Honestly, the "Halo meets Portal" elevator pitch for the first Splitgate was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments. It was weird. It was janky. But it worked. Now that Splitgate 2 is out—and has already gone through a wild "unlaunch" and relaunch as Splitgate: Arena Reloaded—everyone is asking the same thing. Is it actually good, or did they overcomplicate a simple, beautiful thing?
The short answer? It’s complicated.
If you’re looking for a carbon copy of the first game but with shinier graphics, you might be disappointed. 1047 Games took some massive swings here. They added factions, they messed with the portal physics, and they even tried to shove a Battle Royale in there for a minute (which, let’s be real, almost nobody asked for). But after the massive December 2025 overhaul, the game has settled into something much more focused.
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Is Splitgate 2 Good? The Honest Truth
Look, if you enjoy "push-forward" shooters where movement is king, you'll probably dig this. But "good" is a subjective word in a genre dominated by giants.
The gunplay feels significantly "snappier" than the original. In the first game, shooting felt a bit like firing plastic pellets sometimes. In the sequel, there's a weight to the weapons that was missing before. The addition of the Sabrask, Aeros, and Meridian factions adds a layer of strategy that wasn't there in the "everyone is the same" era of Splitgate 1.
- Aeros is for the speed demons. If you want to fly through portals and reload instantly, this is your pick.
- Meridian is the "big brain" faction. You get wallhacks (basically) and healing.
- Sabrask is for the Halo purists who just want to hold a position with a shield and a grenade.
The problem? Some veterans feel these classes "dilute" the pure arena shooter experience. When you're playing a 4v4 TDM and someone drops a dome shield, it feels less like Halo 3 and more like Overwatch. Whether that's "good" depends entirely on if you're tired of hero shooters or not.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Portals
There’s a common complaint that "portals don't matter as much anymore." That's not exactly true. What is true is that the map design is more restrictive.
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In the first game, you could basically triple-portal across the entire map in three seconds if you were a pro. In Splitgate 2, the devs clearly wanted to make the game more accessible. The "portal-able" surfaces are placed more deliberately. This means you can't just spam them to escape every single gunfight. You have to actually win your ones.
It lowers the "skill floor," making it so new players don't get 360-no-scoped by a guy they never even saw. But for the "portal gods" who spent 2,000 hours mastering the geometry of the first game, it feels like the skill ceiling has been lowered a bit.
The Technical Reality: Steam Charts vs. Fun
We have to talk about the elephant in the room: the player count. If you check SteamDB right now, the numbers for Splitgate: Arena Reloaded aren't exactly setting the world on fire. We're talking peaks in the low thousands, sometimes dipping into the hundreds during off-hours.
Does a low player count mean the game is bad? No. But it does mean matchmaking can be a bit wonky. You might run into a "God Squad" of pros one match and a lobby full of literal bots the next. 1047 Games’ CEO Ian Proulx has been vocal about "Steam charts not measuring fun," and he’s kind of right—but only if you can actually find a match.
The game is technically impressive. It runs on Unreal Engine 5, and while the portal rendering is a heavy lift for your GPU (it’s essentially rendering the game twice), it holds a steady 144 FPS on mid-range rigs like a GTX 1060 or better.
Why the "Relaunch" Changed Everything
When Splitgate 2 first hit the scene in mid-2025, the reception was... mixed. People hated the round-based TDM. They hated the Battle Royale mode. They felt the "soul" was gone.
The December 17 relaunch—rebranded as Arena Reloaded—was a massive "we're sorry" letter. They brought back the classic Takedown mode. They made the portals feel faster again. They basically took the feedback that the game felt too much like XDefiant and pivoted back toward the arena shooter roots.
What actually works now:
- Movement: The sliding mechanic is a godsend. It pairs with the jetpack perfectly.
- Visuals: The art style is cleaner. It’s less "generic sci-fi" and has more of a vibrant, professional sports league vibe.
- The Lab: This is their map editor. The community is already making maps that are arguably better than the dev-made ones.
What still feels "meh":
- The Grind: The Battle Pass and microtransactions feel a bit generic.
- Bot Lobbies: If you’re a new player, your first few matches will be against bots. It’s meant to build confidence, but it feels a bit dishonest when you realize you aren't actually that good.
The Final Verdict: Should You Play It?
It’s free. That’s the biggest selling point. You aren't losing anything but a few gigabytes of hard drive space.
If you want a game that feels like a high-speed chess match with guns, Splitgate 2 is absolutely worth the download. It’s not the "CoD killer" or the "Halo killer" people hyped it up to be, but it’s a solid, unique FPS that doesn't really have any direct competitors. Nobody else is doing portals.
Your Next Steps
If you're jumping in today, here is how to actually have a good time:
- Turn off "Auto-Portal": The game tries to help you by placing portals automatically. Turn it off in the settings. You need manual control to do the cool stuff.
- Master the Slide-Jump: Sprint, slide, and then hit your jetpack. It gives you a massive momentum boost that most players aren't using yet.
- Play "The Lab" First: Check out the community maps. They usually have more creative portal placements that show off what the engine can actually do.
- Ignore the Battle Royale: Seriously. Stick to Takedown or Team Deathmatch. That’s where the game’s heart is.
Splitgate 2 might not be a "Masterpiece" (10/10), but it’s a very solid "Good" (7/10 or 8/10) that actually tries to do something different in a sea of clones.