Splitgate Beta Season 1 is now live – what’s new?

Splitgate Beta Season 1 is about to launch, bringing with it new modes and a powerful map making tool among other features and improvements.

Developer 1047 Games has been on quite the tear since Splitgate skyrocketed in popularity last summer. From humble beginnings in Steam early access to becoming one of the biggest multiplayer hits of 2021, at its peak it drew more 200,000 concurrent players.

In response the developer has grown, blasting into 2022 with a team of 50 staff. Their ambition is clear: to shrug off indie status to become the next big AAA studio, and fast. Splitgate Beta Season 1 is the next step in that journey.

Let’s start off with the update’s biggest new feature: a map maker. It’s a tool fans of the arena shooter genre see as a staple, allowing them to craft their very own virtual arenas to test and share with friends.

In Splitgate all the building blocks are and, even better, you can invite up to 7 friends to join you. Clean and simple to use, the aim is to allow any and everyone to start making maps, playing around with the game’s powerful tool set. Of course, this is a very early iteration of the feature – more textures, meshes, blocks, and gameplay objects will be added over time. Discoverability is also very limited for now. You won’t be able to browse and download maps from a library, instead sharing them with friends in custom games.

A pair of new modes are also making their way into Splitgate for beta season 1. Evolution will see two teams face off over ten rounds, each player having only one life per round. The twist? If your squad loses a round, they’ll go into the next with a more powerful arsenal of weapons. Matches will see a tactical tug of war with the scope for some truly amazing comebacks.

One Flag CTF will also be thrown into the mix, tasking one team with attacking and the other defending. This simple change in dynamic has a massive impact on the way matches flow, reducing round times and keeping the action fast and frenzied.

Will Splitgate Beta Season 1 have a battle pass? What about a new referral pass? Yes and yes. The battle pass will return with 100 tiers, each offering a reward as you earn renown across your Splitgate career, letting you show off some gnarly gear. There will be free and premium access to this battle pass, the latter priced at 900 Splitcoin.

As for the referral pass, it’s back. Each time you successfully refer a friend you’ll move up one tier with ten total prizes up for grabs. After that, every further referral will net you a pretty decent 50 Splitcoin to spend in-game.

Finally, we have something for the hardcore fans. 1047 Games is eager to show the community where it is headed with Spltigate, revamping fan favourite map, Foregone Destruction. New lighting, textures, and details add more depth and vibrance to this well-worn battlefield. 1047 Games has also reviewed data to optimise this map in terms of gameplay, adjusting the layout and placement of certain weapons.

Although they never truly went away, the past year has marked somewhat of a renaissance for arena shooters. There are obvious comparisons to make, especially with the return of a certain Xbox mascot at the end of last year.

Splitgate may be in Halo Infinite’s crosshairs though 1047 isn’t perturbed by the reawakening of the behemoth shooter franchise. As CEO Ian Proulx puts it “we’re competing against ourselves”. From its strategic, portal-popping gameplay through to its visual design, Splitgate has carved out its own lane and shows no signs of slowing down.

Source: https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2022/01/27/splitgate-season-1-update-whats-new-modes-map-maker/