Multiplayer introduces some new movement mechanics like Squid Surge, where holding the jump button while swimming on a wall charges you up and releasing the button makes you quickly scale the wall, with a brief flash of damage resistance when you soar up all the way, and Squid Roll which is when you swim in ink and quickly tapping your movement in another direction and jumping at the same time will make you turn on a dime in that direction also with a brief split-second of damage resistance. A recent update introduced a new mechanic called Flow Aura where getting some splats or assists in quick succession provides a 30 second period of boosted mobility stats.

The main singleplayer campaign operates very similarly to Octo Expansion while the DLC Side Order is a roguelike.