Play Splatoon 2 free before it comes out with the pre-release Splatfest event

You'll have one last shot to try Splatoon 2 before it comes out on July 21, but this is no ordinary Turf War. All Nintendo Switch owners are cordially invited to decide the final answer to one of our time's most pressing questions in the first ever pre-release Splatfest on July 15: which is better, ice cream or cake?

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That's 6 pm to 10 pm EDT, or 11 pm to 3 am BST. I just checked to see if the demo client is downloadable yet and it wasn't, but you might have more luck depending on when you're reading this.

If you've never played in a Splatfest before, it's pretty simple. You just pledge your loyalty to one of the two options - in this case, decadent cake or delicious ice cream - then engage in glorious Turf War combat while representing your team (with a special T-shirt, even). Whichever side racks up the most points at the end of the event wins. You won't have to wait long to find out the victor since this event will only last four hours.

Read our Splatoon 2 news round-up for more info and then ponder whether limiting Splatoon 2's Salmon Run online co-op mode to scheduled times is actually a good idea.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.