I’ve played plenty of great new competitive shooters over the last few years, but if I’m being brutally honest, I can’t remember any of them feeling quite as fun and fresh as the original Splitgate. Who knew that dropping real-time portals into a Halo-esque arena shooter would produce such an addictive gameplay loop with a super-high skill ceiling? It seems obvious now. As a result, I’ve been waiting in anticipation for its big budget, Unreal Engine 5 sequel, Splitgate 2, to arrive. This week, we all finally got the chance to see gameplay for the very first time, and it looks absolutely sensational – however, I’m a touch worried that it may have lost the soul of the original.
You see, for Splitgate 2, developer 1047 Games is switching things up a bit by dipping a toe into the waters of hero shooters. From a gunplay perspective, things are looking very similar to the original (that’s a good thing) and the portals are, of course, still present (that’s an extremely good thing). However, there are now factions to select and abilities to use, giving it a flavor of FPS games like Apex Legends, XDefiant, or Overwatch.
When it was first hinted that abilities would be coming to Splitgate 2, I was initially a bit concerned. Sure, I was probably being a bit overprotective of the sacred source material that is Splitgate 1, but around the same time, Sony’s upcoming hero shooter Concord had just been very poorly received. ‘No one cares about hero shooters,’ the FPS mob cried as they waved their metaphorical pitchforks in the air.
I really didn’t want Splitgate 2 to be met with the same frosty reception. Nevertheless, I softened to the idea over time – abilities, if done right, could probably enhance the excellent portal poppin’ gameplay loop of the first game.
So what do I think now that I’ve seen them in action? Well, I think that the game looks incredible, and despite the facelift it’s still recognizable as Splitgate, even if players are now throwing down barricades and scanning enemies through walls. The gunplay looks tight, the movement looks slick, and the portal mechanic still works as it did in the first game, from what I can see.
However, that seed of doubt I had initially is still there, and it’s grown a bit. Having watched the gameplay reveal back a couple of times, there’s an enormous amount of air time given to the new abilities. Portals are of course mentioned, and there are a few clips showing players using them to their advantage, but they definitely weren’t the focus.
I appreciate the big shiny new feature should take centre stage, but I can’t help but feel a bit concerned that abilities are going to be the way to win games and outplay your opponents, rather than the mastery of portals that was intrinsic to the first game. And if that’s the case, what really separates Splitgate 2 from Overwatch, or Concord, or any other hero shooter?
Maybe I’m over-analyzing. At the end of the day, I thought the reveal looked great, and I’m itching to play what I’m sure is going to be a slick, fast-paced, and addictive multiplayer game. But I really hope that the soul of Splitgate hasn’t been lost in the process.