Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Features

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Splatoon 3’s multilayered grind has me completely hooked

Giovanni Colantonio
By

I can’t stop playing Splatoon 3. With 70 hours currently logged, it’s the most I’ve ever played an entry of the series. My hour count has already eclipsed Splatoon 2, a game I thought I was obsessed with at the time. I recognize that I might have a problem here.

What surprises me about that is that there’s not a huge difference in quality between Splatoon 2 and 3. As many critics pointed out in reviews, the threequel is largely the same as its predecessor. It brings key quality of life improvements and ratchets up the intensity in content like Salmon Run, but its online modes remain virtually unchanged. If you played Turf War back on the Wii U, you know exactly what to expect here. So why am I more hooked than I ever have been?

Recommended Videos

The more I play, the more I uncover Splatoon 3’s most impactful change: its approach to rewards and progression. There’s rarely even a moment where it feels like my time is wasted, making it easy to let myself sink into the ink.

Related

Rank up

No matter how you spend your time in Inkopolis, there’s something to earn. That’s thanks to the way Splatoon 3 builds on the hooks in its predecessors to create a multilayered approach to progression. Your play time in any given mode isn’t just fueling one or two universal progress bars; you’re usually growing in at least two ways at any given time. Here’s an exhaustive breakdown of each layer.

Multiplayer

  • There’s a universal Catalog rank that functions like a Battle Pass.
  • Your character levels up, unlocking new weapons.
  • Anarchy Battles have their own competitive rank system.

Story mode

  • There’s basic story mode progress as you move through levels and areas.
  • Completing levels also unlocks entries in a lore journal.
  • The Alterna overworld itself has an exploration completion rate.
  • The story has a mode-specific skill tree that can be unlocked via a currency.

Salmon Run

  • The PVE mode has its own job rank that determines its difficulty.
  • There’s also a separate rewards rail specific to the mode.
  • There’s a mini-progress bar to summon Cohozuna, which has its own reward currency.

Tableturf battle

  • The card game mode has its own level-up system for earning cards and more.
  • Beating opponents unlocks higher-level battles against them.

Gear

  • Gear has its own leveling system, which is how new perks are gained.
  • Weapons have a “freshness level” that can be raised by using them.
  • There are multiple badges to work towards by reaching various milestones.

There are so many aspects to Splatoon 3’s progression that I’m positive I’ve forgotten something on that already long list.

All of those little hooks have made it easy for me to spend dozens of hours playing without growing bored. When I go into Turf War, I’m grinding perks on my gear while getting Catalog rewards and unlocking more weapons. Once I’ve gotten some maxed-out gear that suits my playstyle, I jump into ranked play to try and fight up the tiers. When I get too heated, I can pop over to Salmon Run to grind out some coins and scales. My play sessions always tend to be an hour longer than I anticipate as my “wind down” activities throw me into another addictive loop.

An inkling holding a weapon.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Splatoon 3’s approach to progression is almost too strong. Moments that break the well oiled-nature of its hooks end up sticking out like a sore tentacle. The game’s current connection issues feel especially bad as a dropped game will leave all progress bars stagnant. And while Tableturf Battle does have its own reward system, its isolated nature from the wider ecosystem can make it feel like a comparatively unrewarding sidebar.

Even with those issues, I become more impressed with Splatoon 3 the deeper I dive in. It understands the massive time commitment that often comes from multiplayer titles and finds as many ways as possible to make that experience feel worthwhile. Whether I’m casually playing with a friend, buckling down for some competitive rounds, or playing around in a side mode, I’m constantly hitting some kind of milestone that lets me show off in style.

After 70 hours, there are still mountains I’ve yet to climb and that’s what keeps me logging in. I want to reach top rank in Salmon Run, get into S-tier in Anarchy battles, complete my Catalog, get my Sploosh-o-matic to freshness level five, unlock every Tableturf opponent, and more. And all of that is before the game has received a single content update. If Nintendo can keep making the climb even higher, I fear how much time I’ll end up putting into this by the end of its lifespan.

is out now on Nintendo Switch.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni Colantonio
Section Editor, Gaming
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
Baldur’s Gate 3 drops Series S splitscreen support to release on Xbox in 2023
Jaheira in Baldur's Gate 3.

Larian Studios promises to release Baldur's Gate 3 on Xbox Series X/S later this year after pushing the game back because of performance problems on Xbox Series S.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available now on PC and will come out for PS5 on September 6, but an Xbox Series X/S version won't be available for a little bit longer. In a July 2023 community update, developer Larian Studios explained that this is because it needed "to ensure that the game is performing without compromise across the entire Xbox X/S ecosystem, in multiplayer and with split-screen. The Xbox Series X version was running fine, but the Xbox Series S version of the game was struggling a lot more. The Xbox versions of Baldur's Gate 3 didn't have a release window until now, when Larian Studios co-founder Swen Vincke took to X to confirm it'd come to Xbox platforms before the end of the year. That said, it will exclude one notable feature.
"Super happy to confirm that after meeting [Phil Spencer] yesterday, we’ve found a solution that allows us to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox players this year still, something we’ve been working towards for quite some time," Vincke wrote. "All improvements will be there, with split-screen coop on Series X. Series S will not feature split-screen co-op, but will also include cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox Series."
Thankfully, it looks like Xbox players won't have to wait too much longer to play this excellent game, but it will be one of the first games to notably drop a major feature between the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S versions. This follows comments by Head of Xbox Phil Spencer where he said he doesn't believe Microsoft will drop support for Xbox Series S in the foreseeable future. "I want to make sure games are available on both, that's our job as a platform holder and we're committed to that with our partners," Spencer told Eurogamer. "And I think we're gonna get there with Larian. So I'm not overly worried about that, but we've learned some stuff through it. Having an entry-level price point for console, sub-$300, is a good thing for the industry."
 
Baldur's Gate 3 is available now for PC, launches for PS5 on September 6, and will finally come out for Xbox Series X/S before the end of 2023.

Read more
I beat Baldur’s Gate 3 in 30 hours (and killed everyone in the process)
Gale talks to the player in Baldur's Gate 3.

Baldur's Gate 3 is such a long game that even though millions have played it, far fewer have seen the ending. Only 0.4% of players have gotten the Hero of the Forgotten Realms achievement for beating the game at the time of this writing, according to Steam. It's a game someone can put dozens of hours into, with no end remotely in sight.
That is. unless you beat it way earlier than you were supposed to.
During the climax of Act 2 in Baldur's Gate 3, I accidentally reached a premature ending -- one that my party members weren't too happy about. The ramifications of the ending definitely weren't good for the Forgotten Realms, but finding a way to wrap up Baldur's Gate 3 early just gave me an ever deeper appreciation for how personal each player's journey through this game can feel. 
Note: This article contains major spoilers for Act 2 of Baldur's Gate 3.
One last gust of Weave
Anyone who has played Baldur's Gate 3 probably knows Gale, the smooth-talking wizard who you can pull out of a portal early on in Act 1. Throughout that Act, I had to keep giving him magical artifacts to satiate some sort of curse he has, although their positive effects on Gale dulled with each new item. After doing this enough, I learned the truth: Gale was cursed by the God Mystra after betraying her. At the start of Act 2, though, Gale's former mentor, Elminster, arrives and tells Gale that Mystra has a new task for him: destroy the "Heart of the Absolute" with a Netherese Orb Blast that will essentially nuke and destroy everything around him.

This option appeared alongside Gale's other spells in menus throughout the entirety of Act 2, although using the Netherese Orb Blast early typically results in a message that said my party had been defeated and tasked me with reloading. But there is a real opportunity to use it and end things at the end of Act 2. Most of this section of the game is spent finding a way to defeat Ketheric Thorm, a Baldur's Gate 3 villain voiced by J.K. Simmons. I confronted him on top of Moonrise Towers with the help of Nightsong, who I freed, but before I could beat him, he retreated to a massive Illithid Colony underneath Moonrise Towers. Obviously, my party followed, ultimately stumbling upon Ketheric and two other villains -- Lord Enver Gortash and Orin the Red -- activating the Elder Brain that seemed to be the "Heart of the Absolute" that Gale needed to destroy.
Gale told me that this and asked me me for permission to explode and destroy everything. The first option is to tell him not to, which makes sense; there's still a whole third of the game left to play! But seeing that every major threat in Baldur's Gate 3 was here in one room and knowing how much the game had already taken over my life in a week, I told him yes.
After saying, "One last gust of Weave. One last gale to end them all," Gale blew himself up, and there was nothing else I could do as my Dream Visitor shouted, "No!" Gale blew up, killing Ketheric, Orin, Gortash, and the Elder Brain and granting me the Hero of the Forgotten Realms achievement you're supposed to get for beating Baldur's Gate 3. The post-explosion dialogue paints a gimmer future for the Forgotten Realms, though.
"Beneath the smoking ashes of Moonrise Towers, the elder brain lies destroyed," the narrator says. "But what of the tadpoles it commanded? Freed of the Absolute's control, they will complete their transformations. A plague of illithids will soon descend on the Sword Coast, enslaving all they do not affect." Credits rolled as I blankly stared at the screen, processing that this was the ending I'd worked toward.
An imperfect ending
This definitely isn't a good ending for Baldur's Gate 3; it's pretty terrible, actually. Still, the fact that I could do that speaks to a wider strength of the adventure. The best thing about Baldur's Gate 3 is how much choice it gives players. It's not just freedom in completing set objectives, but freedom to circumvent them entirely. The most fun I had with Baldur's Gate 3 was finding ways to avoid major boss fights or set pieces. Instead of picking a side in the attack on the Druid and Refugee camp, I destroyed the bridge Minthara could use to escape in the Goblin camp, killed her before having a conversation with her, and then pushed Dror Ragzlin off a ledge to kill him.

Read more
Baldur’s Gate 3 and Hades have made me an early access believer
Astrion holds his chin in Baldur's Gate 3.

Until recently, early access games -- which allow players to buy, play and provide feedback on games during development -- still had a bad rap in my mind. Half-baked games that took advantage of the process (like DayZ, Godus, and The Stomping Land) are what still came to mind whenever I'd see an early access label on Steam or the Epic Games Store. I'd refused to even play many early access games because I was worried they’d go unfinished or not live up to expectations.

I'm finally coming around though, and that's thanks to two recent success stories. Hades, one of my favorite games of the past decade, and Baldur’s Gate 3, the Dungeons & Dragon RPG currently taking the gaming industry by storm, both started as early access games. Each came out of early access as such fully formed, enriching experiences that it’s begun to reshape my perspective on how powerful a tool early access can be.
The benefits of early access
I remember actively not being that interested in Hades back when it was announced in December 2018, and that was because it was an early-access title. The joke was on me; I felt like quite the fool when I finally got around to playing it at launch in 2020, and it became one of my favorite games of all time. I was in a similar boat with Baldur’s Gate 3, which I originally got access to on Google Stadia but didn’t play that much until its August 3 launch. Fool me twice and all that.

Read more