Splitgate 2 Could Be The Next Great Multiplayer FPS on Steam Deck - Open Alpha Impressions

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When Splitgate originally came out, it felt like the kind of game that should have been made such a long time ago. Taking the mechanics from Portal and putting them into a first-person shooter is such a great idea, and the team made it work so well. It felt a bit like Halo mixed with Portal, all wrapped in a great-looking package. Now, Splitgate 2 is on the horizon, and there's an open alpha going on right now. I decided to check it out, and for an alpha, it is amazing on the Steam Deck.

I wasn't expecting solid performance due to how early of a build the game is. Usually, it isn't until the beta stage that optimizations take place, and that's where we would see more how it will be on the Steam Deck. Regardless, I wanted to test the alpha on the Deck, and I am so glad I did.

The game defaults to Medium settings across the board with dynamic resolution, and this results in some mixed results in gameplay. It can hit 60 FPS when standing still, but moving around and shooting enemies will start to drop the framerate. After playing with the settings, I turned down the view distance and shadows to low, which helped keep it more at 60. It does still have some drops, going down to the high 40s to high 50s, but it still feels quite smooth and enjoyable to play. The battery drain is pushed to the max here as well at 24W, but with this being an alpha, I don't expect to be saving battery life.

For an alpha, this is fantastic. With some optimization in the beta, I could see this getting to the 60 FPS mark and sticking there. I was getting 20+ kills, shooting portals everywhere, sliding away from enemies, and strategically shooting through portals. It was a blast to play, and I can see myself enjoying this on my Deck in bed. The gunplay is engaging and it will be very hard to tear me away from this one.

You can try Spligate 2's open alpha for yourself until March 2nd, and it is set to be free to play when it releases.

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