Splatoon 2 will ink you right in your squid face!

A special Nintendo Direct focusing entirely on Splatoon 2 took place yesterday, detailing a whole heap of features we can look forward to in the anticipated sequel.

There’s a real emphasis on style, with players able to customize their character in many ways, including eye, hair and skin colour, along with a range of different clothing options that can be found in the Inkopolis Galleria.

Helping you “stay fresh” on your journey is new hosts Marina and Pearl, which we are already living for. The DJ and Popstar combination looks to bring some inky beats to your Splatoon 2 experience, replacing former hosts Callie and Marie (but don’t worry fans, they will still be involved in the single player campaign). Clearly the coolest chicks in all of Inkopolis, they’ll be taking lead on the multiplayer chaos that Inkopolis residents love so much.

Weapons now come in sets of three, including a main weapon, a sub weapon and new special weapons, which include the Tenta Missiles, the Inkjet, the Sting Ray and the Baller, which lets players roll up walls in an explosive hamster ball.

In terms of modes, the ever-enduring Turf War is back, along with Ranked Battles and League Battles which rotate modes and courses every two hours. for more serious squids.  All eyes are on Salmon Run, the new local- and online-multiplayer mode that finds up to four players working together to defeat bosses and collect Power Eggs in a limited amount of time.

You have to survive three waves, with the last one featuring loads of Salmonids and bosses in what looks like a colourful inked-up version of Gears of War’s horde mode.

SplatNet 2 is our first proper look at the Nintendo Switch Online app , which allows you to add other players who have the game to join in battles and communicate with those players using voice chat.

It also includes some Splatoon 2 specific data,  such as information on stage schedules, gear and stats, along with Lifetime Inkage, a feature that shows how much turf a player has inked compared to real-world places

There’s heaps more where that came from, so why don’t you watch the video below to see for yourself or head to the official Nintendo Direct website for the full presentation.

Splatoon 2 launches for the Nintendo Switch on July 21st, with support for ongoing Splatfests to be in place for at least the first two years, which sounds pretty great to us. Are you keen for a splat?