The seemingly ceaseless sprint forward of the breakout hit Splatoon for the Wii U is geared to take yet another stride in August with a free content update that promises to add more variety to the game Wii U owners have so rapidly fallen in love with. According to Nintendo, the update drops on August 6th and, again, it’s free.
Included in the update are a handful of significant changes, especially those involving online play. Especially when compared to other popular online-focused shooters, it becomes clear that Splatoon lacks the robust interfaces and usability features that most players have come to expect by now. For example, the current Ranked Battle mode is played on teams chosen at random, making ranked play with friends a lucky coincidence and not an integral feature. The update, however, will introduce Squad Battle mode where players can form custom teams.
Another online option that’s been standard in multiplayer shooters since Halo 2 is the ability to form custom online matches, which Splatoon can’t currently do. The update will, however, bring Private Battle mode to the table, allowing players to create matches with custom maps, settings, and team sizes. Important to note is that Regular Battle mode will remain as it is now.
Besides the online changes, two new weapon types, more than forty new pieces of armor and gear, an increase in the level cap from the current twenty all the way to fifty, and two new ranks in the competitive ladder.
The first new weapon is a Gatling-gun called “The Splatling” and the second a bucket of pain dubbed “The Slosher”.
At the moment, the highest online rank is A+, but the new S and S+ will both be higher, with S+ being the new maximum.
Perhaps the best news of all is that this isn’t the end of the free updates to come. To quote the official announcement from Nintendo,
Despite its size and scope, this massive August update is not the end of the splat-tacular free content coming to Splatoon. Following this update, more content will continually roll out through the rest of the summer and into autumn, including the Rainmaker Ranked Battle mode, additional maps and new weapons. More details on these additions will be revealed in the future.
So look forward to even more Splatoon content and updates as the weeks roll by! Again, you can expect to see this update released August 6th, 2015.