We couldn’t get enough of Splitgate during the beta launch of Season 0. It’s fast-paced combat and the ability to portal oneself from location to location around each map making for an excitingly new, yet strangely familiar experience. That’s because, without any shame, or any effort to hide it, developer 1047 Games have created their game with inspiration taken from Halo and Portal.
With an abundance of game modes to play, a battle pass full of content, and plenty of daily, weekly and seasonal challenges to accomplish, Season 0 was an excellent start for Splitgate. However, as well as it did, there were a lot of bugs as well. There were often audio issues in the game, with gunfire being heard from incorrect locations on the map, plus a few others to mention.
However, with Splitgate returning for Season 1, many of the bugs that plagued Season 0 are now gone, and the game is beginning to feel a lot more polished than when first released. It’s a much smoother experience, with a whole host of changes having come in. And for anyone who hasn’t jumped back in on the game yet, here are a few of the things you may notice on your return.
What’s new in Splitgate?
A new battle pass
It wouldn’t be a new season of Splitgate without a new battle pass. The format pretty much stays the same this year, earn XP in games, with bonuses for playing featured playlists, logging in for consecutive days and completing challenges. All this will level you up to unlock loot which really seems to have stepped up in variety and quality this year.
What I really like about Splitgate though, is you get the in-game currency for purchasing it for free. Some of those coins come from the battle pass itself, others come from login bonuses, you can even get some for referring new players. But either way, you can rack them up pretty quickly, and use them to purchase the premium version of the battle pass, so don’t worry if you don’t buy it right away, you can further down the line, and it will unlock all the glorious content you thought you may have missed.
A new takedown arena
If you’ve played ranked takedown (3v3), or the non-competitive versions, you’ll have become accustomed to the seven maps available to play. Each map is named after the phonetic alphabet, from Alpha to Golf.
Now, we have our personal favourites of these, Golf being my preferred choice, and Beta being my least. But there is now an eighth map entering the fray. And yes, it continues with the trend of the others by being named “Hotel”.
We’ve only played a few games on the new Splitgate map so far, but it seems like a solid effort. It features several different areas with varying heights to get the jump on your foes. Although, it does feel a little more enclosed than some of the others too, with the main open spaces having walls to hide behind to buy you time to heal before your enemy wipes you out.
Whether it will become a new favourite in Splitgate remains to be seen. But so far so good.
New game modes and playlists
The playlists for game modes changed a few times throughout Splitgate Season 0, so it won’t be any surprise that things have changed again. If you haven’t checked it out in some time, then the User Interface (UI) may look different too, but it has been like that since the end of the last season. Although there have been a few changes to the playlists in the non-competitive modes.
Many old favourites like Shotty Snipers are there, but they’ve all been collated into different playlists. Compacting it down and limiting the options available rather than having the ability to individually select every mode. I get why they do this because it will hopefully force people into playing some newer modes they may usually avoid. But it could also likely upset some who can no longer just select their favourite mode.
One mode we’re enjoying is evolution, a fresh take on takedown mode. Both sides, which are three vs three, start with the same weapons. But each round you lose, your weapons are upgraded. Often making for some tight encounters. But, it also shows how skill can triumph over brute strength. As quite often I’ve won a few of these games despite the opposition being stacked with rocket launchers and railguns. The first to reach the required number of rounds then wins.
Changes to existing maps
There were a couple of new maps released during Season 0, and hopefully, the Splitgate devs have more in the pipeline. But other than the new arena map “Hotel”, there isn’t anything new for the standard maps.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t changes though, with one of the biggest maps seeing changes being Foregone Construction. Previously, the map was just a symmetrical layout that was the same either way around. Whereas many others such as Oasis and Stadium, which had symmetrical ends, did have some differences down either side of the map. And that is exactly what has changed here.
No longer are there two identical avenues to run from one end of the map to the other, instead, one side has a whole new look. There is also a nice addition of some plant life in areas, which if your enemies have poor eyesight, you can crouch down and hide in to give you some cover if radars are off. In fact, the whole map just looks a lot more polished than it did last season.
Time to get creative
Yes, it’s time for you to take control of the Splitgate universe, with one of the biggest new features in the game, the map maker. No longer do you have to play standard maps and get sick and tired of facing the same scenery, although we do suggest checking out the new variation of Foregone Construction. Instead, you can now create your own adventure playground.
The only real downside to this feature right now, is you can only use them in custom games with friends, with a party size no bigger than eight. It’s also not as detailed as some of the in-game maps are, but that’s because the game is still technically in beta, and they’re testing the waters with this new mode to see what feedback they get.
What we’d still like to see in Splitgate
Whilst the game has come a long way, there are still a few areas that could do with improvement. Our biggest issue is with ranked games though. The system is meant to pair players based on skill. I understand that in a new season you play placement matches and can end up anywhere with anyone, but I was happy with the platinum ranking I was placed in.
However, pairings seem to be such a mishmash of different rankings at times, although it hasn’t been as bad so far as it was last season. But what is just as bad, is the way scoring works. It’s meant to be that points are awarded on whether you win or lose, as well as performance. So arguably, even if you lose, if you are the best performing player on the team, you shouldn’t be hit so hard.
But this doesn’t seem to be the case. Quite often I can carry a team to the best of my ability, rack up more kills than anyone else, with more points too. But if I get stuck with a poor team and lose, nothing I do is good enough to save me from dropping down the rankings.
What is also annoying is how often you get paired with console players when playing ranked on PC. I have no issues playing normally but ranked should be separated to controllers and keyboard and mice. Because it usually goes one of two ways. The console gamers have aim assist on and pull off lucky shots without even trying, or PC players just whitewash the poor console players who either don’t have aim assist switch on or are just that bad.
So yeah, Splitgate’s ranked mode is something we’d love to see be improved this year.
Closing thoughts
Splitgate has come a long way since last season. It feels like a much better experience overall. More polished, streamlined and better organised in terms of UI. There is still a lot of work for 1047 Games to do, but they’re on the right track. And we can’t wait to see what future updates bring this season.
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