Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion

Game	Splatoon 2
Developer(s)	Nintendo EPD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter Platformer Action-adventure
Availability	Paid DLC and NSO Expansion Pack
Release Date	June 13, 2018

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion is the downloadable expansion game for Splatoon 2. It was released on June 13, 2018 as a paid download for $19.99 USD.

It is also available for free access through the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription as of April 2022.

Plot

A female Octoling with Cap'n Cuttlefish.

An Octoling was awakened by Cap'n Cuttlefish in Deepsea Metro Central Station. There, the two board on a train and travel to various locations to complete "trials" and find the four missing "thangs" for a talking Telephone. The Octoling was recruited as the 10,008th applicant and "Agent 8".

Once collected and assembled, they were guided to the "promised land" which later turned out to be a blender as a death trap set by the Telephone, revealed as Commander Tartar. Suddenly, Agent 3 came to stop the blending operation but has became unconscious afterwards.

Later, as the Octoling was processing through several phases in a giant building, it encountered the mind-controlled Agent 3 and the tied-up Cap'n Cuttlefish.

After defeating the Agent, the Octoling finally made it out of the building where it saw Pearl, Marina, and Cap'n Cuttlefish in a chopper. Pearl and Cuttlefish were doing a rap battle when Commander Tartar, in his new form, showed up with a giant statue of a human-like face which can shoot out green ink and destroy the world. Marina explained that the statue's power is solar-dependant, and the group shoot out ink bombs for the Octoling to shoot at and detonate under the 3-minute time limit.

After covering the statue, Tartar unleashed the green ink ray from the statue when Pearl used a Killer Wail and her voice to unleash a powerful purple ink ray, defeating Tartar. The group watch the view of dawn as the credits roll.

Gameplay

The game is a single-player campaign in which the player navigates through a variety of locations. The player can pull up the map inside the train to travel to various locations, known as "trials". Each completion earns the player a mem cake, where each one has a rhyme.

Credits are required for accessing every level the train stops at. Each level gives the player an option to choose a weapon, but are sometimes limited to one. The amount of credits also depend on the weapon the player would use. The player is also given a specific amount of live, ranging from one to six. If all lives are lost, a "help" meter will fill up. If all lost twice, the meter is filled, giving the player an option to "complete" a level through Pearl and Marina's hacking. Doing so requires 100 credits, but earns a faded mem cake.

Completing the game adds the Octoling as a new playable option into the base game.

Completing all levels in the entire game will unlock a boss fight rematch with Agent 3 in her orange color. This can be found at the lockers of Deepsea Metro Central Station.

Reception

The expansion DLC has received mostly favorable reviews from critics and gamers. On Metacritic, it has a score of "82" based on 30 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".