Splitgate has experienced a meteoric rise from relative obscurity to sitting among the top played games on Steam. While the majority of its popularity is due to its novel yet familiar gameplay - combining Portal with Halo - another huge aspect is the attention to detail that 1047 Games put into its product.
The maps, especially, are beautifully designed and take full advantage of the unique mechanics within Splitgate. To maximize their effectiveness within both ranked and casual play, players will want to familiarize themselves with the entire roster of arenas available within the game.
Abyss
Abyss is one of the faster-paced maps in Splitgate. While it's not necessarily all that small, the map mainly consists of tight corridors and cramped fighting spaces, meaning that players will have to be on their toes constantly. Abyss tends to punish beginner mistakes like poorly timed reloading since another enemy is always around the corner after each encounter. It's one of the few maps that has a BFB spawn location, meaning that players can take further advantage of the compact nature of Abyss.
Atlantis
Atlantis, like Abyss, is a relatively small map, except it has an obvious focal point where most of the fighting is going to occur. While some players will skirt around the edges of the map in an attempt to flank the enemy, most casual players are going to dive into the center of the map and duke it out.
Club Silo
Club Silo is built in a vertical fashion. This map is all about controlling the high ground over the opposing team. It's also no surprise that the Sniper spawns up high in this map as it truly shines on Club Silo and is probably a player's best gun choice in Splitgate. There is a Rocket Launcher spawn at the very bottom underneath the tower, but any competent team will make getting it nearly impossible.
Helix
Helix, almost more than any other map, rewards quality portal placement. For whatever reason, despite having a large central component, Helix normally devolves into fights around the edge of the map, where there also happens to be plenty of portal walls. This is one of the best maps for beginners to play in Splitgate since there are lots of portal wall combinations that are simplistic yet extremely useful.
Highwind
Highwind can be a frustratingly convoluted map. It's not necessarily all that small, but its odd paths and sparse shooting lanes make it trend toward one-on-one engagements. There are a few key portal walls up high, but to truly get a leg up on the competition, Splitgate players should prepare for melee combat.
Impact
Impact is one of the more spacious maps in the game, and as a result, traveling around the edge of Impact is usually going to be troublesome. While there are plenty of portal walls to choose from, a conveniently placed portal wall that overlooks the central crossing point is going to be the main point of contention for players.
Lavawell
Lavawell is absolutely tiny. This map definitely favors quick-thinking players that like to push the pace. There's an odd Rocket Launcher spawn that tends to be away from the rest of the action, which can help players get the edge on the enemy team. It's also home to a hilarious Terminator reference.
Oasis
Oasis is truly in a category of its own. Its wide-open design means that portal placement dictates the entire match. Of course, against lower-skill opponents or in a truly casual game, players can get away with running around a fair bit, but against capable opponents, nearly every angle will be covered by players firing through portals.
Olympus
Olympus is most similar in flavor to Club Silo. It's a vertically built map that favors the high ground. The biggest difference is that Olympus is an adept portal user's dream. It features a huge density of portal walls that makes it a fan favorite for racing as well as the perfect place to get creative with Splitgate's portal wall combinations. As such, any player that is struggling with portal usage should be quick to close enemy portals before they get overwhelmed by the odd angles presented on Olympus.
Pantheon
Pantheon is one of the bigger maps in Splitgate, and as a result, offers less predictability in terms of engagements than other maps. While some players tend to battle over portal superiority at the top of either tower, other players opt to fight on the edges of the map for the Sniper spawn.
Stadium
Stadium is a tight, competitive-feeling map. It's also, oddly enough, one of the most predictable maps in the game with nearly every round opening with either team shooting a portal across the entire map to behind the enemy's spawn. Due to its polished and symmetrical design, Stadium lends itself well to Splitgate's tournament matches or team scrimmages.
Simulation Maps (Alpha to Golf)
There are a total of 7 Simulation maps in Splitgate, ranging from Alpha to Golf. The maps were purposefully designed with ranked matches in mind and as such are clean, symmetrical, and all relatively small. They'll also only ever show up during Showdown, Takedown, or in the newly implemented 2v2 Deathmatch ranked mode - meaning that a player rotating through the casual playlist won't encounter them.
For the most part, the Simulation maps are fairly similar with mirrored spawns, a basement component, and an elevated center where most of the fighting takes place. The maps also tend to be fairly dense with portal walls which leads to portal skills becoming exponentially more important in ranked play. Simulation Echo is arguably the most unique of the ranked maps, as it does not feature a distinct sub-floor and instead presents an arena with more ramps and inclines for players to exploit.
Splitgate is available now in open beta on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in the works.