Splatoon Raiders: 5 things we just learned about the Splatoon franchise's first solo spin-off

Nintendo finally pulled back the curtain on Splatoon Raiders — the franchise's first dedicated single-player spin-off — during the June 9 Nintendo Direct and the Treehouse presentation that followed. The game launches July 23, with a dedicated Splatoon Raiders Direct still to come on June 30.

You play as a scrappy mechanic taking on salmonids across a more open-ended sandbox rather than the linear mission strings of previous campaigns. Between raids, you hang out on the Hideout Ship — headquarters for Deep Cut's returning trio of Big Man, Shiver, and Frye — where you tinker with gear, buy upgrades, plan future raids, and test weapons. Ship-building is apparently also a feature, though it hasn't been shown yet. As a mechanic, you craft gadgets — the Shot Pot, the Splatchet, and the Splattelites — that work independently of your main weapon, so you can mix and match freely. There's also a mysterious Relic Powers tab that likely ties into exploration rewards. A key resource called Spirhalite Shards is scattered across raid maps alongside treasure and weapons. During the Treehouse stream, hosts stumbled on a treasure chest and then deliberately cut the feed before opening it.

Splatoon's single-player modes have historically felt like extended tutorials or short paid DLC add-ons. The Splatoon 3 hub world was a fan-favourite exception, and Raiders looks to build directly on that open exploration feel. Some elements echo Side Order's roguelite structure, but the scope here looks considerably larger.

The June 30 Direct should fill in the remaining blanks ahead of the July 23 launch. For a franchise that's kept its solo content firmly in second place behind multiplayer, Raiders looks like the full-length campaign fans have been asking for.