Just like any other weekend, I've been playing a good amount of Splatoon 2. The difference this week is that, instead of playing online matches, I've sunk my time into the first paid DLC of the franchise called Octo Expansion. Was it worth paying for? Well, that's what this blog entry's about.
BACKGROUND:' It's no secret at this point that I love Splatoon. It's one of the most creative concepts for a shooter ever, and is probably in my top three all-time favorite Nintendo IPs. So when news came earlier this year that there would be a whole new campaign released as DLC, I was excited. The single player campaigns of both the first and second game were really fun, so it was a no-brainer for me to pick this up. PLOT: Splatoon likes to keep its lore obscure and esoteric, so it wasn't much of a surprise to me that the DLC continues the trend. However, playing through Octo Expansion does uncover more bits and pieces of that lore. If you like piecing together a narrative with fragments of information, you'll like what Octo Expansion has to offer. As for the whole premise of the campaign, you play as an Octoling (dubbed Agent 8), who wakes up with no memories in a mysterious subway. Without giving too much away, the objective is, simply, to get back to the surface. Some story threads from the first game come into play in this story, so if you've played through Splatoon 1's single player campaign, you're gonna love what's in store. GAMEPLAY: Much like the regular single player campaign, Octo Expansion is essentially a series of missions. You navigate the subway via a train, and each station has its own mission map with a specific objective. What sets this apart from the regular campaign is that a) there's a wider variety of objectives, b) weapon selection is limited, and c) each mission requires a sort of currency to play. Objectives can range from the typical "get to the end", "kill all enemies", to the more outlandish "navigate the stage with the Inkjet", or "destroy this stack of crates to form an image". Some are rather easy, others much less so. If you're not up to beating every mission (of which there are a whopping 80), fear not. You don't have to 100% the campaign to get to the endgame. While some missions lock you to one specific weapon (or, in some cases, nothing at all), many others give you a choice between two or three loadouts. Your choice actually affects how much currency you earn when beating the level. Which brings me to my next point.... There's a currency called CQ points that's used throughout the Octo Expansion campaign. You use these points to enter a mission, and if you fail that mission, you have to pay that amount again. While I never ran out of points during my playthrough, I can only assume running out of points is not a good thing, so be wary when you're on your 15th retry of that really hard mission. Thankfully, if you fail twice in a mission, an "Ask for Help" option appears. Being the stubborn idiot I am, I never used this feature, but hey, it's there. There's probably some sort of penalty for using it, too, so keep that in mind. Beating levels nets you a collectible called "mem cakes". Completing a set of these things unlocks new gear that you can use online. Mem cakes are essentially tiny models of various characters or objects in the Splatoon universe. They're cute-looking, plus each one comes with a funny little poem. Getting to the endgame requires you to gather four macguffins strewn about the subway. Playing through missions will eventually help reveal the locations of these objects to you, so fret not. The endgame is a series of 8 missions, each with their own objective. Some of these objectives are super fun, and the story that unfolds here put a huge smile on my face. The final boss blew my goddamn mind, too. Once you beat the endgame, you can now play as an Octoling online. It's a neat reward for clearing the DLC, and it fulfills a fervent wish many Splatoon fans were asking for since 2015. However, you can still go back and finish the remaining missions. If you clear all 80 missions, you gain access to a secret boss fight that is hard as fuck and will probably piss you off. Conquering that boss nets you a reward that I won't give away, plus it's incredibly satisfying to win (it took me nearly four hours to put that bastard down). VERDICT: Octo Expansion is a wonderful example of what DLC should be. It feels like its own single player game, and rewards you with cool shit to use in the main game, making it well worth shelling out the extra money for. If you own Splatoon 2, this is a must-have. If you don't own Splatoon 2, what the fuck are you doing? You're missing out! - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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