Splitgate 2 will add butt slides and time-altering bubbles to portal-hopping shoot-em-ups

The first Splitgate was a great mix of Halo multiplayer gunfights and Portal's slick space-time windows. It was a trick that made flanking fun again, at least until you were killed by a ranged rifle next to you. Its sequel, Splitgate 2, continues that trick but revitalizes the free-to-play arena shooter with a few modern additions, like butt-sliding around corners and large deployable bubbles called “time domes” that slow down your enemies while speeding up your allies. All of this and more comes from a gameplay trailer released yesterday.

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There you have it. Basically, the 4v4 arena shooter adds character abilities that you can mix and match by faction. One faction, the Aeros, is all about moving fast with a fast sprint ability and a faster reload time, popping stimulants to keep themselves alive. The lumbering Sabrask faction gets sticky grenades and a pop-up “smart shield” that blocks enemy bullets but lets its own through. And the healing-focused Meridian can briefly detect people through walls. There's also a “health grenade” that hints at you popping buds with feel-good glows from a distance. There's also a “time dome” that speeds up friendly players' movement (and shooting) while standing inside. Enemies who get inside will feel the opposite effect, being noticeably slowed down, which I think is both a good area-denial tactic and a support option. It's great.

As you can probably tell from the trailer, it seems to be looking at an esports angle. I’m more of a casual projectile fan, so seeing a bunch of Twitch streamers doing calls isn’t exactly exciting to me. And if that’s the approach, I can’t help but fear that some of the fun of the first game will be sanded down in favor of clinical, competitive matchups. I know it’s early days for this sequel (we’ve only seen one other cinematic trailer), but there’s no sign of the silly things like rocket launchers and baseball bats that made the first game so fun at times. For now, they’re just showing off the vanilla 4v4 mode. I take some solace in the fact that the developers say they’re “focused on creating different and distinct experiences” in their FAQ. So what about those experiences? I shrug at you.

There are other interesting moments in the trailer, mind you. A weapon called the Splitstream looks like an SMG that can be split into two weapons and used dually, similar to the Strelak Verso dual pistols from Deathloop. At one point, a player flies through balconies full of spectators and is suddenly surrounded by clouds of confetti as they shoot someone from above. Yay! If you’re dying to see more, the developers will be streaming a 2-hour showcase on their Twitch channel on August 14th.

It's expected to be released in 2025. Meanwhile, Splitgate The First faces an uncertain future as developers 1047 Games focus on the sequel. And while the studio says it has “no plans” to shut down the first game's servers before the end of this year, they're leaving the possibility open for next year.

“We know that when a new game comes out, it's common to kill the servers of the previous game. We know why companies do it,” shooter developers say. “We honestly don't know what we're going to do with Splitgate next year.”

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