The Battle Royale video game genre is a relatively new phenomenon that has been sweeping through gaming for the past couple of year. Starting with the Popularization of games like H1Z1 and PUBG this new exciting genre has taken the industry by storm. With a completely multiplayer focus this genre pulls together 100, or any random number of gamers all into one lobby then sees them “drop” down into the map from above. The players are then tasked with looting weapons, ammo and other usable items in order to best use in combat against the other gamers dropping in. These games are highly competitive with there being 100 people joining and only one winner or team that wins, this means that wins are hard to come by but when they do also come a massive sense of satisfaction. What I aim to do in this blog is give a brief overview and description of three free to play battle royale games that you can play right now by yourself or with friends.
Rumbleverse
The first game I wish to explore in this blog is the newest and probably least well-known game out of the three. RumbleVerse is a combat based free to play battle royale published by Epic games the makers of Fortnite. RumbleVerse is very different from the average BR because instead of guns and ammo to loot and shoot with, the combat is based on wrestling much like a WWE game would be. Meaning this BR is much more related to a fighting game like Smash or Tekken than other firearm-based Battle Royales. Because of this, the combat is much more based on individual skill than based on things like timing or positioning like it would be in a BR with guns. This is the biggest draw of the game, many people who may grow tired of third-partying and long amounts of running and looting time in-between combat do not have to worry in this game. When the game is good it shines brightly and I believe it has immense potential to blow up, however that leads to the games currently biggest problem. Because the game is so skill based and the game is still relatively unknown there is a player base, however the player base is extremely hardcore. Meaning the first couple hours of playing this game are not going to be very fun for most gamers because you will consistently be destroyed repeatedly by higher skill players because skill-based match making is not yet introduced into the game. The other major problem is that you can currently only play Duos with one other person, as squads have not yet been introduced. However, the game is still extremely young and with a growing player base and a couple updates this could really take the world by storm
Fall Guys
Fall guys is the next game I wish to focus on in this blog. Fall guys blow up in popularity back during the pandemic and went viral for its fun, low stress bean obstacle course gameplay. 60 little beans are put in a lobby and presented with some sort of obstacle or game to play against the other players in the lobby. The goal is to continually survive a number of rounds of these obstacles and eventually be the last person standing to win the crown. The movement and controls are extremely simple meaning any kind of gamer of all ages could easily pick up the premise and play a game of fall guys. This is probably fall guys best trait, the accessibility makes it so that even non gamers can easily pick up the jist of what’s going on and have a good time. There is no skill necessary to play fall guys and have a good time. The game allows for up to 4 other players to squad up and play at any time meaning that this game offers a great social opportunity for gamers. Recently fall guys joined the movement of games switching to free to play with micro transactions which has caused a massive influx of new player to the game. Fall guys is a great game for a fun, stress free experience that anyone anywhere can play right now.
Fortnite:Battle Royale
The final game I’ll be discussing on this blog is the most infamous that being Fortnite. Fortnite rose to world-wide prominence back in 2017 completely going viral and breaking the internet. However, this is the year 2022, it has been 5 years since the peak of Fortnite’s popularity and Fortnite is still trending as one of the biggest battle royale games in the world. 100 players get on the battle bus and are dopped into the map to loot and shoot until there is only one team or player standing. The classic formula stays the same however what made Fortnite popular initially has interesting changed over the years. Initially the building mechanics are what helped Fortnite stand out amongst the other BRs at the time. However now with the introduction of the no building mode Fortnite has seen an interesting renaissance in what makes the game popular. People became so good a building over time that a large amount of the player base turned away from the game stating that it was no longer fun due to these “building sweats”. However, with the introduction of the no building mode many old players have been dragged back into the Fortnite universe partially fueled by nostalgia, but also due to a new lifeblood being injected into the game with these new modes. Up to four players can join a squad and this is the most optimal way to play the game. Unlike the other BRs I have mentioned, Fortnite almost requires you to play with other people to fully experience what the game can offer. In this way Fortnite is probably the most social BR out of them all.
