The Splatoon team revealed they had to make changes to Splatoon Raiders so you don’t feel sorry for the Salmonids.
In the latest As the Developer interview, they explained that they realized they were making the Salmonids sympathetic after adding scenes were they were laughing together. This was not fitting their plans to set the game in an ‘outlandish environment’, so they made huge changes to presentation.
What originally looked like a water park obstacle course became more hostile, even survivalist. The Spirhalite Islands are now strewn with refuse, as if that water park was abandoned for years and nature took it back.
The Salmonids were also redesigned to look more unhinged. Playing into the lore that they desire to be eaten, Salmonids are terminally attracted to salt, and their appearance gets worse the more salted they get.
Near the end of the interview, developer Yoshihiko Ito revealed there’s a huge challenge waiting within it too:
Once you’ve reached a certain point in the story, you discover a dungeon where you can keep going deeper and deeper, with no apparent end in sight.
Will this dungeon be Splatoon Raiders’ roguelike mode? There’s only one way to find out.