Not every battle royale game is PUBG or Fortnite with a fresh coat of paint.
A truly disgusting amount of them are, sure.
But there are a handful of games adding stellar and creative features to your not-so-bog-standard
battle royale.
Here are a few that we absolutely love.
Realm Royale is a spinoff of the game Paladins which many accused of being an Overwatch clone,
but it's actually pretty good in it's own right.
"He's a chicken!"
And the greatest twist it brings to the battle royale formula is turning you into a chubby
chicken when you die.
Much like a fragile baby D.Va outside of her mech, if you survive long enough as a chicken,
you can come back to life.
Needless to say, watching a toddling chicken flee the scene of violence is a joyous delight.
Radical Heights, a game which its own developer called a last-ditch attempt at the upcoming
battle royale genre is dead.
But Boss Key's ill-fated retro royale did bring one neat progression hook to the table:
in-game cash that you can only keep by depositing it into an ATM, while of course avoiding getting
killed by your competitors and having all your shit stolen.
I think this is neat as hell, and it adds a quirky but tense subgoal to each gameplay session.
Somebody should absolutely steal it when Radical Heights finally bites the dust and goes offline
for good.
Cuisine Royale is broken as hell.
And why shouldn't it be?
This game was literally made as an April Fools joke before coming to Steam.
At first glance it might seem like just another PUBG clone, but if you look closely you'll
see that it is in fact a PUBG clone.
But with jankier physics.
And armor made out kitchen tools.
You regain health by eating "poignant ham" and "exclusive pastry," and you can wear a
waffle maker to protect your butt.
This game feels truly terrible to play, but it does contain something perfect and wonderful,
something that is not a joke at all: bouncy bunny slippers.
They are made of condensed joy, and finding them is a golden ticket to happiness.
"One player remaining."
"And what a way to finish it off..."
Darwin Project takes battle royale back to its reality TV roots via The Hunger Games.
In each match, one person takes on the role of "director," a job whose sole purpose is
to make the match more entertaining to spectators, and so much worse for competitors.
While the players are trying to stay alive and kill each other, the director is watching
and plotting whose life they're going to turn into a hellscape.
They can choose to help or hinder the combatants by doing things like nuking entire segments of the map.
They can float, disembodied, over the game world or trail behind players, commenting/insulting
their gameplay.
Usually when you plead with a video game for mercy, the game can't hear you.
But in Darwin Project, there is a god, and that god might just take pity on you.
But they probably won't.
Fractured Lands is basically billed as PUBG meets Mad Max, which is both a very obvious
take on this genre and a totally desirable one.
In this post-apocalyptic game, you need to outrun a radioactive storm that's closing in,
which is probably the most logical justification of the circle that we know and love.
While that part of the game makes sense, I am praying for the combat to be absolutely
bonkers.
So far, so good.
You can upgrade your car with all sorts of boosts and spikes and other nonsense, turning
it into a killing machine, which is all I really need from a Mad Max-ish take on battle royale.
Another battle royale game that remains a beautiful glitchy mess, Totally Accurate Battlegrounds
boasts the floppiest bods this side of Totally Accurate Battle Simulator.
TABG is also an April Fools joke, which at this point is the only legitimate excuse for
making another battle royale game in this the year of our lord 2018.
These beautiful, bug-eyed, Play-Doh people feel like they are perpetually on the edge
of flying out of control.
Their limbs stretch like car dealership mascots, and a slight incline will send your car rolling
like the most fragile soccer player.
It is art.
Every day, in every way, Fortnite is getting better and better.
I don't know how they do it, but it's true.
None of Fortnite's updates make sense.
Who would add a shopping cart to a multiplayer shooter?
Epic Games, apparently.
And I'm here infinity dabbing on it.
You can golf in Fortnite with the season five battle pass.
Why?
Why not!
They could add literally anything, and as long as it had that intangible quality of
"fun," it would fit in.
Like, I wish they would add some kind of business management sim just for the hell of it.
Like, I'm managing the burger restaurant while everyone is trying to farm it for supplies.
Why not?
Epic Games refuses to let Fortnite go stale, and that is why everyone wants to be them.
But what about the other 500 battle royale games that use the same vehicles and bridges
as PUBG?
Do y'all have any features that I didn't mention here?
Drop them in the comments and tell me why you love them.
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