We open on a clear, blue sky – as vivid a hue as any with which you’ll ink your environment and opponents in Splatoon 3. In the wastes below, an Inkling shelters from the baking sun, shawled in a threadbare cloak, sporting mirrored shades and what appears to be some kind of breathing apparatus. Once you’ve chosen their look and that of their diminutive salmonid ally, you’re thrust into a brisk control tutorial. Then it’s a short journey aboard a train to Splatsville, a new city hub. It’s only then that we remember Nintendo’s promise that the result of Splatoon 2’s final Splatfest would be honoured by the third game. Chaos reigned, though you’d be hard-pushed to tell: the new hosts’ broadcasts and the ranked modes might have ‘anarchy’ in their names, but there’s little sign of revolution here.

That goes for Splatoon 3 as a whole. Sure, there are small changes all over the place – judicious nips and tucks of the kind we’re now expected to refer to as ‘quality-of-life improvements’ (is anyone’s life really being improved by this stuff, or have we been collectively suckered into adopting a marketer’s term for the kind of refinements and additions you’d ordinarily expect of a sequel?), as well as a more expansive selection of stages, weapons and modes from day one. There’s no denying that Splatoon 3 feels a more generous package at launch than its two predecessors. Equally, you would struggle to argue against the assertion that this is Nintendo’s safest, most conservative sequel in recent memory.

Perhaps that was inevitable. With Splatoon, Nintendo pulled off the kind of trick it has on many occasions, getting so much right with the first game in a series that any followup is destined to find itself gilding the lily. It remains a thrillingly fast-paced, gleefully messy take on the online squad-based shooter, one where ink acts as your source of ammo, your main means of traversal, and the way to mark your team’s territory. The four-on-four, three-minute Turf Wars to which you’re limited until you reach level ten now begin in more dynamic fashion, as you launch into the fray from floating platforms, able to determine your landing position and thus to spread your team a little wider for faster coverage (potentially letting you unleash your special a little earlier, even if splitting up is never as smart an idea as you might think for a game that’s all about covering more ground than your opponent). It’s been bolstered by two new moves. A vertical surge, letting you zip up walls more quickly – potentially giving you the jump on a rival occupying the high ground – is joined by an evasive spin-jump where jamming the stick in the opposite direction while leaping lets you beat a hurried retreat in a pinch, the mid-air twist repelling some of that incoming ink.