Many players have been enjoying Splatoon 3, participating in ranked Anarchy series’ and confronting Salmon Run’s Cohozuna. With myriad game modes to engage in, Splatoon 3 has an incredible amount of gameplay diversity. Progression in Splatoon 3 is determined solely on what players wish to accomplish or retrieve, but a huge part of leveling up is represented in the player’s customization options. However, Splatoon 3 introduces a social feature with customizable lockers that players have since enjoyed stuffing with hysterical and creative ornamentation.
Unfortunately, Splatoon is new to having such a substantial social feature. Like previous Splatoon titles, players purchase and upgrade gear that other players can view and order in Splatsville, but lockers in Splatoon 3 allow for much more personalization. Not everyone may wish to indulge in decorating their locker, whether they wish for their hard-earned cash to go toward something else or not. But it is inarguable that lockers should be the first of many new social features in the Splatoon franchise, with more hopefully expanding on the interconnected hub world that players experience.
Splatoon 3’s Lockers Are a Fantastic Social Addition
Indeed, lockers have offered Splatoon 3 players a personal cubby that they can adorn however they please. Customization options include decorations, stickers, weapons, gear, parts accessories, and locker type. Further, leveling up is crucial to upgrading players’ lockers as well, since larger lockers are rewarded at higher levels. The inside-and-outside of locker doors can be slapped with stickers, and the interior can be fashioned to players’ liking. Interestingly and maybe even unnecessarily, a physics mechanic is evident within the locker’s interior where physical decorations need to be placed logistically.
If players remove a shelving unit with items on it, for example, those items will drop and land in whichever position physics have dictated. This makes locker customization needlessly satisfying as it is more challenging to engineer lockers the way players may want to. As for its social element, players can leisurely run around inside the lobby’s locker lounge to take a look at a number of players’ lockers. By selecting one and then tabbing left or right, players can even inspect these lockers at a close glance and enjoy other players’ designs. If players have friends added on Nintendo Switch, their lockers are also viewable.
Other Customizable Social Features Splatoon Should Consider
Likewise, if lockers had not been a social feature and were simply intended for single-player enjoyment, they may be much less enticing. But it is exciting to see each other’s lockers, and this should be a feature that is taken up a notch in a future Splatoon installment. Splatsville is a considerably large hub world and, while immersive and visually pleasing, it lacks much to do outside of traveling from one area to another—something players can mostly do by fast-traveling in the menu.
Of course, some areas are not viable to fast-travel to, such as Splatoon 3’s Tableturf Battle grounds. Instead, Splatoon should make full use of Splatsville’s incredible high-rise apartments for players to have their own customizable flats. This could give players an entire room to furnish, and could allow other players to visit their suite on the same apartment floor. Other areas within Splatsville could provide the same sort of social customization, and it is unknown whether a fourth Splatoon entry will take players to an entirely new locale that could structurally accommodate new social features in itself. Regardless, lockers are a fantastic first step toward more social customization features that should be celebrated in Splatoon. Until more social features come, players will surely continue to put their funniest and most interesting lockers on display.
Splatoon 3 is available now on Nintendo Switch.