Coliseum

U.S. video game spending in June of this year dropped a substantial 21% compared to June of 2025. While that kind of decline might sound dismal, especially placed within the context of current economic struggles and abundant price increases everywhere, it’s also due to just how good June 2025 was for video game spending, bolstered by the record-breaking launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, as reported by the latest Circana analyst report. 

EA Sports UFC 6 took the top spot for best-selling game of 2026 for U.S. spending on physical and full game digital dollar sales, with Meccha Chameleon behind it in second, followed by 007 First Light and Star Fox, the recently released Nintendo Switch 2 remake of Star Fox 64. 

The top 10 is as follows: 

1. EA Sports UFC 6
2. Meccha Chameleon
3. 007 First Light
4. Star Fox
5. Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
6. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream
7. Forza Horizon 6
8. MLB: The Show 26
9. Minecraft
10. NBA 2K26

U.S. video game spending reached $4.5 billion during June (in totality), and first-half spending for the year finished 1% behind 2025’s pace, at $27.5 billion. For June 2026 itself, video game hardware spending dropped 62% compared to June 2025, down to $383 million, driven by the aforementioned Switch 2 launch. Switch 2 hardware spending in the U.S. actually dropped 79% compared to its launch month last year, though that’s likely to be expected given a console launch is a massive month, if not the biggest, for sales. That said, the Switch 2 remained the best-selling hardware across both units sold and dollars for June 2026 and 2026 year-to-date, with PlayStation 5 ranking second across the same measures. 

PlayStation 5 spending fell 19% year-on-year, and Xbox Series spending fell more than double that, according to Circana’s report. 

Looking more broadly at U.S video game spending, content (games, etc.) spending fell by 12% last month, compared to June 2025, down to $3.9 billion. Year-to-date content dollars remain flat compared to 2025, though, sitting at $24.3 billion. 

Surprisingly, subscription service spending was the only content segment in video game spending that experienced growth last month, jumping up 7% compared to June 2025; even mobile spending is down, which is rare. 

Finally, June accessories spending fell 21% from last year, to $232 million, and controller spending, specifically, dropped 31%. 

For more, read Game Informer’s reviews of EA Sports UFC 6, 007 First Light, Star Fox, and Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. 

Are you surprised by any of these spending reports? Let us know in the comments below!

Onimusha: Way of the Sword marks the return of Capcom’s samurai action series after a 20-year hiatus. While previous entries were set during Japan’s Sengoku period – the Warring States period – Way of the Sword brings players to the Edo period. Though Edo, known in the modern day as Tokyo, was the country’s capital then, protagonist Miyamoto Musashi’s adventures in Way of the Sword will largely take place in Kyoto. 

For Game Informer’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword cover story, I spoke to various leads working on the game to learn more information about this long-awaited return. While Kyoto is a great city and the setting of various games, it’s also a historic location that makes sense for Capcom’s goals in Way of the Sword. 

The Sengoku period began in the 1400s and ended in 1600, and that’s where the first four Onimusha games took place (and also modern-day Paris in Onimusha 3: Demon Siege – it’s a whole thing). Way of the Sword takes place in the early Edo period, which began at the turn of the 17th Century. Director Satoru Nihei tells me that Musashi is in his 20s in Way of the Sword, which means the game likely takes place between 1603 and 1613. And while he’ll visit other locations, like the Oni Realm, the game largely takes place in Kyoto. 

“Whilst investigating and researching Kyoto, we started finding all these strange dark stories and myths tied to Kyoto, and felt it was a really good match for Onimusha in terms of having the Genma involved in some of these dark elements of Kyoto’s history,” Nihei says. “That became a point for selecting Kyoto as a location.” 

While the real-life Musashi did visit Kyoto, Capcom has taken some creative liberties with why and when in Onimusha, for obvious reasons. Musashi didn’t go to Kyoto looking to fight Genma – he went there looking to put another notch in his successful sword duels belt. When he arrives there in-game, he’ll be quite young compared to his Kyoto-based stories of legend, Nihei says. He didn’t factor into local politics in the real world, and Nihei says don’t expect him to do as much in Way of the Sword. “In terms of politics and the surrounding historical context, [Musashi] doesn’t really factor into that too much, and just because we wanted to release this game to a global audience, we didn’t want to delve too deep into Japanese history and politics, which may not be as accessible for people outside of Japan.” 

Kiyomizu-dera Temple, as depicted in Onimusha: Way of the Sword

Way of the Sword lead writer Hiroshi Yamashita says he and his team looked at the legends and myths of Kyoto, developing many of the characters from that starting point, taking bits and pieces from here and there to flesh out more mysterious figures into something more resembling characters. “But in terms of actually writing the characters themselves, a lot of that comes from [me], and then I take that to the director and the rest of the team,” he tells me. 

As you might guess, the team at Capcom visited Kyoto many times – it’s just a short 40-ish minute train ride away, after all – to research the area, experience its atmosphere and history, and take in sights and sounds it might want to include in Way of the Sword. Art director Hiroyuki Nara tells me Way of the Sword’s Kyoto is meant to align with the idea of an “eerily beautiful dark fantasy.” 

“The general depiction or impression of Kyoto, for a lot of people, is a vivid kind of green, beautiful place, and [I would have] loved to recreate that sense in the game,” he says. “But just because of the setting and the time that it is, it’s obviously got a much darker edge than real-life Kyoto, so it’s something [I had to hold back on].” 

That said, a lot of real-life Kyoto is in Way of the Sword, including pagodas, shrines, and locations you can still visit today. I even went to the Yasui Konpiragu Shrine with some of the development team to learn more about it, and the Kiyomizu-dera Temple as well. You can see both locations in the gallery below: 

 

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer, and as part of my cover story coverage, I’ll be posting exclusive behind-the-scenes articles diving deep into the making of this game, the team’s thought processes, and more. We’ll also be posting exclusive gameplay and interview videos (including a Rapid-Fire Interview) on the Game Informer YouTube channel. Keep the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub bookmarked so you don’t miss any of it!

In the meantime, here’s some additional Onimusha: Way of the Sword reading for you: 

• Why 2026 Was The Year To Bring Onimusha Back After A 20-Year Gap
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword Cover Reveal
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword Digital Issue
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword Summer Game Fest Hands-On Preview
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword Hub

Anything else you want to know about Onimusha: Way of the Sword? Let me know in the comments below!

The Mega Evolution series of Pokémon Trading Card Game’s expansions rolls on with Pitch Black. This latest expansion from the popular Pokémon Trading Card Game features Mega Darkrai in its main art, but Mega Zeraora takes just as much of the spotlight, highlighting the battle between the malice and lightning these two Mythical Pokémon. 

Pitch Black introduces more than 115 new cards into the TCG pool. Inside of that, you can expect a heavy emphasis on Mega Evolution, as the name of this series indicates. However, there are also more than 20 Trainer cards, as well as more than 35 special-illustration cards. The Pokémon Company sent over some booster packs for us to open and see what we could find.

The crown jewel of this expansion looks to be a golden Mega Darkrai ex, which I did not pull. Though I missed out on most of the heavy hitters from this expansion, I enjoyed some of the incredible art showcased in this expansion. Though Goldeen and Delphox aren’t exactly a chase card, the special-illustration cards I pulled are certainly attractive enough to put on display. I also more than got my share of Zeraora and Silvally, and it was cool to see the Kalos starters and their evolved forms get the spotlight this time around. You can see more than 20 of my favorite pulls in the gallery below.

 

Pokémon Trading Card Game: Mega Evolution – Pitch Black is available now. For more Pokémon TCG coverage, head to our hub through the banner below.

Another year, another NBA 2K game – this year, NBA 2K27 will hit PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on September 4, with more expensive early access editions giving players the chance to hop in starting August 28. Ahead of the game’s launch, 2K has revealed the cover athlete stars alongside a roadmap to launch, so players know what to expect in the coming weeks. 

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, who was the NBA’s first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, will be on the cover of the Standard Edition of NBA 2K27; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, who was the 2024 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year and three-time WNBA All-Star starter, will be on the cover of the Deluxe Edition of NBA 2K27; and Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose, who was a three-time NBA All-Star player and the youngest MVP in NBA history, will be on the cover of the Ultra Edition of NBA 2K27. 

You can check out all three NBA 2K27 covers below: 

 

The Standard Edition will cost $69.99. The Deluxe Edition and Ultra Edition, both of which grant players early access to the game starting August 28, will cost $99.99 and $149.99, respectively. 2K says the Ultra Edition will be a “limited-time” offering available through September 6. 

Alongside today’s cover athlete reveals, 2K has also released a roadmap to launch for NBA 2K27. Check it out in the image below: 

• July 28: Gameplay Trailer
• August 10: 2K Beats Soundtrack
• August 13: Apparel Brand Spotlight
• August 18: There’s no word on what’s happening on this day, but various posters in the image above say to “tune in.” 
• August 28: Early Access
• September 4: Official Launch

As part of today’s reveals, each of the cover athletes shared their thoughts on being on the cover: 

• Victor Wembanyama: “When you’re truly obsessed with basketball, the game doesn’t stop when you leave the arena. NBA 2K is the court that never locks up, it’s always open whether you’re in Paris or San Antonio. It’s how you study the game, sharpen your IQ, and live basketball 24/7. To be the face of a game that fuels that hunger for hoops and whose covers immortalize the all-time greats; that’s a dream come true for me.”
• Caitlin Clark: “Being on the cover of NBA 2K27 is special because this game reaches fans all over the world. To be the first WNBA player on her own global cover means women’s basketball gets to show up on that stage too, and I am proud to be part of that.”
• Derrick Rose: “It’s crazy looking back at being on the NBA 2K13 cover to now having my own edition for NBA2K27. During my journey, there have been coaches who believed in me, teammates who made me better, and fans who showed up louder than I ever expected. So, this is a chance to inspire young athletes to stay obsessed with the game. To show them that when you put in the countless hours of hard work, it rewards you.”

 

NBA 2K27 launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on September 4. 

In the meantime, read Game Informer’s NBA 2K26 review. 

Which cover athlete are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below!

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer, and while the game has made quite a splash in the samurai-action scene, it’s easy to forget this is the first entry in the series in 20 years. Yes, we received remasters of the first and second games in recent years, and Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams (the fourth mainline game) is coming to PlayStation Plus’ Classics lineup next month, but Way of the Sword is the first new entry in two decades. That’s why, when it was time to interview the game’s director, Satoru Nihei, and one of its producers, Akihito Kadowaki, at Capcom’s Osaka, Japan, HQ for this cover story, my first question was: Why is 2026 the time to bring back Onimusha?

I half-suspected it was an issue of sales, considering the series has only sold 9 million copies, a far cry from Resident Evil’s 200 million, Monster Hunter’s 127 million, and even Street Fighter’s 59 million. The other half of me assumed Capcom had simply forgotten about Onimusha – after the first game, Onimusha: Warlords (which, after recently playing the remaster on Steam, I can confidently say still absolutely rips), launched in 2001, we received three sequels in the following five years. And that was it: Onimusha disappeared as fast as it arrived. Kadowaki tells me, however, that Onimusha’s departure from the action space wasn’t for lack of trying. 

“[Whilst Onimusha] was always well-received, there were, at Capcom at the time, other major series like Monster Hunter, Resident Evil games, and Street Fighter, but there were also up-and-coming developing titles,” he says. “And as development became more difficult, needing more time and more people, with all those people focused on those titles, it was very difficult to get a team together to make a new Onimusha game, despite wanting to internally for a long time.” 

Kadowaki says he personally wanted to have a hand in bringing the series back as a longtime fan of Onimusha. It took the RE Engine coming to fruition and a soft reset in 2020 for Capcom, as the publisher-developer looked at scheduling out the new/now-current generation of hardware and the games it intended to make for it, for Onimusha’s return. The team has been working on Way of the Sword for six years, and Kadowaki tells me that while Capcom paid attention to the action space and to what players expect of it, the team worked hard to ensure Way of the Sword retained everything that makes an Onimusha game an Onimusha game. He also specifically asked Nihei to direct Way of the Sword, aware that Nihei loved the games as a teen and wanted to make his mark on the series. Much to Nihei’s surprise, his opportunity to make a mark on Onimusha also became his first time as a director. 

When I ask Nihei where one even starts when making a new game in a series that’s been dormant for 20 years, he responds with one word: Issen. 

Present in every Onimusha game, the Issen is a powerful counterattack that players can perform by attacking just before an enemy attacks, often resulting in a critical hit. If you’re an Onimusha fan, it’s likely something you want to hear when it comes to this series’ return to the action space.

“[This] was one of the critical parts of that satisfaction and the feel of the period action, and the Oni Gauntlet, the tactical elements of it in terms of soul absorption, kind of weighing when to use those abilities and when not to, and then also the elements of the historical ties to the real history of Japan,” Nihei says. “Obviously, the previous titles were set in the Sengoku period, so the Warring States period, but just mixing those historical elements with dark fantasy elements is the core of Onimusha.”

This is just the first of many Onimusha: Way of the Sword articles I have planned for Game Informer’s month of coverage surrounding the game, and we’ll be publishing exclusive gameplay and behind-the-scenes videos (as well as a Rapid Fire Interview) on the Game Informer YouTube channel too. Keep the Onimusha: Way of the Sword coverage hub bookmarked so you don’t miss any of it!

In the meantime, here’s some additional Onimusha: Way of the Sword reading for you: 

• Onimusha: Way of the Sword Cover Reveal
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword Digital Issue
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword Summer Game Fest Hands-On Preview
• Onimusha: Way of the Sword Hub

What do you want to know about Onimusha: Way of the Sword? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll see what I can cook up for you!

Miyamoto Musashi is Japan’s most famous samurai. Presumed to have been born around 1583 (though the history surrounding his origins are murky at best) Musashi is famous for an undefeated record of 62 duels, the birth of dual-wielding Japanese swords in the katana and wakizashi, and for being the legendary figure at the heart of various movies, manga, novels, and more. He is now also a protagonist in Capcom’s Onimusha series, finally returning after a 20-year hiatus, with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, which is the latest game to grace the cover of Game Informer.

Game Informer video editor Eric Van Allen and I flew to Osaka, Japan last month to visit Capcom’s headquarters and learn more about how and why it was finally time for Onimusha to return. We played roughly three hours of the game, experiencing an extended demo of the “open-town” section of the game’s Edo-period Kyoto, where we eventually faced off against the terrifying Rasho-gan, the Wish Warper, before heading deep into an underground lab where we fought back against the sinister Genma creations of the demented Dokyo. We also interviewed various leads behind the game, including director Satoru Nihei, producer Akihito Kadowaki, art directors Hiroyuki Nara and Hiroshi Yugen, and lead writer Hiroshi Yamashita. Fresh off a replay of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny, I also got the chance to discuss the game (and its recent remaster) with its director, Motohide Eshiro. Leaving no stone unturned, Eric and I also went to a local arcade to play Onimusha VR: Shadow Team and traveled to Kyoto by train to check out the real-life locations that appear in Way of the Sword.

Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto, Japan

You can expect a lot of Musashi in our coverage hitting the site over the next few weeks, starting with your first look at the Onimusha: Way of the Sword cover featuring the man himself. In the art, Musashi is pictured armed with an Oni Gauntlet and determination in his eyes, ready to defeat the surrounding Genma as Kyoto burns around him.

 

Perhaps I’m biased, but this is one of my favorite issues we here at Game Informer have made in a minute. That’s in part due to Onimusha: Way of the Sword being on the cover, yes, but also because the magazine is jam-packed with incredible writing. Contributors include JJ Bersch, who wrote an excellent retrospective on Kirby Super Star for its 30th birthday, Hayes Madsen, who chronicled the success of Capcom in recent years, and Luis Gutierrez, who went hands-on with The Blood of Dawnwalker and detailed why he’s so excited for more after three hours. We also have a big roundup of upcoming games from small teams with big potential, and it’s sure to make your wishlist grow three times as large. Plus, editor-in-chief Matt Miller went deep on Crowsworn, an upcoming action platformer you need to keep an eye on, and associate editor Charles Harte traveled all the way to Paris to play Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse in a deconsecrated church.

That’s not even half of the goodness you’ll find in this issue, either. We have previews of exciting upcoming games like Orbitals, Signet City, Resident Evil Veronica, Erosion, Fable, Clutch, ILL, Gen Atlas, Echo Weaver, Crossfire, and more, as well as reviews of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, Star Fox, Rhythm Heaven Groove, and Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. We tapped contributors Connor Trinske, Jay Guisao, and Danreb Victorio to review Gothic 1 Remake, EA Sports College Football 27, and NBA The Run, respectively, too.

All of this is to say this issue is an incredible one, and hey, guess what? You can read the digital edition right now! Physical versions will be arriving in your mailboxes mid-to-late August, just in time for some Onimusha reading before the game’s September launch. You can find the issue in bookstores and newsstands globally around the same time, too. Be sure to subscribe today to receive 10 Game Informer magazines a year (physical and digital) and get the Onimusha: Way of the Sword magazine as your first issue.

Since we first learned about it, Echo Weaver has been an indie Metroid-inspired game we’ve been keeping our eyes on it. Thanks to its persistent time-loop mechanic and unique approach to the Metroidvania genre (which developer Moonlight Kids calls “Metroidbrainia”), we’ve been eagerly anticipating getting out hands on it. Not only did we get our hands on it (you can read our preview in the new issue of Game Informer), but Game Informer can exclusively reveal that Echo Weaver arrives on consoles and PC on October 8.

In Echo Weaver, you take control of the last Weaver in the ruins of a dead world. In true Metroidvania fashion, you traverse an ever-expanding 2D map, solving puzzles, battling enemies, and learning new abilities. The keyword there is “learning” when it comes to new abilities, as the gating in this game doesn’t come down to unlocking new abilities, but rather you, the player, learning how to pull off certain mechanics. There are areas where it tutorializes the abilities, but if you stumble upon it before then, you aren’t prevented from using that power. In the early hours, the puzzles, combat, and platforming all felt thoughtful and well-designed, leading us to continue carrying our enthusiasm for the latest game from Moonlight Kids. 

If you’re a subscriber to Game Informer, you can read the digital preview of Echo Weaver right now. And if Echo Weaver sounds up your alley, you can look forward to the full release on October 8, when it comes to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, and PC.

In case you missed the announcement a few months ago – and there wasn’t much fanfare, so I couldn’t blame you – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting a brand new expansion, over a decade after its release. Called Songs of the Past, we don’t know much about it yet, other than the fact that it’s being developed alongside Fools Theory, the team in charge of the Witcher 1 remake, and that it’s coming out in 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. However, today CD Projekt Red shared that the game’s first look will debut at this year’s Opening Night Live showcase at Gamescom, which will occur next month on August 25.

Held in Cologne, Germany and hosted by Geoff Keighley, Opening Night Live is the games industry’s third major showcase, alongside The Game Awards and Summer Game Fest. It’s open to the public (though this year is already sold out) and livestreamed around the world. As the name suggests, it’s presented at nighttime in Europe, but it occurs during the day in the US, at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CEST.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is widely regarded as one of the best games of the modern generation, with an elaborate open world, memorable side quests, and two major expansions that live up to the base game’s standards. Developer CD Projekt Red seemingly moved on after the second expansion, going on to develop Cyberpunk 2077 (spending years patching it) and its Phantom Liberty expansion. We even know that the studio is working on The Witcher 4, starring Geralt’s daughter Ciri, and while we don’t know for sure, we wouldn’t be surprised if Songs of the Past leads into the next mainline entry in some way.

Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, one of the directors of The Witcher 3, has since left CD Projekt Red and is now behind The Blood of Dawnwalker, an upcoming vampiric action RPG that shares some DNA with The Witcher games. For more on that, you can check out our exclusive cover story hub for behind-the-scenes details and watch the video above about Tomaszkiewicz’s transition from one series to the next.

Reviewed on:
PC

Platform:
PC

Publisher:
Evil Trout

Developer:
William Rous, Evil Trout

Release:
July 14, 2026

A big part of me wants to forgo explaining what makes The Incident of Galley House great for fear of revealing too much; to just say “trust me, play it. It’s good.” Unraveling the truth behind the unsolved deaths of a group of people gathering at a mansion one stormy night in 1936 is engrossing and inventive, with a tale that keeps you guessing until its final moments. Although I didn’t get all of the answers I wanted, I was immensely impressed with the revelations I did uncover and the journey to find them.  

The Incident of Galley House is a reimagined take on the 2025 horror text game, Type Help, by William Rous that has been remastered and expanded by Evil Trout, creators of The Roottrees Are Dead. Players control a researcher who visits the condemned Galley House where multiple dead bodies were discovered decades prior; the causes of their deaths are unknown. Using a machine capable of reconstructing scenes from the past to watch in the present, you piece together the conversations, actions, and whereabouts of each person during the ill-fated hours leading to their demise. The present-day premise was fascinating enough to draw me in, but the events of the past hooked me. A man is invited to Galley House by someone named Rupert Galley, but none of the residence’s many guests have heard of this supposed host. This begs many questions: Who is Rupert Galley, and why did he invite this man? Why have these visitors gathered this night? And, most importantly, why and how is everyone dying?

Like The Roottrees are Dead, The Incident at Galley House quickly becomes a fun, all-consuming exercise of gleaning context clues from conversations and physical evidence to uncover new information that gradually reveals the full events of a 26-segment timeline. Doing so requires engaging with an inventive system of correctly entering numerical codes that indicate the location, time, and people (who are only identified by a number until you discover their names) to find scenes matching those criteria. The experience of deducing who did what and where reminds me of Clue; I got a kick out of figuring out if, for example, two characters were in the living room during a specific time based on information I learned from a different, chronologically later scene I happened to unlock first.

I appreciate how much flexibility The Incident at Galley House allows for filling out the timeline. You can follow each character’s night one at a time, focus only on reaching the end of the timeline by advancing numerous character threads (and backfill missing scenes later), or do your best to learn every character’s whereabouts chronologically before moving too far ahead. I enjoy the agency in how to approach the investigation, and the game is constructed to allow multiple paths to solving its problems. The story is an immaculately well-written web of clues and references that rewards you for paying attention to not only what’s being said (both at face value and the subtext) but also the visual elements of a scene and the layout of Galley House’s many areas, which in themselves must first be discovered. Revisiting a curious line of dialogue with new perspectives on the person or situation to find information hidden in plain sight never stopped feeling satisfying or, in some cases, mind-blowing.

 

Since you follow 26 scenes for each of the game’s dozen or so characters, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of dialogue and information you have to keep track of. Thankfully, The Incident at Galley House offers many helpful tools to make sense of it all. The notepad from The Rootrees are Dead returns, letting you take in-game notes and save quotes directly from dialogue transcripts. Scenes can be paused so you can re-read and highlight key text before resuming them. A search engine surfaces conversations based on keywords, and you can even place markers on the timeline to indicate events, such as a character death, at a glance. The Incident of Galley House also communicates how many locked cinematics remain discoverable in each scene, which was one of my favorite time-saving features from The Rootrees are Dead. Though I didn’t need to use every tool often, if at all, I was happy to have them.

You don’t need to find every scene to solve the mystery, but I was so fascinated by not only the overarching story, but also the smaller questions surrounding Galley House’s cast that I obsessively played until I was sure I’d seen everything. The voice performances are generally good, save for some weirdly muted reactions whenever someone learned of another’s death that sometimes took me out of the moment. I enjoyed getting to know Galley Houses’ colorful visitors and grew to like some of them enough that I felt a growing existential dread knowing they wouldn’t make it out of the house alive. Speaking of dread, the game’s eerie vibes and presentation add a welcome layer of creepiness to the already dark subject matter – and the game taps into its unsettling atmosphere for some effective hair-raising moments.

The Incident at Galley House constantly made me reevaluate my theories and approach, and several big twists spurred my search for answers throughout many late-night sessions. Sadly, I found the conclusion to be a mixed bag. The story purposely withholds the biggest explanation I’d been searching for while still offering enough significant ancillary explanations to avoid falling completely flat. It’s an artistic choice that may resonate with some, but after so many hours of searching and concocting numerous wild theories, I wanted a more concrete answer than what the game provides. Still, I had a blast figuring out the fates of these doomed souls, and I’d wager any puzzle or adventure game fan will too.  

Score:
8.75

About Game Informer’s review system

Reviewed on:
Switch 2

Platform:

Publisher:
Nintendo

Developer:
Nintendo

Release:
July 23, 2026

Though known primarily for its competitive multiplayer gameplay, Splatoon’s single-player content has been engaging and creative since the 2015 debut entry. This side of the series offers obstacle courses, shooting galleries, puzzles, and boss battles with continually novel gimmicks. Splatoon Raiders amps up the combat part of that equation, delivering a multitude of intense encounters. The result is a more focused PvE, looter-shooter-inspired Splatoon game that sunk its hooks into me until long after the credits rolled.

Even though the competitive multiplayer element is absent from this package, Splatoon Raiders maintains the vibrant visuals and excellent gameplay feel that popularized the mainline titles. Gliding through a colorfully inked surface while you reload remains smooth and responsive, and the weapons and abilities – of which there are a ton – allow you to blast your way through each bite-sized encounter however you’d like. Though I struggled to find the same balance of weapon utility I typically discover in the multiplayer titles, I loved experimenting with how different character loadouts interact with the various challenges Splatoon Raiders threw my way.

 

Tinkering with my build quickly became a favorite activity between missions. Splatoon Raiders gives you upgradeable tanks, which serve as character classes. The Speed tank offers mobility options and ranged attacks, while the Power tank grants abilities centered on aggression. My personal favorite, the Tactical tank, lets me place turrets, ink vortexes, and trip-mines to help me even the odds. Each of these ability gadgets is upgradeable and customizable, and when you combine the vast number of modifications with the huge arsenal of weapons, not to mention the three selectable Ultimate abilities, I’m still tweaking my loadouts even hours after rolling credits. Thankfully, a rewarding post-game campaign ensures Raiders will remain in my rotation for the next several weeks.

The story is a silly and forgettable treasure-hunting tale, but it serves as an appropriate catalyst for the quick-hit raids you take on in rapid succession. Whether in single-player or cooperative play, you embark on missions involving multiple levels of timed battles, linear stages full of baddies, or open areas built for free-form traversal; though I appreciate the assortment of map layouts, by the end of the campaign, the repetition began to set in, both with the mission types and the disappointing soundtrack. But whether you’re talking Power Eggs to charge your Ultimate meter, enemy parts for crafting, Spirhalite Shards for currency, or new weapons and gadget parts to customize your loadout, you are constantly gathering items to boost your chances at success. 

Crucially, the item collection process is smooth and doesn’t disrupt the intuitive weapon-use/reload-swim rhythm Splatoon has always delivered. And that’s a good thing, because the intense battles against the wide array of combatant creatures keep you on your toes. Whether you’re blasting Smallfry and Chum minions or one of the more than 10 unique Salmonid types that pop up, each raid combines similar ingredients to deliver unique experiences. And since each powered-up Salmonid poses unique threats and possesses distinct weaknesses, the enemy spawns help alleviate some of the mission-type fatigue. 

Though I miss the more puzzle- and platforming-based excursions of other Splatoon PvE content (here, those are mostly relegated to side-mission tutorials involving specific gadgets), I can’t deny the tightening of my grip and leaning in my posture each time the Salmonids flooded the map and forced me to adjust my approach on the fly. That’s even more true for the more powerful variant enemies and the impressive set-piece boss battles. Splatoon 3’s bosses lacked the originality of other Splatoon PvE content, but Splatoon Raiders proves that was merely a minor hiccup.

If your firepower doesn’t prove to be enough to take on the Salmonids, you can invite other players to help your cause. Testing the multiplayer features on pre-release servers, I had a smooth experience partying up and taking on Splatoon Raiders’ missions alongside other players. The levels all feel appropriately designed and scaled for single-player play, but if you need any extra help, you can also send out a beacon for a random player to join your session for one mission, with special loot awarded upon completion.

Splatoon Raiders is the kind of game I struggle to put down. Most raids only take minutes to complete, and the steady feeling of upgrading your abilities constantly tempted me to play “just one more” to test out the latest tweaks I made. Though Splatoon’s single-player content has always been underappreciated, Splatoon Raiders makes it difficult to ignore, shining a bright light on the series’ oft-slept-on side.

Score:
8.75

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