Splitgate Critic Reviews

A decently made arena shooter, which is taken by portal elements to a new level. It's definitely enough to be remembered, but it's not enough for the absolute top.

Splitgate is a competitive free-to-play shooter that takes something from Halo, Portal and others to offer a fun yet pretty generic experience, supported by a large amount of content and a flexible F2P model for those who do not (yet) want to invest money in the game.

Splitgate’s portal gun makes it one of the smartest multiplayer shooters around, but a small player base leads to long, frustrating waits between unbalanced matches.

The gameplay underneath all the standard trappings is impressively solid.

Splitgate: Arena Warfare has the foundation of a great shooter but its generic ideas and lack of originality get in the way of something that should feel a lot better than it is.

Although there are a variety of game modes, the variety only puts a dent in the flawed game design.

Right now Splitgate's in beta, and it's completely free-to-play on PC, PS4/5, and Xbox One/Series X. It boasts 20 maps, 15 modes, full cross-play, and a ranked mode to boot. And look, I know a game's price tag has zip to do with its intrinsic value, but if you've ever had fun with an old-school Halo game, you owe it to yourself to give this a go. I came into this thinking - admittedly a touch cynically - that if Splitgate was okay, it would at least tide me over until Halo Infinite arrives. Now I'm wondering if I'll have time to fit Halo Infinite in around my Splitgate sessions.

It will always be described as "Halo meets Portal" and not "John 117 discovers the art of MC Escher" or "Elmer Fudd gets a 360 no-scope". And that's fine. How a shooter is glibly summarised doesn't matter when it's got this many split-seconds of satisfaction. When you headshot a poor sap across the map just as he steps through his portal and then see the limp corpse fall right in front of you, you aren't thinking, "Huh, neat gimmick". You're thinking: "Ha ha ha ha ha". And then you're being biffed 30 feet into the air by an ambusher with a Big Flipping Bat.