Splitgate 2 hands-on preview — Stepping through into 2

I’m one of the few people who never tried Splitgate 1. It’s not that I wasn’t interested, I just never had time to check it out. Every time I wanted to, something came up. This time, I wasn’t going to let chance pass me by. A few weeks ago I sat down at my computer and finally tried Splitgate, but I figured I’d go for broke and play Splitgate 2 at a preview event with fresh eyes. There will be some takes here you’ll expect if you’re a Splitgate fan, and maybe some you disagree with as well. One thing is for sure, Splitgate 2 promises to be bigger than before, in more ways than one.

For those like me who aren’t familiar with Splitgate, it’s pretty simple. You are playing a shooter similar to Halo, but with the added dexterity of making plays through portals, just like the game Portal. Thankfully, your portals are limited to specific surfaces, so you’re limited on the kinds of use that’s available. Any more would honestly be chaos, and this allows the map design to be intentional.

If you’ve played a Halo game of any kind, this is going to be familiar to you. While Splitgate 2 does run closer to Halo’s Reach game and Destiny, as a Call of Duty player I found myself comfortable even if a bit slowed down. This is because Splitgate 2 falls more in between Call of Duty and Halo: in speed, gunplay, mechanics, and time to kill (or TTK). TTK can be a frustrating entry point depending on the player – i.e. a Halo player gets annoyed by dying quickly in COD or a COD player feels like they’re emptying a rifle for a single elimination in Halo. In Splitgate 2, time to kill feels just right in my opinion, being fast enough to not be arduous while slow enough to allow for a skill gap.

Speaking of skill gap, 1047 Games came in wanting to offer newer players like me a way in without forcing us to use the portals. That is still an important part of the formula, but even if you aren’t using them like crazy, you’ll still be able to hold your own. Those that take the time to figure it out will find portals to be rewarding.

For instance, I was playing Splitgate 2’s version of Search and Destroy, Firecracker. It’s a bit different, with respawns in the first four rounds and none in the tiebreaker (although if you 3-0 smoke the team it doesn’t come into play). We made it to the final round, and I was cooking that team from the moment I sprinted out. My team planted the bomb after we took out three of their four players, and I waited in defense for the last opponent they had left. He peaked around a corner, and instead of running directly at him, I put a portal on the wall behind him. He made a run towards my team, but I hopped in a portal I quickly put on a wall next to me for the perfect flank and shot him in the back. This is just one example, but an important one in how high-level thinking and use of their mechanics make Splitgate special.

Whereas much of Splitgate 2 has this competitive 4v4 focus with smaller, more frenetic maps, one of the intentions of 1047 Games was to go bigger. That has certainly been accomplished, with a new eight versus eight… versus eight mode. If that sounds chaotic, that’s because it is.

Inspired by Halo’s Big Team Battle, Multi-Team Portal Warfare features several match types (capture the point, domination, and so on) and is nearly twenty times the size of the 4v4 maps. Make no mistake, they feel like they’re that big, requiring a lot of traversal unless you manage to find a good portal spot. That’s one thing that makes it work a bit better, being able to hit long distance portal walls to shrink your commute to the next point.

If you don’t find a spot to portal towards the action, this is where things get sticky. I cannot tell you how many times I sprinted across the map only to get third partied and sent back to spawn. This reminds me a lot of my issues with Battlefield or Call of Duty’s Ground War mode; I hate running across a map only to instantly die and have to do it again. With plenty of power positions in different places, it’s easy for someone to set up with a long range marksman rifle and have a field day, which happened to me a lot. I feel like it’s even more challenging with three separate teams on the map, which adds up to multiple people shooting at you after spawning in different locations. I could see it getting better with more team coordination whereas in this press event we weren’t really communicating, but I think it’ll be rough either way.

Even though I’m not a fan of this new idea, the foundation of the gameplay for Splitgate 2 is solid. While it’s an arena shooter, Splitgate 2 has a smaller loadout builder that focuses on a few different classes, similar to what you have in Destiny 2. Certain soldiers have access to specific abilities and weapons types, which presses you to try different combinations. For example, during my clutch in Firecracker, I went with the Aeros faction, whose kit relies on speed and agility. This set up my kills as my loadout perks were focused around quick gunplay and enhanced speed. I’d assume 1047 Games is planning plenty of future factions in their content updates which should spice up the gameplay and keep it fresh.

All of the arsenal you’ll use is largely in loadouts, but with several fun power weapons on the map. We only had access to one of each weapon type per faction, but it was interesting how differently some of them played. For instance, the Meridian faction uses plasma-based weapons, so my shotgun required a charge-up before firing. That isn’t present with the Sabrask faction, who are more of a heavy, pack-a-punch group. Their shotgun roars when it goes off.

Speaking of roaring, once power weapons come into play, you’ll be laughing at some of the plays you can pull off. Just like Halo, these spawn in at different intervals during your match. I’ve seen everything from rocket launchers to snipers, and most of these have one-shot kill potential. My favorite, however, has to be the baseball bat. There’s nothing like sprinting directly at a foe and smacking them with it, and depending on your objective, can turn the tide in your favor in only a few swings.

The final mode I tried was Chaos mode, returning to regular 4v4 modes but with a twist. Chaos ushers in faster movement, low gravity, and quicker equipment and ability cooldowns. Right off the bat, it’s clear that the term chaos is right. My muscle memory instantly evaporated as I tried to find some semblance of control while running, jumping, and shooting. It’s almost impossible to hit your targets, and after a while I found the mode to devolve into mindless shotgun, grenade, and ability spam. It’s fun for a moment, but quickly wears out its welcome. If you want something insane, it’s fine, but it probably won’t be something you’ll care to go back to.

While the core gameplay of Splitgate 2 works incredibly well, I’m still holding my breath as to how the additions to the formula will work. 4v4 is tremendous and feels polished, but 8v8v8 Multi-Team Portal Warfare and Chaos don’t seem balanced and need more time to bake. I’m hopeful that the data the team gathers during the open beta helps them to tweak and adjust where needed. No matter what qualms I have, this mishmash of Portal and Halo is one of the coolest ideas any developer has ever come up with, and I’m glad it’s being expanded upon.

Splitgate 2 will arrive on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series consoles, and PC in 2025. Go and check out the open alpha for current-gen consoles and PC going on this weekend, February 27th-March 2nd.