The much anticipated Splatoon 3 DLC Side Order dropped February 22. Side Order is the second phase of Splatoon 3 DLC, the first phase made it possible to visit Inkopolis, the location that the first Splatoon game took place. 

Side Order takes place in a colorless version of Inkopolis Square, the main location of Splatoon 2. Side Order follows Agent 8, the protagonist of Splatoon 2’s DLC Octo Expansion. Agent 8 wakes up with Pearl from Off The Hook, except she’s been turned into a drone. Now Agent 8 has to fight through the floors of Inkopolis Square’s tower with Pearl and their new companion Atch to find Marina and stop Order, the mastermind behind what is happening to Agent 8 and gang. 

One of Side Order’s key features is that when going through the floors is that you only get a certain amount of lives for the entire tower. You start with one life for the entire tower, if you die you have to start from the very bottom of the tower. You can get upgrades outside of the tower, these upgrades can increase your lives, give you Pearl Drone upgrades, and other upgrades which will make your venture to the top of the tower easier.

When exploring the tower you will come across a never before seen type of enemies called Jelletons, the very first enemies to not be Octarians in the single player mode. They have a slight mechanical looking skeleton surrounded by black goo with bright red eyes.

There are many different types of Jelletons you will encounter within the tower: Swarming Languendo, Marching Andante, Battering Lento, Drizzling Capriccioso, Panicking Alla Mambo, Whirling Accelerando, Springing Spiccato, Gushing Trionflae, Spawning Accordo, Homing Arpeggio, and the Towering Nobilmente. They each deal damage to Agent 8 in different ways, a few of them even resemble Octarian enemies like how the Towering Nobilmente has a very similar attack to the Octosniper. 

When exploring the tower you will be given 3 choices for the next floor you go up, they each have different objectives, difficulties, and rewards. The different floor objectives can be one of six types: Portal floors, tower floors, Splatzone floors, chase floors, infinity ball floors, and vending machine floors. Portal floors are very simple, all you have to do is destroy the portals which continuously spawn more Jelletons. For tower floors you need to hit a tower with ink to guide it to the end goal.

Splatzone floors are just like the ranked mode, you must keep the zone covered in your ink color. Chase floors are where you have to chase and splat Panicking Alla Mambos to clear the floor. They will run away from you, but you can slow them down in your ink. Infinity ball floors are just like Octo Expansions eight ball stages, except the balls can’t fall off the stage. Battering Lentos will push the infinity balls around trying to keep you from getting them in the goal. Finally are vending machine floors, these floors hold a vending machine that contain color chips, new sub weapons, new special weapons, and more lives if you have unlocked multiple lives.

Side Order has two different kinds of currency, Membucks and Prlz. Membucks can be used to purchase items from the vending machines. When leaving the tower all the Membucks you earned will turn into Prlz. Prlz are used to unlock the previously mentioned upgrades that make you venture up the tower easier. 

Finally, Side Order’s main mechanics are color chips and weapon palettes. Color chips give you non-permanent upgrades when venturing the tower. You can get multiple of the same color chip to increase its effects. You get either one or two color chips per floor you clear. Weapon palettes give you different weapons to use within the tower. You are able to unlock more through keys, you can obtain keys through reaching certain checkpoints with your current palettes. \

Side Order has taken a direction which no single player campaign in the franchise has before. Splatoon 3 and Side Order are available to play on the Nintendo Switch.