Splitgate has always had a special place in my heart since I first played it in mid-2019. It felt familiar and fluid thanks to its Halo-esque gameplay, and its portal mechanics gave something new and exciting to the arena shooter genre. It was simply fun, and after playing for several hours during a recent playtest of Splitgate 2, I can safely say that Splitgate is back with a very strong sequel, but its changes to cater towards Esports may be a turn-off to some.
I’ll be the first to admit that Splitgate 2’s initial gameplay reveal was a fairly big eyebrow-raiser for me. Four-on-four matches, factions, abilities, and perks, all while being commentated by esports professionals, instantly told me where the game was heading. It felt like changes were being made for the sake of the esports appeal rather than continuing where Splitgate had left off with pure mayhem and fun, and after my time playing, that initial feeling still looms, despite the game being a ton of fun to play.
In a pre-playtest briefing, 1047 Games CEO and founder Ian Proulx told us that Splitgate 2 was the studio’s “game of their dreams,” which had to have the two fundamental parts that made the original game a success: portals and great gunplay. The gunplay is still stellar, and the new sliding mechanic adds to the overall fluidity in movement, creating some feel-good moments as you zip around the map in and out of portals.
Portals have also been tweaked and improved from the first title, from only needing a single button to use both portals to how a teammate’s portals will now move left or right to give your own portal room to spawn. These improvements limit hesitation and make Splitgate 2 similar in chaos to its predecessor despite the matches seeing a reduction in players.
One of the biggest causes for concern I saw from the community was the addition of Factions in Splitgate 2. It was an initial concern for me, too. But after playing, they do work incredibly well. The game has three different factions: Aeros, Meridian, and Sebrask, all of whom have different abilities, weapons, and perks. Thanks to Splitgate’s unique gameplay loop, not one faction screamed out as being better than the other during my time playing, but the new Faction-based system pushes players to play as a team rather than just running solo.
During the playtest, we had two different game modes to choose from: Team Deathmatch and Hotzone, both of which were round-based. Hotzone is a King of the Hill mode where teams have to cap two hills to win the round, and to win the match, teams have to win three rounds. An additional twist with Hotzone is that the hills take 20 seconds of shared capture time, meaning that, in theory, your team can control the hill for 19 seconds but have that point taken away from you if the enemy team captures the last second. This gameplay decision was described to us in a pre-playtest briefing to “encourage teamplay” and to create those “big moments.” It’s arguably a perfect gameplay decision for two full teams that talk to each other. However, for someone playing solo with three teammates without mics, it created immensely frustrating moments.
The round-based system is also incorporated in Team Deathmatch, with the first team reaching 15 kills winning the round, with 3 rounds to win the match. Rounds are so that players can change their faction if needed during a match, which for a mode like Hozone made a lot of sense, but for a mode like Team Deathmatch just sucked all momentum out of play.
Overall, Splitgate 2 is a very solid sequel. It’s built on the strong foundations that the original game left behind, with a prestigious AAA feel, beautiful maps, and some great improvements to gameplay. But after the playtest, I have been pondering whether some of its bigger changes to seemingly chase esports and competitive will be a turnoff to those who loved the original’s simplicity. While I still have the itch to play again, I hope the game offers a more casual playlist on its final release.
Don’t forget, you can sign up for the Splitgate 2 Early Access yourself to give it a try!
For more information on Splitgate 2, you can read our Everything we know About Splitgate 2 here.
