Games Like Splitgate

Games with portals have always been popular, but which should you play while you wait for Splitgate to open up?

games like splitgate portal shooter
The portal shooter is here! If you can get into a game, that is.

Gaming Verdict is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Just as you can appear out of nowhere to eliminate your rivals, Splitgate has risen through the Steam rankings with little warning to become one of the most popular free-to-play shooters around. Fast-paced and frenetic, the game has the feel of a classic arena shooter like Unreal Tournament or Team Fortress 2, with the big addition being portals that allow you to appear and disappear in an instant. Some have dubbed it “Halo meets Portal”. Because we’re proper old school, we’re going with “4D Quake” (especially having sampled the game’s Railgun-esque Sniper Rifles). 

Unfortunately, Splitgate is proving to be so popular (600,000 downloads and counting) that the devs have found it difficult to keep up with demand. As more servers are brought online, they are immediately filled with players. With that in mind, if you’re finding it difficult to get into a game of the wildly popular portal shooter, here are some games like Splitgate to check out while you wait for the next batch of servers to open.

Quantum League (2021)

Only released in April 2021, Quantum League has suffered from a distinct lack of interest, which is likely to trickle away completely when the similar-looking Lemnis Gate appears later in the year. Perhaps though, the fact that both Splitgate and Lemnis Gate are delayed could work in its favour, as people discover what was and remains a cruelly underappreciated game.

Billed as a “time-paradox shooter”, Quantum League has you playing short 1v1 or 2v2 arena matches, with each subsequent round a replay of the one before that you can affect the timeline of. Essentially, it’s like a racing game where you’re pitted against your ghost from the previous lap, except in this case you can barge it off the road to win the race (assuming you don’t get run off the track ahead of time in the next lap).

Despite its Overwatch visuals and a lack of post-launch content due to the game’s failure to find an audience, the game remains solid, unique and enjoyable. It certainly deserves better than its current fate.

Quantum League is a game like Splitgate

Hyper Dash (2021)

It’s the fact that Hyper Dash is a VR-only shooter that puts it squarely on this list. Namely, it’s the teleportation-focused movement that gives it the same Portal-inspired feel as Splitgate. If anything, the ability to move and turn in an instant feels more natural here.

True, teleportation normally feels wrong and sacrilegious in a first-person VR game, it being a fudged mechanic designed to reduce motion sickness, but in Hyper Dash the developers have embraced it and it just feels so natural and fun.

As well as being among the most accessible and easy to play VR shooters, almost without trying Hyper Dash is probably the most Portal-esque. If you want a game like Splitgate, you can probably stop reading here.

Hyper Dash VR shooter

 

Portal 2 (2011)

It would be a dereliction of duty not to recommend a Portal game in a list of games where portals feature prominently. To that end we have to go with the Valve sequel, not just because it was funnier, more challenging and looked so much better than the meme-packed original, but also because of the game’s peerless two-player co-op mode. If you want a game like Splitgate but is a little more sedate and cerebral, Portal 2 is the obvious choice.

Can you believe that it’s been more than ten years since Portal 2 was released? Probably worth another playthrough, we reckon.

Portal 2

Mari0 (2012)

Intended to be a four-player homage to Super Mario Bros, Mari0 came about after seeing videos of Mario packing a Portal Gun. The result is a modern twist on an old classic that, true, does make the 2D challenge a bit easy, but on another level has the feel of a relaxed puzzle game rather than a frenzied platformer.

There’s so much more to Mari0 than portals that the fan-made game could be seen as the Garry’s Mod of Mario games. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of either of the titles that inspired this genius mash-up.

A short list this time around, but hopefully the wait to get into a game of Splitgate won’t be long. Things have certainly improved as new servers have been added, but if you tire of playing games like Splitgate and need some assistance with joining a server before losing the will to live, check out this wee guide.