When Marissa and I did that whole Human Reseach Lab joke from the Splatoon 2 review, I threw in the escaped Octoling thing as a joke cause I wasn't sure if we'd be able to bring it back for a Splatoon 3 review. I genuinely had no idea the expansion was happening, the review was only a few weeks after the game launched after all! But I'll take any chance at a joke I can get.
Alongside the tons of free updates the game has gotten, adding in new weapons, gear, stages and songs, it was surprising to see paid Splatoon 2 post-launch content to be considered at all, let alone an expansion based around something that Data Miners have been able to find in the games since Splatoon 1. However, here we are with the Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion, a roughly $30 addon for Splatoon 2 that adds playable Octolings, along with a bunch of Octo themed gear... oh and those roughly 80 extra levels. Shall we see how the expansion holds up?
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| So does this mean Splatoon 8 will come out in 2028 or 2088? |
Set an unspecified time either during or after the events of Splatoon 2's main campaign, you play as Agent 8, an Octoling that... ok, I have to get this out of the way first, are the Squid Sisters Sirens or something? According to the story, you (and it is eventually revealed later that Marina too) have been changed mentally during the events of the first game's final boss against DJ Octavio by the Squid Sister's song, Calamari Inkantation (for a reminder of the song, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4k1NdUEUP4)... granted in hindsight it should be obvious, Inkantation is a pun on incantation, though considering some of the other song names the series is known for... Back on point, after hearing the song, your Octoling was freed from Octavio's control and somehow ended up in the Deepsea Metro alongside Captain Cuttlefish, trapped in a network of train tunnels that connect to several different challenges the owner of the network runs. You are given a challenge of obtaining all for Thangs (yes that is the correct spelling for this) which are scattered throughout the network and if you do, you will be rewarded by being able to leave the underground network and travel to the surface. Without spoiling the details of it, if you have played the games, your Portal/ Portal 2 senses should be kicking in at this point, and for good reason mind you.
While the overall plot is rather basic, like with Splatoon and Splatoon 2's main campaign, most of the enjoyment in the story comes from character interactions. This time being handled by Captain Cuttlefish, Pearl and Marina though both in level dialogue boxes, and a series of chat room sessions the three have off screen that Marina sends the recording of too you as you complete more of the Metro's missions. These fill in Pearl and Marina's backstories, helping flesh out their characters (just in time for the inevitable final Splatfest that will see the two pitted against each other... wait that's not for a few months.. my bad). The chat sessions have a lot of charm in them though thanks to the writing and some included images and song files. You do get a strong feel for the chemistry between the two girls, something that's strengthened when Pearl finds out what Marina did before she was affected by the Inkantation. On a side note Cuttlefish, I didn't have that bad of a time with those things! Also, they lay on hints of a more... in-depth relationship between the two girls a bit thick. Nothing against it of course, but out of everyone in this industry, I wasn't expecting Nintendo to be one of the first to play that card for characters that have predetermined personalities and aren't player controlled (Fire Emblem and its character designs vs. general relationship conventions not included).
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| I'll leave this here though to let you know exactly what I mean (That's a pillow for the record!) |
To go into the gameplay itself, if you liked the single player campaign of Splatoon 1 and 2, you'll find things to enjoy in the Octo Expansion. While these are, overall, full levels to go through, and the later parts of the game feel closer to more traditional full levels, the expansion is set up with a feel of these were challenges. Ranging from getting to a goal with a specific weapon or special, moving a giant 8 ball from one end of a level to another (you people who are complaining about it have not felt the pain of Silver's Billiard Ball Puzzle, at least this has competent and predictable physics!), playing Tic-Tac-Toe with 8 balls, carefully creating a box sculpture to one of my most hated styles of missions, Protect The Orb. The Mission Girl Power can go die in a fire along with a second one I found where you have to use a turret to break Octo-Missiles and Octo-Blimps to protect an orb for a set amount of time. Due to movement speeds while in humanoid form for Girl Power and the firing speed of your missiles, the missions to me feel impossible to do as eventually I give up and start just firing at the dam orb to try and heal it (to no avail sadly). Those two missions are the only two missions I've done so far where I conceded defeat and used the "want us to do it for you" option the game has, although I came close one other time very close to the end of the expansion that I'll keep out of this review because it is a large (although predictable) spoiler. What I will say though is that I thought I taught myself better than that. Does that make me a pathetic casual and bad at video games? Maybe. To that, I'll say "I ain't the only one struggling with Girl Power, cut me some slack!"
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| I found this a while ago, thought it was a nice bit of art, you can find the artist for it at https://www.deviantart.com/luna2528cp/art/Octoling-Splatoon-2-Octo-Expansion-734799951 |
Due to the way the expansion is structured, the game has an awkward difficulty curve. You're free to do any mission you have unlocked in any order that you want, and due to the way the map is laid out, it is often pretty easy to find alternate paths to get to the Thangs if you find yourself struggling too much with a level. Ironically enough, thanks to how I played (which was for the most part in the order the main collectibles were in until I was a mission or two away from a Thang), I found all four thangs before I ran into a single boss. I was beginning to wonder if there were any other bosses in the game bar the final (technically) two. While many might think the game's "you need points to play the missions" mechanic makes it harder, it wasn't too noticeable until the huge difficulty spikes for missions like Girl Power, and once you have all four Thangs, the final series of levels and bosses don't cost anything. The missions themselves can range from "Easy but super slow" to "how the hell am I meant to do this?!" either because of movement speed like in Girl Power, or a puzzle coming off as impossible to tackle. There was one mission I played where I had to get an 8 ball across a gap by using a charger, some mats that you need to keep inked or they'll roll up and some ball launchers. If you fail? Instant death as C.Q Cumber (yes that is his name) will love to point out. Granted its better explained then Mario's cardiac arrests the moment a timer runs out, as this time its because there's a bomb strapped to your back that will blow up if you fail!... For kids! For the most part, though, the difficulty will come in how well you know the different weapons and specials the game has. I personally prefer weapons like the Splattershots and Duelies, so missions that revolved around weapons like Chargers I struggled on a lot more than others. What does help a little bit is that there are several missions where you can choose the weapon you want to use out of a selection of up to three, with each weapon giving more reward points depending on how hard the mission is with that weapon. A mission designed for a Charger is going to be a lot harder with a Roller after all.
The biggest problem with the expansion can be boiled down to one question, "What do you play Splatoon for?" Do you enjoy the singleplayer? Then you'll love the expansion as its what the base game's main story should have been. Do you only play it for the multiplayer? Then there is no need for you to get this as there's no difference in the way Inklings and Octolings play (aside from post-match animations). Does it have enough content to justify the cost? Absolutely. The joys about this though in terms of how it was handled is that it has the feel of being consumer friendly from the start. This wasn't tied to a season pass. There were no Loot boxes to be seen other than the present you get in Inkopolis when gear you unlock in the Metro gets sent to Inkopolis. You could pre-order it, but that was at a point where the only thing we didn't know about it (that would have been nice to know) was when it was being released. If it's not for you? No need to worry, as things like gear, stages and weapons are all still free. I want to see more of this kind of post-release support rather than content hacked out of the game for the sake of post-launch support. Next week on here is going to be a game I thought I reviewed a while ago, Kirby Star Allies, but first, Lego Aliens over on the Toybox.
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| On a side note, hope they do something with this prototype Pearl design later on. I personally think it looks a lot better than the final design. |
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