"Splatoon 2" is one of the Nintendo Switch's flagship games when the system released over a year ago. Now, as Mr. Nogami (Splatoon's producer) and his team continue to support the game for the rest of the year, "Splatoon 2" receives its very first paid downloadable content: Octo Expansion.
While the majority of the main game has the player guiding an Inkling (squid-like humanoids) through its main campaign and multiplayer modes, the Octo Expansion delves deep into the world of the Octolings, the Inklings' common foe in the story mode.
The player (playing as a reborn, essentially "good" Octoling) awakens in a distant underground subway. After journeying through the location a bit, they come across a phone. Picking it up reveals its sentience.
The phone vows to bring the Octoling to the "promised land," where all of the Inklings live and participate in battles. However, there's a catch: the Octoling must find all four "thangs" in order for the phone to bring them to the promised land.
A train pulls up to the station, and the Octoling hops on to travel through the metro. Each line of the metro eventually leads to the four thangs, and the player completes tests (a level) that advance them further through the line.
The Octo Expansion has a total of eighty levels, which is a ton of content considering the free DLC that Splatoon and its sequel has always had. Not only are the levels quite fun––what with their nostalgia-filled atmospheres and awesome music––but they are DIFFICULT.
Casual Splatoon players such as myself went through many CQ points in order to replay hard levels.
Overall, Octo Expansion was a very pleasant experience. Most of the levels are filled with references to old Nintendo systems, and even Splatoon variants of wistful toys, such as Polly Pockets and Gameboys.
The player doesn't have to beat all eighty levels to get to the final boss (which was the phone all along!), which is relieving because, again, the levels are tough to beat.
If you've never played (or even heard of) "Splatoon" before, I'd suggest playing through its own single-player campaign first in order to learn about the world and characters inhabiting it.
It's not that a new player wouldn't understand the lore surrounding Octo Expansion from the get-go, but it's best to have that knowledge before squid-jumping in.
