Splitgate Beta Season 2 revamps with new modes and QOL updates

Today marks the release of Splitgate Beta Season 2. The latest iteration of 1047 Games’ portal-inspired arena shooter, Season 2 brings a new Battle Pass, an updated progression system, in addition to a slew of new content for players to dig into. Prior to the season’s start, I played an early build of Splitgate Beta Season 2 with the developers to get a taste of what the new update is bringing.

The largest batch of new content in Splitgate Beta Season 2 is in its three new modes: Juggernaut, Hotzone, and Lockdown. In Juggernaut, one player has increased health, but can not go through portals. Killing the Juggernaut will make you the new Juggernaut. Each second spent as the Juggernaut will earn you points. Hotzone sees two teams fighting to hold zones for 30 seconds in order to score points. In Lockdown, teams earn points by controlling three different hills simultaneously.

The new modes in Splitgate feel like a much-needed shakeup to the standard formula. Something interesting that I found during my preview, was that the new modes put some of the maps in a brand new perspective. For example, while playing Juggernaut on Crag, my fellow players and I discussed how the gameplay flow felt entirely different than standard matches. The maps tight winding corridors and tight pathways made it great for free-for-all chaos.

One of the biggest points of emphasis during my time with 1047 Games was the quality of life changes present in Splitgate Beta Season 2. One of these updates comes with the matchmaking, which I’ve been told has been revamped with a faster and smarter system, hopefully doing away with previous frustrations.

One of the more unexpected but welcomed changes in Splitgate Beta Season 2 is the remastering of Abyss. While it does sound a bit odd that a map is being remastered for a game still in beta, this update is a from-scratch rebuild that keeps most of the map intact, while giving it a fresher visual identity. The developers have also gone in and placed new portal walls around the map to open up the floodgates for more portaling opportunities in-game.

On the cosmetic side, Splitgate Beta Season 2 introduces a new Battle Pass, which players can progress through to earn various cosmetic rewards. The recently released Map Creator mode has also been updated with the ability to save projects to the cloud, as well as the addition of a new island named Wet Ocean, which provides some natural scenery for your creations.

Splitgate Beta Season 2 is looking to add a healthy serving of new content for players to dig into, as well as quality of life improvements that will hopefully move the arena shooter towards being the AAA game that 1047 games wants it to be.

These impressions are based on an early build of Splitgate Beta Season 2 shared by the publisher. Splitgate Beta Season 2 begins on June 1, 2022.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_