Side Order follows an Octoling named Agent 8, the protagonist of Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion, who finds themselves trapped in the featureless "Memverse", a virtual reality created by Marina from the pop band duo Off the Hook. Accompanied by a drone version of Marina's co-star Pearl, Agent 8 uncovers Order, a rogue artificial intelligence who threatens to forcefully abduct souls from the outside world to remove their free will and instigate a world of pure orderliness. With the assistance of Marina, Pearl, and another victim named Acht, Agent 8 journeys up a thirty-floor spire to destroy Order. The game features roguelite elements, such as the player's death forcing loss of all progress from their current climb, and the ability to purchase upgrades to ease future attempts.
Side Order received fairly positive reviews, with most critics praising its distinctive atmosphere and integration of Splatoon's mechanics into the rouguelite genre. Criticism was mainly directed at a perceived lack of level diversity over time.
An in-game screenshot of the Floor Selection menu. The player may choose one of the three scenarios offered which have varying difficulties and color chip rewards.
Side Order is a downloadable content (DLC) single-player campaign for Splatoon 3.[1] As with its parent title, Side Order is a third-person shooter. However, it is also a roguelite in that the player traverses through a challenge gauntlet during which they can enhance their abilities and losing all lives prompts a reset to the beginning.[2] Players control an Octoling, an evolved humanoid octopus named Agent 8, who previously starred in Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion.[3] They can choose one of twelve weapon loadouts known as Palettes to use during gameplay, all of which are borrowed from the main game.[4][5]
The player navigates through a vertical structure known as the Spire of Order, which consists of 10 floors during the tutorial and expands to 30 floors afterwards, earning the Membux currency as they progress.[5][6] Upon entry, players can select one of three challenge scenarios for their next floor, and sometimes a vending machine that sells certain abilities for the price of Membux.[4] There are five total level objectives that can be presented, all containing hordes of enemies known as Jelletons. Objectives include destroying portals from which Jelletons spawn, defeating Jelletons that flee from the player, guiding a mobile tower to a designated goal, pushing a ball to an end checkpoint, and Splat Zones, a king of the hill-style mode from Splatoon 3's multiplayer.[5][7] Each floor equips players with one or two[8] "color chips" for its duration. Color chips are perks attached to the player's Palette that augment particular gameplay mechanics, including movement speed, weapon capabilities, or extra features for the player's supportive ally, the Pearl Drone.[9][10] The Pearl Drone can both automatically locate and directly exert damage to Jelletons, additionally allowing for airborn gliding by the player.[8]
During the selection menu, levels can be randomly converted into "bonus" or "danger" floors. Bonus floors either offer a greater Membux reward if the player satisfies a secondary and optional objective, or temporarily enhance the player's Pallete for that floor alone. Meanwhile, danger floors add a debilitating side effect such as covering the floor with opponent ink, increasing the health of enemies, or inducing a blackout effect.[5][10]
Mandatory boss battles occur at fixed intervals every 10 floors.[6] These encounters do not award color chips but give players substantially more Membux than ordinary floors.[5] Floor 30 always has players combat Order, while floors 10 and 20 can house one of three possible bosses.[2] These are the Asynchronous Rondo, a rolling enemy whose shell gradually sheds; the Pinging Marciale, a tower-like enemy; and the Parallel Canon, a group of characters similar in appearance to the player.[11] Upon completing boss floors, players are also awarded keys that can later be used to open the compartments of a large locker at the base of the Spire. Said compartments contain new Palettes for Agent 8 to use, as well as in-universe diaries written by Marina that offer narrative background on various elements of Splatoon's world.[4][12]
If the player loses all of their lives during an attempt, they are sent to the bottom of the Spire, upon which their then-collected color chips and Membux are converted into a persistent currency called Prlz.[b] This currency can be invested outside the Spire into toggleable upgrades, called Hacks, that affect future attempts, such as increasing the damage output of weapons or the number of lives the player can have at once.[12]
Plot
A report from Deep Cut, the hosts of the Anarchy Splatcast, details strange phenomena occurring in Inkopolis Square, the hub world for Splatoon 2, with some inhabitants losing energy and appearing to stand around mindlessly. They then announce a train line opening between Splatoon 3's hub world, Splatsville, and Inkopolis Square. While travelling to Inkopolis Square, the player's main Splatoon 3 avatar falls asleep as a glitch effect takes over the screen, turning the train into an empty and bleak version of Inkopolis Square.
The game shifts control to Agent 8. They awaken in a virtual world called the Memverse, where they are found by Pearl, who is now a drone, of the pop music duo Off the Hook. The duo enter the Spire of Order to find Pearl's co-star Marina, who has vanished. In the elevator, they find Acht, a formerly "sanitized" Octoling and an old friend of Marina, who teaches them how the Spire operates and how to ascend through each floor, all which are filled with Jelletons, x-ray fish-like enemies. Upon reaching floor 10, they find Marina held captive and controlled by Order, an artificial intelligence formed out of wishes for an orderly world by people who have interacted with the Memverse.
After freeing Marina in the tutorial, Order ejects the group out and significantly increases the height of the Spire and the difficulty of the challenges within. Pearl is additionally reverted to her bodily form, and can now willingly switch into a drone. Marina explains to Agent 8, Pearl, and Acht that she originally created the Memverse to recover the memories of sanitized Octolings taken prisoner by the antagonistic Kamabo Corporation. Order then hijacked the Memverse to create a reality of "perfect order" by luring citizens within and taking away their free will via "grayscaling", which causes them to enter a mindless state in the real world. The group comes across a locker containing 12 "Palettes" that the player can equip to ascend the Spire; each Palette corresponds to the memories of someone from the real world (including Pearl, Marina, and Agent 8 themselves), but each contains errors—Marina explains that reaching the top of the Spire will allow the chosen Palette to be reconfigured, and completing boss fights with a new Palette rewards a key, allowing Agent 8 to unlock more Palettes.
The group eventually reaches the top of the Spire to challenge Order, who transforms into a powerful octopus form. Nearing defeat, Order attempts to "grayscale" all of Inkopolis, Splatsville, and the entire world, but the group survives the attack and defeats it using Pearl's "Color Wail" special weapon. Order is reduced to a tiny infantile form known as "Smollusk" and stripped of its influence over the outside world; the group leaves the Memverse and return to the real world. The player's main avatar then awakens upon arriving at Inkopolis Square. Deep Cut reports that most of the Inklings and Octolings have regained their energy and the Square has returned to normal, but a select few still appear to remain mindless.
Upon returning to the Memverse, Marina tasks Agent 8 with ascending through the Spire and defeating Smollusk (who remains at the top floor) with each of the 12 Palettes, stating that it is necessary to reconfigure all of them to avoid complications with each Palette's real-world counterpart. Upon defeating Smollusk with the final Palette, it admits that it is worried about being left alone forever now that the group's mission is complete. Marina states that it will still be necessary for the "sanitized" Octolings to reach the top of the Spire as part of their recovery, and that Agent 8 can come visit the Spire whenever they want, promising that Smollusk will never be left alone for long.
Development and release
Side Order's development began shortly after the release of Splatoon 3 in September 2022. During initial conceptualization, the team sought to create a world inspired by the aesthetic of order to diverge from Splatoon 3's emphasis on chaos; Splatoon 3's chaotic atmosphere was chosen due to Team Chaos' victory in Splatoon 2's final Splatfest, "Chaos vs. Order".[14] A virtual reality environment was created to stress how Side Order's gameplay would differ from that of previous Splatoon entries.[15] They settled on the theme of ascending a tall structure partly to contrast the subterranean setting of Splatoon 2's own DLC, Octo Expansion. The development team also felt the tower environment lended itself to the concept of repetetive challenges, a gameplay framework decided early on. A roguelite format was conceived to offer players a novel way of playing Splatoon, as the levels of previous installments' single-player campaigns were mostly linear and derivative of each other. The overall direction of Side Order's landscapes and sound design was guided by "a mixture of tenderness, sadness, and [...] nostalgic memories." The in-universe music group whom Side Order's soundtrack is attributed to is named "Free Association" as an allusion to these recurring themes of memory.[11] While the music is usually ambient, the background tracks of levels in the Spire become more distorted and as the player ascends to the top to elicit a gradual feeling of excessive order.[15]
The Jelleton enemies were designed as skeletal fish because the team thought bones were a logical motif for the expansion's off-white environments. The team deliberated on what the player's introductory guide would be, first considering an artificial intelligence like that of Splatoon 3's base single-player. Acht was ultimately chosen because developers thought the alternative would feel uninspired. Developers wished for players to be accompanied by a persistent, drone-like companion that could allow for mid-air gliding. Pearl, whose appearance in the story had been already established, was deemed as "work[ing] well" for this role.[11] Each boss fight is visually based on a particular marine-related concept: the Pinging Marciale is derived from sea urchins, the Asynchronous Rondo is inspired by looping conveyor belt sushi, and the Parallel Canon are commanded by a replica of Agent 4, the Inkling player character of Splatoon 2's base single-player.[11]
In a Nintendo Direct online presentation on 8 February 2023, Nintendo announced the Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass, featuring two waves: Wave 1, which includes Inkopolis, the hub world from the first game in the series, would release later that month on 28 February;[16] while Wave 2, Side Order was set to debut in 2024.[17] The DLC would ultimately release on 22 February 2024.[1] An art book consisting of conceptual artwork from Side Order's development, titled BancalaWalker, was announced on 10 September 2024, alongside a CD release of the soundtrack titled Ordertune.[18] Both were released by Kadokawa on 11 December exclusively in Japan.[19]
Side Order received generally favorable reviews according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.[20] Fellow aggregator OpenCritic gave the expansion a positive rating, being recommended by approximately 83% of critics.[21]
Side Order's core gameplay and presentation were commended. Logan Plant of IGN called Splatoon 3 a "perfect fit" for the roguelike genre, and praised the way it combined Splatoon's mechanics with the traditional roguelike formula.[5]Press Start's Harry Kalogirou found the experience of gradually crafting powerful loadouts to be rewarding, and thought the Hacks system promoted long-term replayablity.[12] The soundtrack was widely complimented, and Side Order's visual aesthetic was fairly well-received by reviewers.[5][8][23][22] Ozzie Meija of Shacknews praised Side Order overall as a refreshing take on Splatoon, and hoped that Nintendo would revisit the roguelite formula in a future installment.[9]
However, many reviewers criticized perceived excessive repetition during attempts. Several critiqued Side Order's levels themselves as having little diversity, leading to the gameplay seldom feeling monotonous.[2][5] Alex Olney of Nintendo Life similarly took issue with the limited number of boss scenarios accessible to the player each run at floors 10 and 20.[2]Nintendo World Report's Justin Berube derided the excessive amount of time required of the player to achieve 100% completion, finding the experience unpleasant.[6] Logan Plant opined that the expansion's pacing felt slow at times, saying that it thus lacked "that 'just one more run' feeling the best roguelites nail."[5]
12"【インタビュー】『スプラトゥーン3 エキスパンション・パス サイド・オーダー』の開発スケッチやウラ話満載！ 3つの視点から紐解く秩序の世界"[[Interview] Packed with development sketches and behind-the-scenes stories for "Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass: Side Order"! Unraveling the world of order from three perspectives]. Nintendo DREAM WEB (in Japanese). 20 April 2024. Archived from the original on 6 December 2025. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
↑@SplatoonJP (9 September 2024). イカ世界の書籍「バンカラウォーカー」が翻訳、完全再現され、12月11日に発売されるぞ。サイド・オーダーの世界に迫った特集の他、新たに登場した街やステージ、グランドフェスティバル、バンドメンバーの生態、などなど、大ボリュームの一冊となっているので、是非隅々までご覧いただきたい。[The squid world book "BankaraWalker" has been translated and fully reproduced and will be released on December 11th. In addition to a special feature that delves into the world of Side Order, this is a huge volume that also includes information on newly introduced towns and stages, the Grand Festival, the lives of the band members, and more, so be sure to read it thoroughly.] (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 January 2026– via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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