Splatoon Lore Explained: What is the Story, Weapons and Hosts?

Nintendo’s Splatoon is a fun little game about squids shooting ink at each other in friendly competition, and that’s it, right? While it might seem like that on the surface, it couldn’t be farther from the truth. A deeper understanding of Splatoon’s backstory and lore quickly betrays the cutesy aesthetic to reveal hints about human extinction, nuclear war, and immortal psychic cats.

Splatoon Is Set In The Post-Apocalypse

Yes, that’s right, the family-friendly Nintendo shooter about funny-looking squid is in fact set approximately 12,000 years after an extinction event wiped out the human race. The extinction event in question most likely had something to do with rising sea levels, as Sunken Scroll 10 from Splatoon explains that the “Mollusk Era” began when the ancestors of the Inklings crawled onto the surface.

Other sunken scrolls from Splatoon depict fossilized human skeletons, and in Splatoon 2 Marina will occasionally refer to uncovering human bones in news segments. Human extinction being explicitly canon is pretty unusual for a Nintendo game, and knowing this adds a weird surreal element to the game’s setting.

Splatoon games expand the lore into the future

Splatoon’s main story kicks off with the mysterious theft of the Zapfish, a species of electrically-charged catfish that power the city of Inkopolis. The player character is called in to investigate the matter at the direction of Callie and Marie, a pair of music idols turned news broadcasters.

The player, known as Agent 3, is sent into Octo Valley to rescue the Great Zapfish and return it to Inkopolis. At the end of the game, the player character restores order and electricity to the Inkling city.

Splatoon 2’s lore picks up right after the first game. In the final Splatfest, Splatoon 1 players voted between which Squid Sister they preferred in the final Splatfest competition. Fans chose Marie, which resulted in Callie playing an antagonistic role in the second game. Octarian leader DJ Octavio kidnapped and brainwashed her into becoming an Octarian minion.

The Splatoon 2 player character, codenamed Agent 4, once again embarks on a mission to set things right. Donning the iconic hero suit, the player travels to rescue another stolen Great Zapfish and save Callie from the clutches of the evil Octarian leader in a very flashy boss fight.

What is the story behind Splatoon 3?

Splatoon 3 appears to have a totally different vibe than the previous title. It takes place 1.5 years after the Splatocalypse in a city called Splastsville. It’s set away from Inkopolis, which is why Splatoon 3 has such a different look than the previous games.

Weapons galore in Splatoon

Splatoon 2 comes in with seven weapon classes, including two new ones that add their own twist to the classic Splatoon gameplay.

The first weapon class is known as the Shooter, which is considered an all-around class that has solid performance in a wide variety of situations. It also boasts an array of ink guns with varying range and rates of fire. This includes my favorite weapon in the first game the Aerospray (I know, I know), which is deadly in frontal skirmishes thanks to its rapid fire rate but, more importantly, reeaallly good at inking. That makes it great for Turf War battles, as long as you don’t mind some folks thumbing their noses at you as an Aerospray noob.

The Shooter class also includes a sub-class known as the Blaster, which fires slower but use exploding projectiles that inflict serious damage with a direct hit and can also hit folks behind cover. If you’re a pretty accurate player and have confidence in your ability to lead your shots, this can be an excellent weapon, too.

New hosts of Splatoon 2

One of the first things folks will notice upon loading the game is that Splatoon 2 has new hosts. With Callie missing in action, the Squid Sisters are replaced by the new up-and-coming duo known as “Off the Hook.”

This duo includes the sassy little Inkling Pearl, who’s got a bit of a Chucky vibe going on plus that “loli” look that otakus with a “lolita complex” just love. If you have no idea what a “lolicon” is, well, Google is your friend.

The other half of this fresh duo is the taller and more laid-back Marina. In addition to her talents on the turntable, what makes Marina extra cool is the fact that she’s an Octoling, you know, the species that normally serves as the game’s bad guys. Or bad girls. Now that’s some nice diversity there.

While Marina’s apparently getting Twintelle levels of attention among the Internet’s “waifu” seeking denizens, I actually like both hosts equally from a character design standpoint. They definitely complement each other, with Pearl being the “yin” to Marina’s “yang.” Or is the other way around? And if you don’t know what a waifu is, well, you can Google that, too.

Is Splatoon 3 going to come out?

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait until the next-generation console to sling some more ink, as Splatoon 3 is coming to Switch. Nintendo has in fact been quite generous with the information for Splatoon 3, unlike some other titles proposed to release in 2022.

Is Splatoon kid friendly?

It is an online shooter. The turf war mode is suitable for kids 9+ in my opinion. This mode does not focus on shooting other players. There is a single player campaign mode if you don’t want to play online.

Is Splatoon 2 violent?

Splatoon 2 is a very good game and there is not really much violence, consumerism (accept for paid DLC which is optional) Not at all any sexual content, swearing, drinking/drugs/smoking, you don’t really have to worry about the safety and privacy and there aren’t any good “role models” or “great messages” People might .

Do girls play Splatoon?

Thanks to the 540+ people who took the time to answer my poll on what gender inkling you play. Obviously it’s an unscientific poll and a pretty small sampling of the hundreds of thousands of Splatoon players world-wide. Overall, guys outnumber girls about 3 to 1.