Splatoon 2

Like the previous game, Splatoon 2 is a third-person shooter with a focus on online multiplayer in which players control humanoid cephalopods, known as Inklings and Octolings, and use colored ink as ammunition to paint the surrounding area. Inklings and Octolings can morph between a distinctly humanoid form, during which they can walk and shoot ink using an assortment of weapons, and a cepholopodic form where they can quickly swim through, and hide within, ink of their own color and replenish their ink supply.

In online matches, players are equipped with a "main weapon", their primary armament that allows them to spread ink. Each main weapon is assigned a loadout of one "sub weapon" and one "special weapon". Sub weapons are secondary munitions that require ink to dispense; they usually come in the form of defensive structures or offensive projectiles. Special weapons are powerful armaments that must be individually charged by inking the surroundings. Cosmetic gear can be augmented with abilities such as being able to swim faster within their ink and increasing ink ammunition capacity.

The Splatoon series occurs on a post-apocalyptic version of Earth set some millennia following the extinction of humanity and subsequent rapid evolution of marine life. Splatoon 2 takes place two years after the events of Splatoon in and around Inkopolis Square. Like its predecessor, Splatoon 2 includes a single-player story campaign that follows the theft of Inkopolis' primary power source, the Great Zapfish, at the hands of the Octarian army. Another event is the contemporaneous disappearance of Callie, one half of the celebrity musical duo the Squid Sisters, which the player character is also tasked with investigating.

Splatoon 2's DLC expansion pack Octo Expansion occurs roughly around the same time as Octo Canyon. It is set in a subterranean train station named the Deepsea Metro, where an amnesiac Octoling falls into. At the direction of a talking telephone and with the assistance of Cap'n Cuttlefish, the player's guide from Splatoon who has also become trapped, Agent 8 seeks to ascend to the surface by clearing various testing facilities across the Metro to collect four objects known as "thangs". Completing the expansion's story awards players the ability to become an Octoling during multiplayer matches.

The initial conceptualization of Splatoon 2 began during Splatoon's series of free content updates. Production began in full around October 2015 when these updates concluded. During this period, Splatoon's development team, including producer Hisashi Nogami, considered creating an upgraded version of the Wii U game as opposed to a direct follow-up. Nogami explained in an interview with Famitsu that they went against this in favor of creating a "legitimate sequel" that would reinvent Splatoon's mechanics in response to the game's positive reception among fans.

To this end, the team included new main and special weapons, alongside additional gameplay configurations, mechanically different from those of Splatoon. For instance, the Dualie class and its dodge-roll ability was formulated to give players wholly unique gameplay experiences. Other gameplay alterations include giving Rollers a verical attack to improve its viability in long-range combat and the reworking of the previous game's Super Jump to accommodate the Switch's lack of a secondary GamePad.

Splatoon 2 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic, and according to fellow aggregator OpenCritic was recommended by 90% of critics.

Critics were pleased with Splatoon 2's refinement of gameplay mechanics from its predecessor. Turf War and Ranked Battles were seen as equally enjoyable to their previous incarnations, though some reviewers critiqued the return of timed stage rotations. Gabe Gurwin of Digital Trends praised the game's balance changes, including its reworked battle arenas he said compensate for the playstyles of multiple weapon classes. Brian Shea of Game Informer saw the alterations made to existing weapons as positive enhancements that improved their versatility.