Smite 2 Closed Alpha First Impressions

I have been a long-time Smite player, playing since late 2014, transitioning to playing Smite on Xbox in early 2016 then back to pc a couple of years back. You can say I’ve been in and out of the arena for years, putting hundreds of hours into this MOBA. In case you’re new to Smite, it is a MOBA centered around battling at God’s Goddess and many other mythological-based characters in a 5 vs 5 fight to kill the enemy minions, purchase items to upgrade your abilities, defeat and defend the enemy towers and take down the enemy titan for the victory.

Smite 2 Is the newest entry in the series created and developed by the studio Hi-Rez, in a much more updated and next-gen-looking MOBA following the same steps as the latter in the series. Smite 2 is in the closed alpha phase currently, but consistently pushing out updates for us all to enjoy and offer our feedback on so we as a community can carve Smite 2 into the mass MOBA we have all loved and enjoyed. I will be breaking my first impressions down based on the changes I notice, similarities with the gameplay, and some potential quality-of-life changes that could keep Smite 2 on the path of greater success.

Firstly, The item store which in my opinion is one of the more important parts of keeping the pvp on a more equal playing field. The new items now mean a bit more on how you choose to build yourself, focusing more on one or two key stats to work together more so than going all in on one stat. I mostly played Neith during my first real session of playtime, as she was one of the first gods I reached rank 10 with when I first began playing, I knew I could jump into a conquest match and immediately feel at home. My typical Neith build clearly would work on Smite 2 as the items are different, so I found myself working on a new build on the fly giving Neith a completely different pace I’m used to forcing me to adapt differently. The new items have been a welcoming change for the balance and pace of the game, especially making the early games more important to farm minions or jungle to get that advantage in your lane. I have noticed some of the tank-based gods seemed to be a little more squishy than previously since the health/defense-based items are still in their early stages.

Another large difference that has been brought to Smite 2 is the engine, Now being run through Unreal Engine 5. The game absolutely looks night and day better, the models all have new life, and all the maps (Conquest and Arena at the time of this) Both look amazing with the Unreal lighting, all the beautiful Unreal assets mixed with the new models for the characters giving the game a breath of fresh air. With these pro’s, there will always be con’s like the performance is not the greatest at the time of my first impressions with a good amount of random studders and out of the ordinary FPS drops that can hinder your gameplay tremendously. My current computer setup is a Ryzen 7 5800x and an RTX 3080 Paired with 32GB DDR4 Ram, so my setup isn’t exactly a low performing setup but I’m sure with time they will be able to optimize the game and the engine with future updates.

The Combat, obviously being the main premise of the game gives you a rewarding sensation when you take on an enemy and win your battle that pushes your team closer to victory. In some cases i found myself taking damage but not having a sense of urgency like I felt in Smite 1, Gave me the feeling that i could stay in team battles and work my lane a little harder and longer than I’m use too especially building lifesteal as an early item you have a great amount of self maintenance. Mana Feels abit more forgiving when using abilities, i did not find myself running out of mana very quickly forcing me to not engage battles for fear of being punished. Smite 2’s Game pace does feel a little slower compared to Smite 1, I’m not sure if that’s because the new items favor more calculated plays and team battles, instead of being able to One Man Army duo lane and begin over leveling the enemy team. I didn’t get to play every role of God/Goddess so the progression potentially may vary on that aspect but for me as a hunter that’s how i felt.
Smite 2’s Alpha is a very strong and promising start to what should be an amazing MOBA experience. I look forward to playing all the playtest weekends and being apart of the growing and ever changing landscape Hi-Rez is pushing to give us. If you have not yet played smite, i highly recommend picking it up, the game is completely free to play and available on steam to download.