Just how good is SMITE 2? At the time of writing, the 24/7 Alpha servers have been available for just over two weeks, and there have been several test weekends over the previous months, too. So while there is still a ton of content to come before the full launch, hardcore SMITE players - like those you’ll find in our community - have had plenty of opportunity now to take the Unreal Engine 5-powered sequel for a spin. We asked our community of SMITE veterans what they think so far and you’ll find their collected verdicts below. Spoiler: it's pretty good!

New features

SMITE 2 is a sequel built from the ground up, which has afforded developer Titan Forge Games the chance to think fresh about new features. The introduction of auto-builds - builds for each god that will automatically buy each ability and item as soon as possible, rather than you having to spend time manually selecting them - is one of the most popular, with DiscoFerry saying they're "solid and a great way for new players to learn gameplay mechanics." Sturmer agrees, saying that as a new player, he finds the auto-build feature "a nice touch", while Kiz says the way it works with active items is "smoother than expected."

One of the biggest selling points for SMITE 2 is how roles have been redesigned, something of which celestewish is a huge fan: "I think being able to rank all five roles allows new players to improve more easily, along with the role descriptions being useful for beginners and experienced players alike. The variety of objectives available means you're never bored in lane, even when the laning phase ends, as there's always an objective to go for." Kiz also agrees with the map, as "objectives are well scattered and numerous enough to always have something to do."

The new relic system, which limits players to only one relic at a time, is also universally praised by our community. While there are some balancing issues with them at the moment - Sundering Arc being by far the best pick, as evidenced by our SMITE 2 tips - PNDA explained "I love and much prefer the new relic system, but one thing I wish they could carry over from the previous game is the evolving of said relics. I think it would help balance the relics in terms of early, mid, and late game."

Abilities and gameplay

Alongside brand-new features, plenty of gods have had their abilities and kits reworked. Sadger explains "Ares's new passive and the ability to refresh Loki's first ability on kill" are two of the most impactful changes, while Kiz suggests Susano, Jing Wei, and Sol are three of the best, to the point where they could be considered overpowered in the current version of the game.

There are plenty of plaudits for the game as a whole, too, with DiscoFerry saying the "general gameplay feel" has improved considerably since the early Alpha tests, Sadger calling it "fun and refreshing", while Feddboii loves the "freedom it puts in the hands of players, rather than adhering to a strict meta." Elech thinks it feels "more complete and polished" thanks to smaller changes such as unique animations depending on the direction your character is facing, Inpunktion thinks it has "made some incredible improvements", while CMDR Henckes says the jump from SMITE 1 to 2 is as impressive as that from Counter-Strike: Source to Global Offensive. High praise indeed!

Empen's praise comes in the form of having managed to convert their friends - a bunch of dedicated League of Legends players - to make the switch to SMITE 2. If that doesn't prove how much of an upgrade the sequel is, we're not sure what does! Meanwhile, Elech has over 8,000 hours in the original and thinks SMITE 2 is "moving in the right direction", while ChrisTDickson says they "genuinely believe SMITE 2 has the potential to surpass any peaks SMITE 1 ever had."

Graphics

As expected with an engine upgrade - SMITE 2 is built entirely within the cutting-edge Unreal Engine 5 - the graphics and overall visuals have been vastly improved from the first game, but we’ll let our members explain just how much more beautiful everything is, from the environments to animations and beyond. 

JHenckes thinks it's "wildly beautiful" now, explaining the UI is much more intuitive. NiteDark and yan57436 both echoed this with praise for the graphics, and Cloggedbean especially loves the changes to Chaac's lightning effects compared to the first game. DiscoFerry agrees and sees improvement not just on the original SMITE but even the earlier Alpha tests of SMITE 2, saying everything is "much clearer overall" and that SMITE 2 is "not quite so flashy and blinding as it initially was". 

Balancing

However, SMITE 2 is still in Alpha, and as such there are some aspects in need of further tweaks. One of the biggest such areas right now, according to our community of players, concerns balancing. The current version of the game has led to a few specific gods and techniques being seriously powerful, such as Kiz's prior mention of Susano, Jing Wei, and Sol, and they also mention Ares's ultimate feeling quite lackluster. PNDA mentions Bacchus alongside Susano, while also saying Odin and Zeus are in need of a buff.

When it comes to items and relics, far and away the most popular suggestion was for Sundering Arc to receive a nerf. Kiz explained that "besides Combat Blink, Sunder is the only other relic that is currently worth picking up as the others don’t lend themselves to this aggressive meta, or they're too lackluster to be worth the investment." PNDA agrees, as they think "Sunder is just too good in the early game."

While ProdigalStatius agrees with the comments on balancing, they’re not deterred from playing as much as possible because of the response of the devs to exactly this kind of feedback. They say: "SMITE 2 is super fun and expressive right now, because the changes from the first Alpha weekend to now are night and day."

Item shop

The item shop has been completely redesigned in SMITE 2 and unfortunately, it's one of the only other aspects our players aren't impressed with. DiscoFerry thinks the shop is "unintuitive as it takes three times as many clicks to get your starter, first tier one, and three potions now". Sadger feels like they're "losing to the shop most of the time, spending more time than should be necessary to find items and constantly clicking to buy or clear the filters", celestewish deems the item trees and tab system confusing, and Feddboii think it's "clunky", so they always resort to auto-buy instead. 

PNDA wraps up with some additional item shop thoughts: "I love the items and building in SMITE 2, but I am still not a fan of the shop. It feels much less intuitive than its SMITE 1 counterpart. The role tabs aren’t all that effective either as there are items that should be in one tab, but are found in another. Purchasing from the shop just feels a lot slower compared to SMITE 1."

Tutorials

Titan Forge has acknowledged that the new-player experience needs a little work and promised that it will be addressed in a future update. Our players agree that this is a wise priority. As a whole, Inpunktion thinks SMITE 2 has "made some incredible improvements" but admits it has a "steep learning curve" and their only gripe is that "it's even less friendly to new players than SMITE was, so creating a functional and compelling tutorial is essential."

Sturmer agrees: "While the game does display most essential information, there are other crucial aspects that aren't explained. Things like shops, the roles of mobs and mini-bosses, and game objectives could really benefit from a tutorial to better prepare players before actual matches."

On the whole it seems that our community is loving SMITE 2 so far, with particular praise for the new graphics and animations, UI tweaks, quality-of-life features, and god redesigns, all of which have come together to produce a more readable and beautiful game and a more exciting, fresher gameplay experience. Those god tweaks have raised a few balance issues to squash, however, there’s a clear need for smoother onboarding, and the first version of the new item shop is a bit of a bust. What do you think? Is that a fair assessment of the current state of the game or is there anything you’d add or disagree with? Go ahead and sound off in the comments!  

Some text has been edited for brevity, clarity, or spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You can find the original wording here. 

Image credit: Titan Forge Games