After a few months of teasing, Titan Forge has revealed everything players can expect from SMITE 2's first brand-new god, Hecate, including a look at her abilities and the ways in which Unreal Engine 5 has helped the team bring her to life. Check out her reveal trailer above.
Hecate, the Greek Goddess of Sorcery, Witchcraft, and Magic, has ranked high on the list of fan-requested gods for some time now, so Titan Forge has opted to go all out with her as an exclusive SMITE 2 character. This has allowed her to be the first god to be built entirely within the UE5 editor as opposed to being imported from UE3 like the returning SMITE roster.
Whereas UE3 required the developers to hand-key animations, the move to UE5 has allowed them to apply physics-based cloth simulation to things like Hecate's veil. This results in considerably more realistic animations that are based on how she's moving at any given moment, adding a deeper level of connection between her character model and the player.
"For Hecate, we wanted to make sure that we didn't go hard with her as a witch herself," said Director of Animation, Daniel Lilleberg. "As far as it relates to animation, one of the key things that we're trying to drive with her is just her etherealness, her presentation — floaty, soft, out in the ether."
UE5 has also given the team more options for how the visuals of the world can be changed or enhanced by various gameplay mechanics. The best example of this so far is Hecate's ability Traverse Worlds, which distorts the entire map for both Hecate and any enemies she hits with the attack, providing a universal visual feedback that wasn't possible in the original game.
"We're rendering a flow map over everything, which is this texture that takes this black and white information and is distorting everything, making it look really cool and otherworldly," said VFX Artist, Shayne Felmann.
Another fresh gameplay feature is Hecate's passive ability, Mythical Ritual, which gives her two "interact" prompts exclusive to her kit that lets her perform specific actions with structures and gods. Ritual of Life enchants a friendly structure (such as a tower) so that it heals the health and mana of allies in its range, while Ritual of Death provides extra Strength and Intelligence to a nearby teammate that has killed an enemy god in the last 30 seconds.
Hecate's other abilities include two magical projectile attacks, one called Tartarus Cell and an ultimate ability called Open the Gates, the latter of which shoots three beams back-to-back while providing CC immunity. But perhaps the most interesting of her abilities is Spell Eater. This attack sends out a sigil that charges every time a nearby ally or enemy uses an attack, then can eventually be fired at a targeted area at up to 120% increased damage.
"Doing the first new god in SMITE 2, Hecate, has been a fun and interesting challenge," Lilleberg said. "And I hope that the work we've put in resonates well."
We'll find out first-hand how UE5 and the changes it brings has impacted the experience when SMITE 2 enters closed alpha sometime this Spring. You can guarantee access to the closed alpha by purchasing a SMITE 2 Founder's Edition, which will also grant you access to all future gods alongside various other extras based on which version you pick.
Billy Givens is a freelancer at IGN with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. His work can also be found on GameSpot, USA Today, Digital Trends, Tom's Guide, and more. You'll find him blabbering on about video games and more on Twitter at @mektige.
