Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3 is the upcoming third entry in the Splatoon series. It is currently scheduled to release on Nintendo Switch in 2022, and was revealed in the 2021-02-17 Nintendo Direct.

Development
Splatoon 3 will be the first game in the series to be localized into Korean and Chinese.

Story
The game takes place in the Splatlands, a sun-scorched desert inhabited by battle-hardened Inklings and Octolings, and Splatsville, a city of chaos, one and a half years after the final Splatfest, Chaos vs. Order. The outcome of the Splatfest is likely the reason the game's design is themed around chaos.

Gameplay
Like its predecessors, Splatoon 3 is a third-person shooter game focused on online multiplayer battles, in which eight players are divided into two teams of four. Players have two main forms and may switch between the two at will: their humanoid form, in which they can use weapons to spread ink and splat opponents, and their squid or octopus form, which, if they enter their team's ink while in the form, allows them to swim through ink at great speed, including up walls, recharge their ink tank faster, and hide.

Players will have access to new movement techniques to dodge attacks and expand the possibilities of attacks. "Squid roll" allows them to leap and twirl out of their ink, and a "squid surge" allows them to quickly swim up ink-covered walls and jump out at the top.

In the Splatlands, players in online battles enter the battlefield with the spawner drone. It floats above the stage behind each base and allows players to aim at their desired deployment location within a certain reach. After choosing where to deploy, the spawner drone launches players to that location in squid or octopus form in a similar fashion to Super Jump. The regular spawn points are seen in the map, but not confirmed to be usable.

Locations
At this time, only these locations are known:
 * Splatlands
 * Splatsville
 * Weapon shop with Ammo Knights logo
 * Battle Lobby Tower
 * New desert stage

Characters
At this time, only two characters are known:
 * The player, an Inkling or Octoling
 * The player's "little buddy", a Smallfry. This has been named "Monominugs" by the development team.

Player customization
The default forms of the Inklings and Octolings are no longer explicitly gendered. Instead, the player "selects a style". Octolings can now be selected from the outset.

New player customization options have been added:
 * New eye colors, including heterochromatic eyes that form a gradient from one color to another.
 * Hairstyles and legwear are no longer gender-locked; any option can be chosen for any style of character.
 * New hairstyles - at least nine for Inklings and four for Octolings.
 * In keeping with the "chaos" theme, many of the new hairstyles are asymmetrical including most eyebrows which are split to the left.
 * New legwear.
 * New gear.

Players now have a "little buddy"; a Smallfry with seven hair customization choices.

Modes
So far, Turf War is the only mode that has been confirmed.

Stages

 * A new stage is shown in the trailer, with a visual aesthetic very similar to Saltspray Rig or Salmon Run stages, but located in a desert wasteland instead of at sea.
 * A job listing for a level designer by Nintendo announced at the same time as the game's reveal includes "既存ステージの改修" (renovation of existing stages). This could either mean that stages from the previous games will be returning, or that the role's responsibilities will include fixing bugs and balance issues in stages after the game's release.

Main weapons

 * A bow and arrow-style weapon was added. Once charged, it fires three strings of ink simultaneously. Its design seems to be based on a fishing rod, using the reel and string.
 * Several weapons already present in the previous games seem to have gone through a re-design, including the E-liter 4K Scope, Range Blaster, Splattershot, Hydra Splatling, Dynamo Roller, Sloshing Machine, and .96 Gal

Special weapons

 * A special weapon similar to the Inkzooka appears that fires three blobs of ink together.
 * The weapon is shown to eject white capsule-shaped shells when firing.
 * The character in the trailer using the special is the same character that uses the bow and arrow in the previous scenes, so it might be a part of that weapon's set.
 * A new miniature floating beam special weapon was added. Its design appears similar to miniature Killer Wails with the bottoms of Suction Bombs attached to them.

A crab-shaped robot that can transform into a ball has also been seen. It is unknown if it is a sub or special weapon because it has been seen in a Twitter post about specials but is not seen near any player using specials.

Music
The trailer contains a new remix of Splattack!, different from both the original version and the Octo Expansion remix. It is currently unknown if this remix will be included in the game, or if it was created only for the trailer. This remix seems to suggest the game's music will follow a more rock-esque style, especially considering the overall theme of the game seemingly being based on Chaos winning the Final Fest.

Gallery

 * Key art

Trivia

 * In the Splatoon 3 announcement trailer, it can be seen during the Turf War match that the bow and arrow player starts at the yellow team and switches over to the purple team mid-match.
 * This is the first Splatoon installment to take place outside of Inkopolis.