Nintendo has released a new trailer for Wave 2 of Splatoon 3’s expansion pass, Side Order, and shows off the new single-player gameplay.
Set in Splatoon 2’s Inkopolis Square, a now abandoned district that has lost its color, the DLC follows Octo Expansion protagonist Agent 8 as they attempt to reach the top of the Spire of Order. The trailer provided a look at the core gameplay loop, which involves moving up a floor of the tower, choosing a set of augmentation called Color Chips, and completing an objective.
The expansion uses a Roguelike structure, in which players fight through a series of increasingly difficult rooms and are sent back to the very beginning each time they die, but have the ability to gain permanent upgrades upon resetting. These upgrades include things like extra lives, higher defense, and improved base abilities.
Each floor has three different objectives of varying difficulty to choose from, with more difficult options providing better rewards. These rewards include Color Chips, which can be placed onto a palette to upgrade the player’s abilities for a single run.
There are over 60 types of Color Chips, and different combinations can be used to boost damage, increase fire rate, increase bomb radius, and much more. Color Chips will be lost at the end of a run, but they are converted to a currency that can be exchanged for permanent buffs.
Side Order will be available on Feb. 22 to owners of the Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass for $24.99. Wave 1 of the pass gave access to Inkopolis, the hub world from the first game, with performances from the Squid Sisters during Splatfests.
The trailer released ahead of a rumored Nintendo Direct for later this week.