How easy or hard is it to get into Splatoon for the first time?

[Etown20]

I've never played a Splatoon game but have recently become interested in 3. It's not typically the type of game I play. I don't tend to play competitive games or shooters.

Last year I tried to get into Smash Bros. and put around 30 hours in the game, but the competitive angle of it kind of turned me off of it. I didn't feel like I was ever going to be "good" enough at it to play it online competitively, or at least I wasn't interested in putting in all the hours that it would take to do so.

Does Splatoon require a high skill ceiling to really enjoy the game, or can it just be enjoyed casually?

 

[Holla]

Splatoon does have a competitive scene but you can basically ignore it if you want to. I’ve been playing since the first game and I also don’t enjoy highly competitive games. I thoroughly enjoy both turf war and salmon run modes as a casual player. Turf war can be brutal at times but I still often have fun even when I lose and there is no ranking tied to it. Salmon run changes difficulty with you and pairs players of similar skill for you to work with (it’s 4 players working together to take down AI controlled salmonids).

Ranked battles (now Anarchy battles) are highly competitive and I rarely dabble in the odd match as it’s not really my cup of tea. I played 500 hours in Splatoon 2 and maybe 5 of them were in the ranked mode. So you can easily skip these and still get full enjoyment out of the game imo.

There are also special events (Splatfests) every few weekends and they are entirely based around turf war and are loads of fun.

Unfortunately you missed the free demo a few weeks ago as that’s a very good way to see if you enjoy the gameplay of turf war. Playing just a few matches of the demo of the first game is what got me to even give the series a shot in the first place as I too thought this type of game wasn’t for me.

If you can maybe try to borrow someone’s copy for a bit to see if you like it or not?

 

[hauntedhead]

im in the same position! i always wanted it but could never get it for whatever reason but i rlly want it now that i have a switch!! the gameplay looks fun n my friends have it plus.. melody and frye ❤

 

[Biyaya]

Shooters are definitely not my kind of genre, but Splatoon feels like such a Nintendo spin on shooters that it works well for me. It has even become my favorite game despite my skill level. Your aim doesn’t even necessarily need to be that great, as different weapons have different strengths. You can just stick to what you’re comfortable with. (I use the starter gun half the time I play!) If you want to avoid competition altogether, even the not so serious turf wars, there is a story mode and cooperative mode (Salmon Run) to do. Hopefully you’ll be able to try out a copy of one of the games in the series to gauge whether you like it or not.

 

[Aquario]

Hey! I recently got into Splatoon 2. It's really fun, though it's a bit hard to get into. It helps if you've played other shooters, but what differentiates the Splatoon series from things like Call of Duty is the fact that it's not a first-person shooter -- it's third person! I definitely reccommend it and its been a lot of fun to play, especially with friends. Hope this helped!

 

[Marridia]

I've also been playing since splat1. I'd say you'll probably be fine, there's tons of new players. turf wars are pretty causal, but if you dont want the competitiveness I'd ignore ranked battles. I definitely recommend the game~