Prepare to be smote. Smited. Smitten. Look, they're making another Smite—Titan Forge's godly and enduringly popular MOBA that first released in 2014—and it's gearing up for an alpha test, should you wish to rage against the heavens as soon as possible.
Revealed at the Smite world championships, Titan Forge is pitching Smite 2 as "everything players love about Smite 1" in a sleeker, more modern, and prettier package. The announcement boasts of a "refined user interface, updated audio, clearer spell effects, and fresh physics-based abilities" for its various gods. You're also getting "new God pantheons, kit refinements, gameplay changes, and overhauled Relic and Item systems for deeper strategy.
In other words, it sounds like the devs are keen to make the game feel deeper and more flexible, which you probably have to do when players have spent ten years mastering all your old systems already.
- Hi-Rez will only be giving 'minor updates' to Smite and Paladins now it's laying off around 70 employees, but don't worry, Smite 2 is the 'primary focus of the newly streamlined operations'
- Need to relax? Grab a coffee, kick back and submerge yourself in the sound of Hades 2's narrator reading the patch notes for its latest massive update
On the technical front, Titan Forge promises "state-of-the-art cross-play" along with a rework of the first game's ranked system with all-new tiers. Smite the second is also trading out the first game's creaky ol' Unreal Engine 3 for Unreal Engine 5, and it does look quite lovely in the promotional screenshots.
It all sounds interesting to me, but it does raise the question as to the fate of Smite 1, which has been quietly trucking along for a full decade now. Titan Forge says not to worry, though: it remains "committed to supporting both Smite 1 and Smite 2 simultaneously, with Smite 1 servers remaining active once the sequel launches."
That being said, there are some bonuses to tempt veteran Smiters over to the new game. The devs say that—"To honour 40 million Smite players"—they're instituting something called a "Divine Legacy" program, effectively a bunch of goodies you'll get if you've dropped a bunch of time and money into Smite 1 already.
"Every gem players have previously spent [in Smite 1] will be converted into Legacy Gems in Smite 2, that can be spent on new purchases." In particular, the Divine Legacy program will give you a shot at "11 unique skins, badges, gold mastery levels, and cross-generation skins that work across both games." In fact, Titan Forge says "all new gem-purchasable skins in Smite will be cross-generation."
So it sounds like there's a lot on offer for Smite 1 players willing to at least check out the new game, which makes me curious as to how long Titan Forge envisions that simultaneous support of both games continuing. Indefinitely? Perhaps, but I can't imagine the studio would be upset if they managed to lure (nearly) everyone over from Smite the first to the new game, letting the new version supplant the first game entirely.
That's just me speculating, though. For now, you can find more info over on the Smite 2 official website, where you can also sign up for the alpha test.
