Smite 2 reveals revamped sequel for mythological MOBA that won’t replace the original

rockpapershotgun.com:

God-battling free-to-play MOBA Smite is getting a full sequel, with an alpha test due to kick off this spring. The revamped rebuild will overhaul the decade-old game with fresh visuals and gameplay changes, but developers Titan Forge promise it won’t replace the original game.

Smite 2 is billed as a standalone sequel to Smite, which pits two teams of five players against each other in a fight to destroy their opponents’ base. Like fellow MOBAs such as Dota 2 and League of Legends, the action is split across three lanes and sees the players’ character gradually gain ever-more powerful abilities, but Smite swaps from the genre’s traditional top-down camera to a third-person perspective.

2014 marks a decade since the original Smite released. It’s apparently gone on to amass over 40 million players and - like any successful modern game - been replete with crossovers, adding beloved cartoon characters from nostalgic ‘90s Nickelodeon shows, the cast of Stranger Things and Avatar: The Last Airbender to its pantheon of deities. It’s also spun out into a turn-based tactics game and card game.

Smite 2 seems to be more of a deep revamp of Smite than a completely new game. Even so, Titan Forge (having split out of original devs Hi-Rez) say that it has been built from scratch to use Unreal Engine 5, overhauling the game’s visuals - including animations, spell effects and its user interface - and audio while also introducing new physics-based powers for gods such as the ice-summoning Ymir.

Behind the scenes, the new game will add new tiers and structures to its ranked online play, look to improve cross-platform play between PC and consoles, and generally aim to offer a smoother matchmaking experience.

There’ll be new characters