Video Games

This holiday season, remember to play the objective in Marvel Rivals’ Jeff Splatoon mode

Jeff’s Winter Splash Festival, Marvel Rivals’ first limited event, is here, but folks are forgetting the reason for the season(al mode)

Josh Broadwell

NetEase/GLHF

Jeff’s Winter Splash Festival, Marvel Rivals’ first limited event, is here, but folks are forgetting the reason for the season(al mode). Winter Splash is a Splatoon-like mode, where teams of Jeff compete to spray colored Jeff juice over the arena, and whichever team covers the most space wins – not whichever team murders the most Jeffs.

I played a few rounds after the mode went live out of curiosity to see how well NetEase assembled Rivals’ first big event just weeks after the multiplayer game launched. Short match times keep things breezy. Jeff’s healing bubble is an explosive ice orb now, which is fun. And the mode uses the Yggdrasil map, which, with its nooks, crannies, and chokepoints, lends itself well to the objective. 

When people remember to play the objective, that is. Out of the five matches I played, one featured both teams trying their darndest to spread Jeff-colored cheer across the ground. The give-and-take didn’t let up until literally the last second, and the winning team – with me as the MVP, in case you’re wondering – only squeaked by with a scant single percentage point in the lead. It was fantastic.

Less fantastic were the other rounds. Teammates went on hit missions to demolish the opposition, leaving the ground shamefully unpainted. One round saw everyone split up and continually get picked off by the other team, who also forgot to paint the ground anywhere except in front of their spawn point. Despite frequent eliminations, we won by a comfortable 80 percent margin.

To be clear, Winter Splash Festival is a good time regardless, helped in no small part by how adorable Jeff is and how fun he is to play. Just, y’know, remember to read the rules before you start.

While you’re messing about in Jeff Splatoon, whether you’re playing the objective or not, don’t forget to keep an eye on the tokens you earn from completing matches. Once you get enough, you can grab Jeff’s winter skin for free. It’ll probably be in the item shop later, if Overwatch 2’s seasonal skins are anything to go by, but it’ll cost coins by then.

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Josh Broadwell
JOSH BROADWELL

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or Rolling Stone shouting about RPGs. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or leveling yet another job in FFXIV.

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