Before I begin, I should note that I just played the Switch version, so my main issue might not apply to other platforms.

The concept, a MOBA where you play as various gods and mythological heroes, is really great and appeals a lot to me-- I'm interested in the figures represented from an academic standpoint, and I'm a big fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series, which also uses real-world mythologies as a base rather than generic fantasy. Even my boy Cu Chúlainn is represented (unfortunately I didn't get to play as him, but I did play as the Morrigan). The designs are also excellent-- I love how colorful and creative they are, especially the extra themed skins. I spent most of my playtime just scrolling through the god index to see who they included and how they were portrayed.

However, the gameplay itself is a pain. Literally. All attacks are launched with ZR, and special attacks are made by hitting a face button (A/B/X/Y) and then ZR, which is the most backward control scheme I've seen recently. The pain comes in with the repeated pressing of a trigger with your index or middle finger. This motion hurts your finger and soon your wrist after just a few pulls. Most games limit trigger functions to actions that are non-essential for the most basic of gameplay, probably for this reason. I usually wouldn't complain this much about an annoying control scheme except 1) I work all day at a computer which leaves me prone to hand/wrist pain so that's the last thing I want to encounter in my time off and 2) I was really looking forward to playing Smite. If I find out there's a way to map attack to a face button I might try it again later, but my first impression was so bad I quit in the middle of my second match because my hand couldn't take it anymore.

My other impression of the game was dang, this is one big microtransaction. I couldn't figure out how you get new characters or skins or whatever else is in the game other than paying for them, largely through pulls. There's nothing I can say about FTP games that hasn't already been said, but I think when it's unclear to a newcomer how to progress without shelling out of it, it's a bad sign.

It feels strange to focus on these issues when I didn't play the game long enough to address them. First impressions are important, however, as cliche as it is, and as a new player I didn't want to keep playing.