Splitgate 2 Takes A Second Crack At Blending Halo And Portal

Splitgate was a refreshing flash in the pan when it briefly blew up in 2021. It combined the feel of an old-school arena shooter with the novel and brain-tickling mechanic of on-demand portals. Now the team behind it is promising a sequel that’s bigger, better, and coming sometime in 2025 to join an increasingly crowded field of would-be live-service juggernauts.

Made by 1047 Games, Splitgate 2 will still be free-to-play and remain cross-gen on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in addition to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S as well as come to PC. Here’s how the studio describes it: “Three unique factions grant players the ability to choose and progress based on their preferred gameplay style or competitive strategies, while a large variety of arenas, weapons and modes keep things fresh.”

And here’s the cinematic trailer announcing the game:

This time around, the game is being made in Unreal Engine 5 and with a team much bigger than the original, full of veterans from competitors like Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Valorant as well as single-player games like God of War: Ragnarok and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. There’s a free app you can download to learn more about the in-game universe and even a five-issue comic book arc, because in 2024 it’s no longer enough just to show a trailer that looks cool for a game that’s fun to play.

Originally launched in Early Access in 2019, it wasn’t until Splitgate went into beta across PC and console that interest in the mashup reached a fever pitch that led to sporadic outages and downtime to fix server issues. The developers eventually abandoned the game in 2022 to work on the sequel. The servers remain up, however, and people are still playing today.

A few matches of Splitgate provides a good sense of the promise and potential of its gameplay feel and mechanics if 1047 is able to nail the art direction, world building, and map design this time around. Based on the initial trailer, characters in Splitgate 2 are still looking a little bland visually, but the arena looks interesting enough, at least for a cinematic reveal.