I should love the Inkopolis DLC for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Splatoon 3. As someone who bought a Wii U specifically for Splatoon, I spent hundreds of hours in the first game’s hub world, and it’s a place that felt like home back in 2015. I wandered around every day after school (yeah, I was at𝓡 school in 2015. Sorry) for months on end, checking each shop for fresh new outfits, seeing what strange drawings were floating around the lobby, and vibing to the lo-fi beats.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:As much as I loved Splatoon 2 and 3, I never got as attached to the sequel’s upgraded version or the third game’s Splatsvillle. Wii U-era Inkopolis and all its last-last-gen charm has a special place in my heart, even eight years later, even as I write this I’m growing nostalgic for when 16-year-old George was glued to his TV with a stupid orange Splatoon hat 🦋on.
It’s that nostalgia that Nintendo is hoping t🌸o bank on with the first half of the Splatoon 3 expansion p𝓡ass, which brings back the original version of Inkopolis as a destination that Inklings can travel to via a train station. That sounds promising, but Splatoon 3 doesn’t do anything with the idea beyond reminding you of the good old days.
Whܫen Nintendo originally announced the Splatoon 3 expansion pass, I was confused about what the Inkopolis DLC even did, and thought it had to be more than a simple lobby swap. Unfortunately, it&r꧟squo;s not.
Beyond the ten minutes of fun I had re-explorinღg the map and remembering what life was like eight years ago, it doesn’t feel like there’s much point to it at all. Nostalgia can only get you so far, but this feels like the sort of thing you’d include for fans as part of a free update, and not as half of the content in the expansion pass.
To its credit, there are some changes made to Inkopolis🐲. Sheldon’s weapon shop is now run by his adorable proteges, Jelonzo is back running the shirt shop with a slightly greater grasp on the English language (although I doubt he’s got his infamous “f*** you” t-shirt this time around), and Spyke is back in his alleyway but significantly aged up.
These little touches were neat to see, but it doesn’t stop Inkopolis from feeling like much more than something tacked onto the exꦯpansion pack to make it seem more palatable while we wait for the new campaign. It’s harmless, but there are so many good things that could have been done here that it also feels like a big missed opportunity.
Ideally, the first game’s campaign missions could have been brought over with a bit of spit-shine, something that I’m surprised didn’t already happen in Splatoon 3 considering how much else of the other games made it over. Better yet, the vendors in this version of Inkopolis could sell gear exclusively from the first game, finally giving players more than a few ou൩tfits to 𝓀buy without waiting 24 hours for the store to refresh.
Why not have Callie and Marie take over the bulletins if you choose Inkopolis as your starting area? It might be extra work, but that feels worthy of DLC considering how beloved the characters are. Nintendo clearly knows that, as one of the key features of this version of Inkopolis is that Callie and Marie will show up there during Splatfests to perform concerts. It’s a great idea, but somethin✅g that again feels a bit superfluous when Splatfests happen every few weeks.
As it stands now, Inkopolis is a nice little distraction and trip down memory lane for Splꦰatoon fans that could have and should have been so much more. I’m still excited to see what Side Course has to offer as Octoling Expansion made Splatoon 2’s campaign look like a tutorial, but it’s not the start to Splatoon 3’s DLC that I was hoping to see.