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Splitgate 2 will add bum slides and time-altering bubbles to its portal-hopping shootsingSlidegate
Slidegate
Image credit:1047 Games
Image credit:1047 Games
The firstSplitgatewas a cracker mash-up ofHalomultiplayer gunfights andPortal’s nifty spacetime windows. It was a gimmick that made flanking fun again, at least until you died to a distant rifle that was right next to you all along. Its sequel,Splitgate 2is continuing that gimmick but is also sprucing up the free-to-play arena shooter with a few modern additions, like bum-sliding around corners and big deployable bubbles called “time domes” that slow down your enemies yet speed up your allies. All this and more comes from a gameplay trailer that went up yesterday.
Official Gameplay Reveal | Splitgate 2Watch on YouTube
Official Gameplay Reveal | Splitgate 2
There you have it. Basically, the 4v4 arenashooteris adding character abilities, which you can mix and match according to faction. One faction, Aeros, is all about moving fast with a speedy sprinting ability and a faster reload time, popping stims to keep themselves alive. The bulky Sabrask faction get sticky grenades and a pop-up “smart shield” that blocks enemy bullets but allows their own to pass through. And the healing-focused Meridian can briefly spot folks through walls. There’s also a “health grenade” suggesting you’ll be able to blast buds with feel-good sparkles from afar. Plus that “time dome”, which speeds up friendly player movement (and shooting) while they stand inside. Enemies who enter will feel the opposite effect, slowing down noticeably, which I imagine makes it a decent area denial tactic as well as a support option. Cool.
As you can probably tell from the trailer, it seems to be taking an esportsy angle. I’m more of a casual bullet basker, so seeing a cadre of Twitch streamers doing call-outs does nothing for me in terms of excitement. And if this is the approach, I can’t help but fear some of the scrappy fun of the first game will be sanded away in favour of clinical and competitive match-ups. I know it’s early days for this sequel (we’ve only seenone other cinematic trailer) but there are no signs of daft stuff like the rocket launchers and baseball bats that made the first gamesuch a riotat times. They’re only showing off a vanilla 4v4 mode for now. I take some comfort froma developer FAQin which they say they are “focused on creating different and distinct experiences”. But what those experiences will be? I shrug at you.
It’s due out sometime in 2025. Meanwhile, Splitgate The First faces an uncertain future as a result of developers 1047 Games focusing on the sequel. And although they say the studio has “no plans” to shut down the first game’s servers before the end of this year, they are still leaving that possibility open for the following year.
“We know that it is common to kill the servers of the previous version of a game when a new one comes out. We know why companies do this,” say the shooter devs. “What we do with Splitgate next year is, to be completely honest, unknown to us right now.”
