Portals, Factions, and Fresh Gameplay: Splitgate 2 Alpha Impressions

A Hands-On Look at How the Sequel Builds on Its Predecessor's Success

I last played the original Splitgate around 2021/2022 on PS4, and it offered a refreshing twist on the first-person shooter genre while keeping players on their toes. For those who've never heard of this game, Splitgate is a first-person shooter where you can create portals during matches to gain a tactical advantage. It's comparable to the "Portal" series, one of the best puzzle/action games where you can shoot portals to navigate between locations. In Splitgate, you shoot one portal as your entrance and another as your exit, or vice versa. You can differentiate the two portals with the colors, which for me were purple and orange. The game involves mastering this portal mechanic to outmaneuver opponents and secure victory.

The sequel, Splitgate 2, introduces several new features while maintaining the core portal-based gameplay. I got to play it last weekend when its alpha went live from August 21st to August 25th. The developers have done a great job of introducing the mechanics through a short, quick-time event tutorial. This tutorial guides you through button presses to demonstrate how they affect gameplay. I decided to play Splitgate 2 with an Xbox controller since I was most comfortable.

The tutorial was practically a video, but it let us interact by pressing the buttons that do a specific action, like pressing the right bumper on the controller to create a portal. Even though it was quick, it was a great way to understand the game mechanics. After completing the tutorial, I was immediately thrown into a match and had to get used to everything immediately.

Splitgate 2 introduces three distinct classes or factions, a departure from the original, where all the characters could do was shoot guns and portals. The factions are:

• Aeros: Focused on fast movement across the map. This starter class was the one I played after the tutorial, and they're awesome.

• Meridian: A healer/technical player equipped with energy weapons.

• Sabrask: A powerhouse that moves slower but deals significant damage and excels in prolonged firefights.

Each faction has unique abilities and team traits that can significantly impact the game:

• Aeros: Can heal themselves, move faster, and reload quicker. They also reduce ability cooldown for themselves and teammates.

• Sabrask: Can create a "smart wall" that blocks enemy attacks while allowing friendly fire to pass through. They provide extra ammo for the team.

• Meridian: Can reveal enemies through walls briefly and grant faster health regeneration to the team.

I'm unsure whether multiple players choosing the same faction would stack these team traits or if they cap at one instance per team. Regardless, these new mechanics add an exciting layer of strategy to the game.

We played on a map called Ozone, playing a mode of Hotzone. This game mode is similar to Hardpoint from Call of Duty or King of the Hill from Gears of War: players must capture and hold a single point on the map that changes location every 30 seconds. When the zone is active, teams can capture it. In the case of Hotzone, the zone/circle changes location once it gets captured. During the brief period when the zone switches positions, both teams have time (around 20 seconds) to reach the new location and prepare for the next one.

I enjoyed playing the matches because they were round-based. If a team won three games back to back, they won the entire match. There are five rounds, so the games can go either way if either team wins three rounds. So there's always a chance a comeback can happen!

The alpha offered two maps, Zenith and Ozone, and two game modes: Hotzone and Team Deathmatch. Both maps were enjoyable and easy to learn. Of the two modes, I found Hotzone more engaging as it encouraged teamwork toward a common objective. In contrast, our team struggled in Team Deathmatch. We lost almost every TDM, which is wild because it was the opposite for Hotzone. That says a lot about where the tryhards were playing.

I did enjoy that you could pick up weapons throughout the map, like the Splitstream (a dual-wield SMG) or other weapons. It helped a lot, and they were unique! It reminded me a lot of Halo, which the original game was inspired by in some ways. You can also pick up and use enemy weapons with different attachments.

It took me a couple of games, but I also realized that you can customize your entire loadout, especially adding attachments to your weapons! When I was able to choose my classes at the start of the match, I thought the three loadouts were the ones we had to deal with, but you can mix and match - having a sticky grenade and shotgun in one class or a stim and Sniper/DMR for another class. I also like that each faction has its own types of weapons, so Aeros has more of a submachine gun type of weapon, while Sabrask will have heavier weapons like a shotgun, and Meridians will have a gun with a scope.

The game felt responsive and smooth from the start. I left all settings at their defaults, including graphics. Despite my older PC build (RTX 2070, AMD Ryzen 2700x, 16GB RAM), the game ran at a steady 60fps with only occasional dips when using portals. The gameplay quickly became engaging, and I enjoyed experimenting with the different classes available. Shooting each weapon and hearing the sound byte when I hit an enemy felt satisfying. They did a great job with the sound and feel feedback, which is necessary in a game like this!

I haven't seen anything regarding a battle pass or monetization yet, but it may come when the entire game is released. I'm happy they are focusing on the gameplay because I played a couple of alphas/betas that already had monetization working immediately. They are ready to take your money before having any gameplay elements working before the game officially releases (looking at you, Multiversus). Something that did catch my eye was the banner at the bottom of the main menu that mentioned an companion app.

Splitgate 2 has a companion app for iPhone and Android that features many interesting things that build up the backstory for the new characters introduced, the arenas they are fighting in, and more. The first thing that happens when you open the app is to complete a quiz, which basically shows what faction you are from a couple of questions. I remember Hogwarts Legacy did the same thing with their website. I ended up getting Aeros, and they were right, as that was the main faction I played throughout my time with the alpha. They were quick and had exciting abilities, and I enjoyed their weaponry. There will be more quizzes as Quizzes has its own section within the app.

Opening the app and completing the quiz gets you a collector's card. They have a section specifically for collector cards, and each card is for a different set. When you complete a set, you unlock card effects and unique rewards when the game officially releases next year. The majority of the sets have 3 cards, while others may have 4 or more. The collector cards go in-depth with specific characters introduced in Splitgate 2, in-game, and the comics.

Yes, Splitgate 2 has its own comics that are drawn, written out, colored, and all. It's so cool to see how much effort they are putting into this game - and when you read the entire comic, you end up getting another card for the starter set. Each comic so far is about each faction, so it is a perfect way to get into the characters' backstory and know who you're playing as and if you align with them!

There is one last section, which is a QR Code scanner. It may seem odd to have that there, but there will be times when they will share codes, and when you scan them, you get a collector card. I had to search online to see if a QR code had already been shared to grab a card, and there was one! In Splitgate 2's Cinematic Announcement Trailer, a QR code is visible at time stamp 1:43, which I found on Reddit (thanks!). It got me an additional card for a completely different set.

If you did everything I mentioned with the companion app, you should have 4 collector cards. When the game releases, there will be more ways to unlock those and comics. I can't wait to see what we get in-game from these cards and to dive deeper into the story.

I am excited about Splitgate 2's future. The original was a fantastic start for Splitgate, so I am happy that the developers are expanding on the universe and honing the gameplay. This time around, the game will catch many new people's attention! It will be released for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S next year.