SMITE Blitz is the new SMITE mobile game that no one asked for?

I apologize for the blunt headline, as I have the deepest respect for Hi-Rez Studios and their work on SMITE and Paladins. But the announcement of SMITE Blitz for Android and iOS made me remember all those useless cash-grabbing “games” that you can find on mobile. And this is clearly inspired by them, for some reason.

Scrapping SMITE Rivals for this new game seems odd, and with Hand of the Gods: SMITE Tactics showing a miserable player base, maybe the gods don't want anything to do with strategy and tactics spin-offs.

Anyway, SMITE Blitz is officially described as an “epic tactical RPG” but it is, in fact, a hero collector game. You know, the kind of game that heavily relies in gacha to earn the best heroes (pay up for better “odds”) and assemble the stronger teams. Then it's off into an automated battle system. It's a template that was recently tried by NCSoft with Aion: Legions of War as well, but at least that game looked great – SMITE Blitz's announcement trailer shows dated, uninspired graphics that don't do any favors to the game.

If you still think that SMITE Blitz is the game for you, you can try to participate in the technical alpha by signing up at Hi-Rez Labs, the studio's volunteer playtesting program.