Splatoon 3: How To Beat The Secret Kettle

"Splatoon 3" was just released and it's already exceeding all expectations. There are tons of new features that give players plenty to do and make it a worthy successor to the immensely popular first two games. There are new maps, new weapons, and the new "Salmon Run" game-mode that adds a wide variety of new bosses and enemies. Nintendo has also been avidly defending the game's multiplayer mode from those who would seek to undermine its fairness by cracking down on cheating. So far, fans and critics alike seem to have nothing but positive things to say about it.

There are three main ways to play the game: Multiplayer, Recon, and Story mode. The story takes place five years after the events of "Splatoon 2" and allows players to battle their way through the apocalyptic desert Splatlands. The only downside seems to be that the game's campaign is fairly short, with the story-mode only taking about eight hours for players to beat. That's why it may behoove some gamers to explore all the additional content they can. There is one section of the campaign in particular called the Secret Kettle which can only be unlocked if the player meets certain conditions. Here's how to do it.

Just as the name implies, the Secret Kettle is a secret final level. Players who want to play through it must first complete every single mission in the game and then defeat the final boss. "Splatoon 3" doesn't actually require players to complete every mission in order to beat the game, so a lot of people may finish it without ever discovering this hidden challenge.

There are 74 missions in total across eight sites including the prologue. 5 in Camp Cuttle, 10 in Future Utopia Island, 9 in the Cozy and Safe Factory, 7 in Cryogenic Hopetown, 13 in Landfill Dreamland, 13 in the Eco-Forest Treehills, 13 in Happiness Research Lab, and 4 in the Space Center. Players must defeat all of these and their associated bosses in order to complete the Alterna logs and gain access to the Secret Kettle. They're definitely going to need the practice too, since the Secret Kettle is far-and-away the most difficult section of the game. Once this is done and they see the, "a secret kettle has appeared!" note pop up on their screen, players simply need to return to Future Utopia Island where they will find a hatch labeled After Alterna. Entering the hatch will begin the secret final level, though players will need 333 power eggs in order to access the area.

The first stage of the kettle kicks off with a fairly difficult obstacle course. The player will immediately be met by several slanted platforms with enemies at the end that will shoot at them. They will then have to cross four rotating octagonal platforms. More enemies will appear throughout the level. The ones with Gatling guns should be taken out quickly, before their weapons have a chance to spin up. After this, there will be a boost wheel to launch to the next area. Shooting the balloon between the two large owl-like enemies will take them both out.

The player will then have to climb a tower, using the Squid Surge to boost between the gaps while being careful not to be knocked off by the sweeping brushes (via GameRant). Several more enemies and balloons will dot the rest of the climb. The inkling will then be able to ride several platforms attached to cables down from the tower. The first time, there will be two enemies at the bottom. The second one will end with them needing to perform a Backwards Squid Roll to land safely. Then there will be grind rails that they will traverse while enemies shoot at them. Finally, there will be a rotating chain of platforms. The player will have to ink all of them in order to give themselves a route to get to the far side. A launchpad on the far side will take them to stage 2.

The second stage of the Secret Kettle involves a ton of grinding and doesn't give the player a lot of time to react. They will have to hop back and forth between rails all while shooting at balloons that appear over them. Some players consider this to be one of the hardest parts of the trial since there is such a small window to move between the rails before running into the balloons and all of the balloons need to be popped in order to succeed.

The best tactic seems to be to try to jump over to new rails as soon as they appear in order for the player to give themselves as much time to shoot the balloons as possible. This might seem easy enough at first, but they get progressively more tricky as they go on. There is an area where three pipes will appear and the player will have to jump across them going left and then right in order to hit the ones that appear on the outer edge. They will then start an upward spiral where the balloons appear in the center in groups. These need to be eliminated quickly as the player only has until the spiral runs out to get them all. The balloons will start rotating after this, making them harder to hit, but the final challenge is shooting a large collection of balloons while in a freefall just before reaching the launchpad.

Now, onto Stage 3. This will involve navigating several soaker blocks which will start to disappear if the player goes too long without shooting them with ink. Some of these pathways will be very long and give the player very little time to cross. There will be several enemies along this course, making navigating the terrain even more difficult. Players will eventually reach a ridge that seems to have no way down. The only thing in sight is several balloons dangling from floating platforms on the left side. Popping the closest one of these will start a chain reaction that will lead to the soaker blocks on the opposite platform and create a bridge for the player to cross. Several enemies will appear on this bridge, but the player will have to move quickly as the path will quickly shrink behind them.

Several of the obstacles after that involve riding on fish-shaped rockets with platforms on their back. The player will have to use the soaker blocks to get above them and then wait until the blocks dissolve enough for the platforms to pass through the area before jumping onto them to get to the next area. Jumping too soon will result in the rocket exploding when it hits the soaker block with the inkling still on it. This is the final challenge before reaching the launchpad for Stage 4.

The fourth and final stage is much more combat focused than the obstacle courses players have had to face in order to get here. The inkling will be dropped into an open arena with pillars and ridges that can be used as cover. Here, they will have to face waves of enemies. There will be a lot of Octolings running around the arena in the beginning, hiding behind the various pillars and ledges as they lob their purple ink at the player. The easiest way to face these smaller enemies seems to be finding a corner to hold down and letting them come to you. There are even more of them in the second wave than the first, but the overall strategy seems to be roughly the same. Several of the Octolings will have shields during the third wave, making it slightly different as it may be better to attack them more directly. The last wave is by far the trickiest, however, as the Octolings will begin lobbing bombs that send out shockwaves which the player will have to avoid. They will also use jetpacks to boost around the arena, making them harder to hit.

This is an incredibly difficult series of trials that has caused more than a few players to throw up their hands in defeat, but those who can manage it will have beaten the most difficult kettle in "Splatoon 3."