Splitgate 2 might have a little too much variety
“Halo with portals” is a killer elevator pitch for a shooter. That’s part of what made Splitgate a breakout multiplayer hit a few years ago and why I’ve been eagerly anticipating this sequel since 1047 Games announced it was moving on from support for the first game. I was excited to go hands-on with Splitgate 2’s alpha a couple of weeks ahead of time and get a sense of what’s new. While the winning formula still works, the sequel is going all in on new modes that could dilute the series’ killer sales.
Right now, Splitgate 2 feels like it could be too ambitious for its own good. 1047 Games wants this to be a comprehensive live service title filled with variety, but that draws Splitgate 2 away from its elegant portal shooting play. While the basic 4v4 arena mode feels as good as ever, most of the other new modes I tried either shoehorned the portal system into a game mode where it doesn’t really fit or deemphasized the use of portals entirely. That threatens to take away the unique edge that made it a breakout hit in the first place and make it a tough sales pitch in a volatile live service market, even if its wealth of content is designed to address that very challenge.
Open Alpha Teaser Trailer | Splitgate 2Variety for the sake of staying power
Before my hands on session, I asked 1047 Games CEO and co-founder Ian Proulx about Splitgate 2’s biggest improvements over its predecessor. He repeatedly referred to the idea that this sequel has more content variety to retain players long-term.
Recommended Videos“With Splitgate, it was super fun and super simple, but it lacked that variety and staying power,” Proulx tells Digital Trends. “We actually had really strong short-term retention. But what we saw is that players would come in, play three or four weeks, and ask, ‘Now what?’ as they’ve experienced everything there is to experience …We’ve addressed that through a number of different angles.”
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