Splitgate 2 will run a weekend playtest on Steam on November 8 and 9 that brings a major sandbox overhaul to the beta branch, including playlist selection, three new LMGs, a portal wall overcharge system, map power-ups, EMP changes, and a slate of equipment removals aimed at making fights easier to read.
Playtest basics
The playtest is scheduled for Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9, 10am-1pm PT on Steam. Opt into the nov-playtest branch from the Splitgate 2 Beta entry in your Steam Library to download the build.
- Open Steam and go to your Library.
- Find Splitgate 2 Beta in your game list.
- Right-click the game and select Properties.
- Click Betas in the left menu.
- Choose nov-playtest from the dropdown.
- Close the window and let Steam download the branch, then click Play.
Reminder: the build will become available later this week ahead of the weekend sessions.
Playlist selection lands
For the first time you can multi-select playlists during a playtest. Two modes appear for this test:
- Arena (Loadouts) – the customizable loadout mode that followed the faction removal changes.
- Arena Classic (Even Starts) – everyone spawns with the Carbine, Assault Rifle, and an EMP grenade for a more classic feel.
Power-ups return
Abilities have been reimagined as contested map pickups. Three power-ups will appear on maps as pickups:
- Overshield – a health buffer pickup that can swing a fight.
- Rush – the Aeros adrenaline effect, now fought over on the map.
- Hypersight – an individual pickup that briefly reveals enemies through walls to the picker only.
Portal wall overcharging
Portal wall overcharging prevents one-player portal tricks from becoming permanent roadblocks. If a single player places both portals on the same portal wall, that wall becomes overcharged and blocked for everyone until those portals are removed. That lets players deny a route without nerfing portal usage across the board, but it forces a tradeoff because those portals can no longer be used for flanking while they block the wall.
EMPs revised
EMPs return as equipment with adjusted effects. In Arena they are selectable equipment. In Classic Arena everyone receives one by default. New behavior: when you EMP a portal wall, the EMP destroys all portals on that wall and grants your team exclusive control of that wall for roughly seven seconds. That adds a tactical window for coordinated pushes and pairs directly with portal wall overcharging as a counterplay option.
Equipment streamlining for clarity
The team is testing the removal of several items from loadouts to reduce overlapping roles and visual clutter. The equipment being removed for this test are:
- Proximity Mine
- Recon Radar
- Regen Cloud
- Sand Grenade
- Time Dome
This is a temporary test list not a final decision. Internal playtesting found fights read more clearly without those overlapping effects, and the studio will survey players about which removals felt right and which items should return.
Three new LMGs
The playtest adds three light machine gun archetypes with distinct roles:
- Velocity LMG – high fire rate, low per-shot damage, large ammo pool for suppression.
- Barrage LMG – fires three bullets at once in a fast auto triple-shot pattern, deadly at close range.
- Strata LMG – energy weapon that fires automatic four-round bursts, more precise and mid-range focused.
Expect some of these to feel too strong or too weak out of the gate; that is precisely the point of a sandbox playtest.
Controller and other polish
Controller acceleration and responsiveness have been adjusted to get closer to the feel from the original Splitgate. Portal trails are being tested to help you understand portal exits, combat audio has been refined for clearer directional cues, and a networking bug that allowed being shot through portals has been fixed.
We previously covered the recent hotfix that adjusted smart walls and other changes during the beta playtests, and this weekend’s session looks like the next major step in that work: Splitgate 2 Hotfix story.
If you plan to join, come ready to test how these systems interact and fill out the post-playtest surveys so the studio can act on your feedback. The team specifically wants impressions on portal wall overcharging, the new LMGs, and whether the trimmed equipment list improves combat clarity.
Please leave feedback in the discussion threads and follow us on X, Bluesky, and YouTube for more playtest reports and analysis.
