Smite 2 officially unveiled, alpha test set to begin in spring
Shinier visuals, deeper strategy and much more to come
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Titan Forge Games has officially unveiledSmite 2- the highly anticipated sequel to the free-to-play third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA),Smite. This follow-up is set to enter alpha testing this spring.
Smite 2has been a long time coming - its predecessor first became available to play in closed beta back in 2012, before releasing in full in 2014. In the original, players are able to step into the shoes of more, than 100 gods and mythological beings with a plethora of abilities and take on others across a variety of modes.
Announced during theSmiteWorld Championships today (January 12),Smite 2has been built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5.2. The first game was made in Unreal Engine 3, and when footage of the two is compared, it’s clear that enormous graphical upgrades have been made.
Beyond its improved visuals, players can look forward to new animations and abilities for existing gods, as well as totally new gods to play as, including the much-requested Hecate, who’ll be the first newbie on the roster. There’ll be greater strategic depth, too, as gods will be able to utilize any and all items and use both intelligence and strength as different sources of power. There’ll be a new, dedicated button to interact with the environment and pick up buffs, and a new custom matchmaking system will be deployed, too, while a whole new system for Ranked is incoming.
During the reveal, Titan Forge also went into detail on its ‘Legacy Gems’ and ‘Divine Legacy’ systems.Smiteplayers will not be able to directly transfer their content(such as skins) over toSmite 2. Instead, they’ll automatically receive ‘Legacy Gems’ equivalent to however many gems they’ve spent (paid or earned for free) in the original game, which can then be used for 50% off most in-game purchases in the sequel. Players will receive double the amount of Legacy Gems if they buy a Founder’s Pack forSmite 2.
Meanwhile, ‘Divine Legacy’ is a new feature coming toSmite 1as of the first update of Year 11. It will reward players for the time they’ve spent playingSmiteover the years, with points for progress in each year tallied together to earn bonuses. A special skin is available for each year of the game which will unlock inSmite 2, and there are badges to earn based on previous progress, too. Divine Legacy can also be used to unlock any Tier 4 and Tier 5 skin inSmite 1for free.
It’s also worth noting that despite most content not transferring to the new game, every new gem-purchasable skin introduced in Year 11 ofSmitewill be a “cross-gen skin,” which will also be available inSmite 2when it releases (and when the god in question is available to play, as they won’t all be there from the start).
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Notably, it’s also been confirmed that despite the sequel’s existence,Titan Forge doesn’t plan on leaving the originalSmitebehindany time soon. In a press briefing attended by TechRadar Gaming, it was stated that the two will continue to exist alongside each other for as long as people want to keep playing, with updates coming to both. However, new gods will stop coming toSmiteafter the release of the 130th one, Nut, in February.
Smite 2is set to launch on PC,PlayStation 5, andXbox Series X|S at some point in the future, and it’ll have full crossplay. Players will be able to try out the alpha with monthly weekend playtests by either getting a key in a free key drop or by buying the Founder’s Pack for guaranteed access - details are set to be announced at a later date.
Looking for something new to play? You can check out our recommendations for thebest multiplayer PC games, as well as thebest free games.
Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.
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