Every viewer was stunned.
Even though the game carried a childish, cartoonish art style, it fit perfectly.
The architecture of the arena and its vibrant colors drew people in, even those who usually disliked bright settings.
The guns the players carried looked like oversized toys, each with a sleek plastic sheen and exaggerated shapes that made them unmistakably part of Splatoon's charm.
Felix pushed forward, firing his Splattershot straight toward the center.
He dove into the pink ink, his squid form gliding effortlessly beneath the surface. Behind him, his rookie teammates moved hesitantly, their aim uncertain.
The few players who were already level two or higher wasted no time, rushing ahead with practiced confidence.
One of the newbies looked completely lost.
He stuck close to Felix, following him as he charged ahead. Not spotting any danger yet, the player finally asked, "Bro, do you have any idea how to play this? How did you swim through all the ink?"
Felix glanced at him.
It was obvious this player had skipped the tutorial entirely. Patiently, Felix explained, "In the lower corner of your view, you'll see an icon for Squid Form. You just need to select the ability and use it while thinking about it, or tap it with your finger during battle."
There were many ways to play in the holographic pod.
Similar to VR, you could tap the floating icons on your screen, or in holographic mode you could remove all ability icons from view and simply think about the ability to activate it.
Still, most interstellar players preferred keeping the ability icons visible.
It was not a hindrance, and it actually helped by showing which abilities were on cooldown.
Players learned the importance of cooldown tracking back when they played games like Subway Surfers and Temple Run, so they rarely turned the icons off.
The newbie grinned with excitement. "Thank you, bro!" He immediately tried out the ability he had just learned, splashing into the ink with clumsy enthusiasm.
Felix watched him go, feeling a quiet sense of satisfaction. It was good to see someone enjoy the game as much as he did.
There was a story mode hidden beneath all the chaos of Turf War.
Felix knew players could choose to follow it or ignore it entirely, but for now, the action took center stage.
He pushed forward, firing at the enemies already in position.
Diving into the pink ink, he swam through the splattered pathways, slipped up onto a bridge, and shot an opponent from above before they even noticed him.
In one fluid motion, he dropped back down into the lower level. His teammates were locked in an intense battle, their shouts for help echoing through the match.
For voice chat, players could choose to hear everyone, only teammates, or mute it entirely like in the games from his previous life.
Felix selected the option to hear both teams.
It paid off when he caught an enemy cursing at him.
He smirked, then quickly eliminated that opponent from across the map.
The pink ink spread across the arena like a rising tide, flooding over enemy territory.
[ Felix is this good!? ]
[ I was watching another streamer when he got killed on the bridge, then I switched here. Both are the same level but the skill gap is huge. Glad I caught his name LOL ]
[ LMAO I came from another channel too and ended up here ]
His teammates, seeing the momentum shift, shouted, "Let's go! Reclaim the pink power-up!" Felix heard them but stayed silent.
He did not understand what they meant.
It was probably a generational thing, and now that he thought about it, he really was like an ancient relic compared to them.
The newbie Felix had helped earlier yelled, "Bro! You're so good! How are you so good!? the game only recently released!"
"In the tutorial," Felix replied simply.
The newbie froze.
They had completely skipped the tutorial and jumped straight into Turf War.
From this moment on, they silently vowed to not skip every tutorial available.
Minutes later, the Pink Team claimed victory.
[ Felix's team won! Let's gooo! ]
[ Wait for another update? Nonsense, I'm buying it right now! ]
[ For real, latecomers will be stuck at the bottom of the leaderboard! ]
[ Seeing how good this game is, goodbye to my monthly allowance o(^▽^)! ]
Felix thanked the viewers for watching but avoided saying too much in case they started to think he was one of the game's creators or a sponsored player.
The game itself would speak for him.
The results screen flashed, declaring him the MVP, and his level ticked up to level 2.
He was ready to jump into another round when a new message popped up from Alex.
[ Alex: Why didn't you invite me? Playing alone by yourself. ]
[ No way, the duo is back!! ]
[ I miss you, Alex!! ]
The original Felix and Alex had always been a duo in every stream.
They often played by themselves, and whenever one of them played alone, it felt like something was missing.
Most of the time, they were constantly together in games.
They had a good relationship, and although Felix wanted to make more friends in this world, he did not decline Alex's invitation out of politeness.
They added each other in Splatoon and formed a team.
Alex was still level one, a complete newbie.
Before jumping into matches, Felix made sure Alex understood the game.
Alex, being a chatterbox, had a streaming persona that was completely different from his real-life personality.
In the game, he could ask anything he wanted and talk as much as he pleased, and Felix did not mind.
He patiently explained everything until Alex became comfortable with the gameplay and rules.
When Alex was ready, they went straight into Turf War.