Splatoon 3 announced Chill Season on Nov. 16, the sixth wave of content which brings new weapons, maps, cosmetics, and more for the winter season, but the community has focused on one special weapon in particular which shares many of its characteristics with another popular shooter.
The Splatoon North America account has started posting information leading up to Chill Season’s Dec. 1 launch, including new weapons and kits. Included in the newest teasers is the introduction of the Splattercolor Screen, the newest special weapon to be introduced since the Super Chump on Feb. 18.
The Splattercolor Screen is a thrown special weapon, similar to the Ink Storm or Triple Inkstrike. Upon landing, a long wall is instantly created in the player’s color, which obscures vision for both teams. Any enemy player who passes through the wall will be massively slowed, and lose the ability to see any colors for several seconds, as seen in the Chill Season announcement trailer.
Many players are not too surprised with the concept, as other popular shooters like Apex Legends have created abilities with similar effects. Season 15, Eclipse, introduced the Controller legend Catalyst on Nov. 1, 2022, who can raise walls of ferrofluid with her Dark Veil ultimate ability, providing cover to her team and deterring enemies from pushing through it.
The Splattercolor Screen and Catalyst’s Dark Veil aren’t complete copies, and share just as many similarities as differences. Both abilities provide cover for their team, let projectiles pass through them, and negatively affect enemies who pass through with a slow and the loss of color, while not affecting the user. Any allies who pass through the walls only suffer a reduced version of the slow and color loss effects.
Key differences between the two abilities include how the Splattercolor Screen can be thrown, but has noticeable translucent gaps that give enemies a small window to peek through. Catalyst’s Dark Veil must be manually placed at her feet, but is completely solid throughout, and has the additional effect of blinding enemies who pass directly through her wall. Additionally, Dark Veil stops all scanning abilities from going through the wall, while the Splattercolor Screen does not stop Point Sensors or Tenta Missiles from tracking players on the other side of the screen.
Currently, the Splattercolor Screen has not been teased in any upcoming weapon kits, but will likely be featured in the daily updates leading up to Chill Season’s launch on Dec. 1.
Excited fans can enjoy the pre-season content such as the new Tournament Manager which is already live and features Nintendo’s newest guidelines, and the upcoming Splatfest themed around the best go-to greeting, which runs from Nov. 17 to Nov. 19.
