E3 2017: We Went On A Salmon Run In ‘Splatoon 2’

In case you didn’t know, I’m a huge fan of Splatoon. Since naming it my game of the year in 2015, I’ve only come to appreciate the game even more for how it made us rethink how a shooter could be approached. With Splatoon 2 right around the corner, I made sure to sit down with the game’s new Salmon Run mode at E3. Could the creativity Splatoon brought to team based shooters work its magic on the traditional Horde Mode? Let’s just say I got caught off guard by how much I got splatted.

As mentioned, Salmon Run is Nintendo’s take on the Horde Mode that was made popular by games such as Gears of War 2. In it, you and a group of friends will team up to take on endless waves of enemies, with each wave increasing in both amount of enemies and their individual ferocity. Of course, Splatoon isn’t going to devolve into a gory sea of dismembered limbs, but what we get instead are new fish based enemies with some surprising abilities. Just when I felt like I could use my skills to work my way through my enemies, the salmon began attacking with… my best abilities?

That’s right. As we progressed, the stronger enemies began attacking us with our own Special Attacks. As we learned during the Testfire, most of these attacks are easy enough to dodge when you see them coming from another player. But when you’re fighting multiple enemies and you find yourself getting caught off guard from an army of foes with their sites set on you? Yeah, you get the idea. Don’t expect the Salmon Run to be a walk in the park, because you’ll surely get taken out if you keep your guard down.

Overall, Salmon Run feels like it’ll serve its function just fine. While it’s a little more straightforward than modes like Turf War, it acts as a fun side mode for you and your friends to tackle in between those stressful ranked matches online. With the online modes, the story mode, and now, Salmon Run, it looks like Inklings around the world will have so much more to dig their tentacles into when Splatoon 2 releases in July.

What do you think of the game so far, and are you excited for Horde Mode to come to Splatoon? Comment below and share your thoughts with us!