Smite 2 Preview: A New Era For Godly Powers

12.01.2024 - 18:11 / screenrant.com / Garrett Ettinger

has been announced, ushering in a new age for the third-person MOBA. Earlier this week, got the opportunity to speak to the developers of, Iron Forge Games and Hi-Rez Studios, to get a better idea of what people should expect from the surprise sequel., like its predecessor, will be a completely free-to-play game with opportunities to purchase cosmetics via in-game microtransactions.

The original Smite was released on March 25, 2014, and quickly amassed a huge player base and community that developed around it. Today, a huge competitive scene exists, with top teams competing at the Smite World Championship every year. Though the sequel looks to capture what people love about, it will also be a completely new, standalone title, and quite a bit of change is on the way.

will utilize Unreal Engine 5.2+, boasting all new textures, graphics, and higher-fidelity environments than was possible with the original, which ran on Unreal Engine 3. As it's been nearly a decade since was released in 2014, the new engine should be a huge improvement. That said, graphics aren't the only thing the new engine will unlock for the game, as the developers emphasized a greater ability to execute ideas, from the user interface to abilities and functions, including the new «use» button, within the game itself.

will introduce an all-new God named Hekate, a Greek goddess and sorcerer with magical powers and the ability to open interdimensional portals for greater mobility on the map. A healer, she will be the first new God added to the game.

According to the developers, will slowly introduce more Gods over time, starting with a modest 25-50 god roster. This minimal approach is, in part, by design, as the more limited pool of characters to choose from should help new players acclimate themselves to core gameplay concepts.

The original has 129 playable gods.

More realistically, it'll also provide Titan Forge Games and Hi-Rez with the ability to concentrate on tweaking and perfecting elements of the base game without having to add hundreds of gods at launch. The expectation is that eventually, all of the Gods from the original should make their way to the sequel.

will greatly streamline certain elements of 's MOBA gameplay to make it more appealing to new players. This includes better onboarding via tooltips and other helpful in-game directions that should make things like building items easier and more intuitive. As a result, it should cut down on time spent inside shop screens and be much easier for new players to comprehend. In addition, all Gods will now be able to build all items, opening the door for more unique builds and gameplay choices.

When we started to plan what we wanted to accomplish with Smite 2, one of the major