Shooters are having a moment in 2025, with Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders topping the charts and attracting large player counts as the year comes to an end. The former title is a return to form for a legacy franchise, while the latter leads the charge for the fledgling extraction-shooter genre.Left in the dust in the shooter space, however, is Splitgate 2, a game that its makers thought would revitalize a genre they saw as growing stale. Developer 1047 Games released the first-person shooter in May, exuding extreme confidence in its product. Splitgate 2 tried to bank on nostalgia for old-school arena shooters, directly invoking Halo and even Titanfall. Yet, the game was also marred by contradictory decisions, adapting present-day monetization models and industry-wide fads like battle royale modes.Splitgate 2 is a blip in the big picture of 2025, but the issues and drama surrounding the title and its release were so prolific that the game is certain to be the subject of YouTube essays and analysis for years to come. From microtransaction controversies to studio CEO Ian Proulx donning the most egregious headwear possible in a livestreamed industry event, along with developer layoffs and an extremely unusual "unlaunching" of the game, 2025 was nothing but tumultuous for the Splitgate team.But what is easy to forget amid the public drama is how Splitgate 2 played--and it actually played very well. Splitgate 2 delivered crunchy gunplay, retaining the simple-to-play, hard-to-master feel of its sleeper-hit predecessor. Whizzing around the map through portals was still a thrilling sensation, and the streamlined controls map portal creation to just one button (instead of two, like the previous Splitgate), made traversal feel faster and snappier.Placing and traveling through portals remained an excellent and approachable movement tool. While other first-person shooters today have more advanced and esoteric movement techniques like slide-canceling and other exploits, portals are an easy concept to grasp--one that even the most casual player could use for creative strategies and plays.Splitgate 2 successfully retained the fast and frenetic pace of its predecessor.The early days of Splitgate 2 were also a reminder of the joy of "discovering" a game, watching new players try to wrap their heads around the portal traversal, and either stumbling or instantly excelling in matches. In those early days, it was much easier to create portals in strategic zones and completely mow down clueless opponents through them--which was fun in its own way. But as time passed, the budding player-base collectively figured out the inner workings of Splitgate.The new game also addressed one of my biggest gripes with the prior one: the lack of any personality or visual identity. Splitgate 1 came across as a hodgepodge of assets and art styles, with generic soldiers that looked like "Master Chief at home" and anthropomorphic characters that make Peely from Fortnite look grounded in comparison.Splitgate 2, on the other hand, presented a bolder and more refined art style, defined by bright, pastel colors. With sleeker character designs and environments, Splitgate 2 not only looked a lot better and more coherent, but the world of Splitgate became more tangible. Instead of vaguely resembling a Halo rip-off, Splitgate 2 made strides to build its own look and universe.More controversial in Splitgate 2 was the addition of Factions, which were essentially archetypes or classes, each with its own unique kit of abilities. Larger franchises like Call of Duty and Halo have toyed with the concept, adding elements of Overwatch-style hero shooters in the mix, usually resulting in fan backlash.The addition of a battle royale mode felt contradictory to Splitgate 2's mission.From my experience, Factions and abilities are mostly harmless, rarely changing the calculus of a match, though I did desire game modes that lacked these additions and put a greater focus on the core portal FPS arena action. At the very least, the presence of Factions showed that 1047 Games was tempted by modern shooter ideas, even ones that were at odds with Splitgate's stated mission of bringing back a pure arena experience.The strength of Splitgate 2 as a game was ultimately upended by the behind-the-scenes strife and widely reported missteps by the studio's management. Enjoying Splitgate 2 became a frustrating affair, knowing how much better the game could be if its makers stopped fumbling the ball.That's because, on paper, Splitgate is an easy property to root for: It's built by an independent studio out of love for classic, beloved games, and it's an underdog swimming in a sea of live-service games. On the surface, 1047 Games appears to be a very collaborative studio, engaging directly with the community and seemingly taking feedback to heart. But the questionable decisions added up, with Splitgate 2 flying too close to the games-as-a-service sun with ridiculous in-game shop prices and a shoehorned battle royale mode. Proulx's "Hatgate" at Summer Game Fest also suggested that this studio, or at least the top brass, simply wasn't ready for the spotlight it craved on its crusade to revive the arena-shooter genre.The rebooted Splitgate: Arena Reloaded represents a rare second chance for a struggling studio.In the past few years, 1047 Games experienced a greater volume of triumph and turmoil faster than most studios ever will. Splitgate 1, years after a lukewarm launch, blew up during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in massive amounts of funding. Then, the studio pivoted to making a sequel instead of building on the original game. And after a botched launch of the sequel, the studio pulled the game back into a beta state, which, quite honestly, I didn't know was something game developers would even dare to do.Even after all of this, 1047 Games is still standing, ready to relaunch Splitgate 2 into a new, even more streamlined experience called Splitgate: Arena Reloaded. Somehow, the studio survived ordeals that would kill most organizations, and it has a second chance that many studios would never receive.Anyone who played Splitgate 2, or at least found some investment in the game, has likely made up their mind on whether or not 1047 Games deserves this second chance. But with how fun and pure its Halo-meets-Portal action is, the gameplay concept itself is absolutely deserving.