shoot it with paint, it expands into a platform.
So why are we trying to stop the Octopi with this turret?
Or is the challenge to fill that block with ink at the right time?
There’s more than just turrets for the Inkling to use against the Octopus Army.
Another scene shows a series of traps.
If one is shot with ink, it will immediately create a fountain of ink enveloping any nearby
enemies.
Of course, it’s reasonable to think that the Octopi will be able to do the same thing
to you.
Then there are the launchers.
Once you reach one, pushing ZL will send you to the next in line.
It’s not clear whether the launcher you land on can send you back, but it does give
level traversal a slight Super Mario Galaxy vibe.
And Splatoon may be aiming for other vibes as well.
The strangest bit of gameplay showed the Inkling fighting the Octopi but in 2D.
Nothing about this small snippet of gameplay seems to emulate the other features of Splatoon
at all.
It only shows the Inkling fighting.
But what is the context for this scene?
Is it a bonus level?
Is it something extra that can be unlocked?
Or is it a special secret?
We really don’t know.
And there are a lot of questions still surrounding the single player campaign, including this
last secret that we found.
In many of the levels shown off, there’s a third creature besides the Inkling and the
Octopi.
It can always be seen in what appears to be a light bulb and with its yellow body and
curly arms, it certainly fits the description.
But what is its purpose?
Does one of these light bulb creatures appear in each level and serve as the goal?
Or is it the thing that must be collected to fill the cutout at the top right of the
HUD?
There’s no clear answer in the footage as it’s mainly seen in the background with
only one instance of the Inkling trying to free it.
Of course we don’t actually see what happens when it is freed though we think these light
bulb creatures will probably be the goal of each level.
There’s no doubt that Splatoon is looking to be an incredibly unique shooter with a
more fleshed out single player campaign than you’d initially expect.
With a planned second quarter release in 2015, it won’t be much longer until we can see
how well it all comes together.
As always, if we missed something, please let us know in the comments.
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