Battlerite Royale Review

Oh boy. Battle Royale.

I give up on Battle Royale games. The market has been created and saturated in such an incredibly short amount of time. I think the only market saturated faster was porn. PUBG was the fault. I can only put up with the level of awfulness that game prevails for some time. I wiped my hard drive of them all: Fortnite, PUBG, and other little ones. I dabbled with the BO4 beta a little but other than that I’ve been sober for months.

Then along came another goddamn Battle Royale.

Battlerite Royale has attempted to slam two different genres together: Battle Royale, which requires fast traversal and quick reflexes; and MOBA, which requires good reflexes but at a much slower pace. This, in all honesty, works really poorly right now in all respects but the technical. These are two genres which might work together, in literally any other situation. But here they really do not. It feels like a really slow MOBA, and nothing like a Battle Royale.

So gods help me here we go.

On the formula of Battle Royale games, Battlerite does not deviate too far from the neutral point. You drop in the map, gather equipment and defeat your opponents. There are prerequisite areas with fancy names. There is a circle which shrinks in size. There are airdrops. Given enough time there will probably be sneaky hackers too and the battlecry of region locking China to truly hit Battle Royale status.

Now what is a MOBA is everything with the character. In effect, the characters are just pulled across from Battlerite. They all have different skills and styles, and they move and attack the same way. In fact the top down camera comes across too. The only real difference from a straight MOBA is the map size.

Now does this work? Yes, in the sense that the mechanics all make a game. There are fewer people per match, as MOBA controls don’t allow for more than 6 players being in a fight at once. But after running a few matches you find that it just plays like a MOBA on a bigger map.

And to be honest that just isn’t fun to me.

I’ve got to look at this game logically. Emotionally this game is a cash grab, a blatant attempt to capitalise on MOBA players with a Battle Royale. Everything is there for trying to bleed time out of players, a simple game cycle designed to continue playing and loot chests for costumes. Logically, however, there is no obvious wrong with this game. As a Battle Royale it works, the servers are pretty good and graphics and audio work really well. In fact, the fighting works well, and the game if you like MOBAs is the best blend of the two I’ve seen in a while.

But it’s late to the punch, and it sits uncomfortably between the two genres. It’s not a true MOBA, and it is not truly a Battle Royale. So it will either draw in or push out either of those fan bases. The issue of putting Royale in your title also puts you in the league of far bigger games, so in comparison to them it may fall to pieces as people with a Battle Royale already won’t be looking to switch game.

Battlerite Royale is a Battle Royale for Battlerite fans. It’s a MOBA on a big map. It works in theory and practice. In fact, as Battle Royale games go it is an incredibly polished experience. But it’s also an incredible niche one. So choose carefully.