Updated

Updated · Kotaku · Jul 25

Splatoon Raiders’ 3 Tank Kits Recast Solo Play, With Tactical Tank Driving Repeat Runs

Updated

Updated · Kotaku · Jul 25

Splatoon Raiders’ 3 Tank Kits Recast Solo Play, With Tactical Tank Driving Repeat Runs

Q: Does the identical loot across all difficulty modes ruin the endgame grind for veteran extraction shooter fans?

Not necessarily, but it does limit the kind of endgame grind veteran extraction-shooter players usually expect. Reports and guides consistently say Splatoon Raiders gives the same loot pool across Tourist, Raider, and Survivalist, with higher difficulties mainly increasing enemy speed, health, and damage. For players who measure endgame by “harder mode equals better drops,” that removes a major incentive loop. There is less reason to push Survivalist purely for reward efficiency if the same weapons, salvage, relics, and materials can be farmed on easier settings. That said, the game’s progression system appears deep enough that the grind is not empty. Raiders has more than 100 weapon variations, random drops, weapon rarity, tank upgrades, gadget parts, relic powers, and facilities that let players recycle, craft, and improve gear over time. Some coverage and early player impressions describe this upgrade chase as highly addictive, especially around min-maxing Tactical, Speed, or Power builds rather than chasing a difficulty-gated loot table. So the identical loot does not ruin the endgame for everyone; it changes its purpose. In Raiders, higher difficulty seems designed more as a self-imposed challenge, replay-value tool, and build test than as a premium farming tier. For Splatoon players or action-RPG fans, that can work well. For extraction-shooter veterans who want exclusive high-risk, high-reward endgame tiers, it will likely feel flatter than genre standards.

2 articles · Updated · Kotaku · Jul 25

Nintendo’s new Splatoon Raiders clicked for the reviewer once the Tactical Tank turned its solo extraction runs into a more compulsive, trap-heavy playstyle.
The kit leans on drones, sentries and Bombloons—helium explosives linked by poisonous strands—letting players build kill boxes and chip away at Salmonid swarms from safer positions.
That stands out because many returning weapon types feel little changed from earlier Splatoon games, even though Raiders shifts the series into quieter island raids built largely around solo survival.
Raiders offers 3 Tank paths—Speed, Power and Tactical—but the review argues those backpacks reshape the game more than its familiar weapons do, at times pushing it toward a Vampire Survivors-like rhythm.