Smite 2 has been announced, built from scratch for Unreal Engine 5

Hi-Rez Studios and developer Titan Forge Games has announced their upcoming title Smite 2 during the annual Smite World Championships. The game will be a sequel to Smite, and has been developed on Unreal Engine 5.2+, which according to the developers allows for not just a lot of visual improvements, but also several gameplay improvements. An official release date is still TBA, but early alpha access should already be coming in the Spring of this year.

With Smite 2, Titan Forge Games is aiming to build on the success of the current game. While elaborating in the keynote event, Executive Producer Alex Cantatore and General Manger Travis Brown emphasised that they're staying close to the formula of the original. Their core goal is to make a game that is Smite, but better. This means keeping all the core aspects and to "dive deep into every little aspect of the game and make it better". When looking at the gameplay of Smite next to Smite 2, this conservative approach is apparent, as the look and feel of both games is very similar.

However, there's a very apparent improvement coming to Smite 2, which is the step up to Unreal Engine version 5.2+, coming from version 3 in the current game. Smite 2's Design Director, Ajax Walker, remarked that this upgrade opens up a lot of ways for improvement, such as a reworked UI, weapons showing trails, additional animations and generally speaking, more colour. Another core improvement the developers are aiming for is to have a more "godly feel" to the action. The keynote highlighted how god abilities show a lot more impact in Smite 2 with the new engine, such as ice attacks adding frost effects to the ground, or raindrops falling around a god associated with rain.

Smite 2 will also see a rework of some of the core elements in Smite. One of the things Brown wishes to change with the new game, is the fact that the first 10 minutes of Smite are often played very similarly due to optimal god builds shaping the meta. To change this, among other things, gods will be able to use any type of item in Smite 2. Also, instead of having either magical or physical attack types, each god can be fine-tuned with strength and intelligence points. Other additions on a more tactical level include new backdoors to attack map bosses in Conquest and the possibility to ambush enemy players.

For current players of Smite, there will be no obligation to switch to Smite 2. According to Brown and Cantatore, Smite servers will remain running indefinitely and updates will keep coming out. However, the current number of 130 gods will be Smite's maximum, with new gods coming only to Smite 2. Some of the gods will be cross-gen, meaning you can play them in both games. The developers see most players transitioning to Smite 2, though. To accommodate this, they're offering a 50% discount on the premium currency, gems, in Smite 2 for every gem players purchased in Smite.

But not everything in Smite 2 is geared towards the existing players. According to Brown, there will be more effort put into the onboarding of new players. Smite 2 will address some of these issues for newcomers. Moreover, the matchmaking will get an overhaul, which should prevent new players from getting battered by experienced players coming into the game.

Despite being announced at an esports event, Brown and Cantatore also remarked that Smite 2 is being developed more with fun and average players in mind, rather than aiming at high level players. The target audience also isn't just MOBA players. Cantatore characterised their aims for Smite 2 after the keynote as a mixture of the fluid gameplay seen in action-oriented games and the determined character of pure MOBAs, leading to more "swingy" matches and even calling the Smite formula an "exciting and active game that still has the depth of strategy, that you will be able to onboard much more quickly if you've played another MOBA."

Smite 2 will release into early alpha access in the Spring of 2024, followed by a beta phase with around 25 new gods towards the end of 2024. The free to play launch date is still to be determined, but will feature around 50 gods. New gods should be coming out every two weeks after that, going up to 100 gods in total. The game will be playable on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5.