6. The Culling
If you’re a Hunger Games fan, The Culling is the battle royale experience you’ve been looking for. The game is heavily inspired by the hit movie series, complete with floating advertisement boards that play on the dystopian premise. It’s similarly focused on melee combat via improvised weaponry and traps, too. Firearms can be found but tend to come with precious little ammunition, so you’re forced to get up-close-and-personal with your enemy. In fact, if you’re somewhat squeamish when it comes to violence then you might want to give The Culling a pass — it features bloody, violent combat that really hammers home the cold brutality of The Hunger Games and battle royale movie franchises.
The Culling doesn’t quite have the scale of the epic one hundred player showdowns seen in other battle royale-type games, with servers limited to just sixteen players. But the smaller maps and server size do help bring together players in savage melee combat sequences, which is ultimately what this game does best. In terms of replayability, though, it doesn’t quite have the staying power of other battle royale titles as a result of this less tactical approach to combat. That being said, there is a duos mode that works really well, if you’re interested in playing with a buddy.
5. Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing is a 100 player battle royale title that follows a very similar beat to Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds. The focus is on military simulation, with a huge variety of different weapons and attachments to trial and error your favorite loadout, even if the gunplay isn’t quite as sharp. It also doesn’t feature any vehicles, but its gameplay still feels tactical and every bit as strategic as the best military-style battle royale games. Instead of parachuting onto the map, players spawn in a random area and then rush to nearby buildings to search for weapons and items.
Importantly, Last Man Standing is a free-to-play option. That means you shouldn’t expect top-notch animations and graphics, but this is a game that will suit anyone looking to try out this budding new genre without shelling out any money. It certainly gives a good impression of what battle royale is all about, even if it doesn’t quite have the finesse to match the more popular and more refined games out there.
4. H1Z1: King of the Kill
Before Brendan Greene launched the immensely popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), he honed his craft working with Daybreak Games on H1Z1. King of the Kill is a special battle royale mode that feels like a stripped back version of Greene’s latest venture. If you’re not a big fan of hiding around in bushes and coordinating complicated tactics, King of the Hill is a faster paced, more accessible option. There’s a more limited arsenal of weaponry and no attachments or craft-heavy item building to worry about.
Unlike PUBG and Fortnite Battle Royale, players don’t choose where they parachute overtop the map, spawning instead in an area populated by several other players from the start. This really changes the pace of the early game, eliminating dozens of players in the early moments as a mad sprint for weaponry and items ensues. And it’s a good thing that field is quickly cut down because King of the Kill features not one, but two hundred players on a single server!
As fun as H1z1: King of the Kill is, though, it does feel very much like one iteration back from PUBG. Ultimately, there are other options out there either more accessible or with better military simulation, depending on what you’re looking for.
3. Arma 3 Battle Royale Mod
Brendan Greene’s original brainchild, Arma 3 is where this whole pseudo-genre all began, and it’s still the most hardcore last man standing experience out there. Like the main Arma 3 game, this is military simulation taken to the nth degree, putting an intense focus on realism. Mastering the game means factoring in everything from bullet drop and wind speed to foraging for all manner of different resources to craft weapons and items. Next to the Arma 3 Battle Royale Mod, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) feels positively watered down.
Yet unlike PUBG, the player count across its servers is poor and finding a busy server isn’t guaranteed, even if there is still a fairly decent following for the game. It’s also worth noting that Arma 3’s design didn’t necessarily translate perfectly to the Battle Royale Mod, meaning that you’ll sometimes experience a game-breaking bug. Still, Arma 3 deserves respect, both for having a hand in starting the genre and remaining the most uncompromising military simulation.
2. Fortnite Battle Royale
Fortnite trades military simulation for a cel-shaded art style and razor sharp gunplay for building mechanics. Competition with PUBG recently went rather public after Blue Hole made their frustrations with Epic Games known, but beyond the fundamentals of its last man standing formula, Fortnite plays completely differently from any other Battle Royale-type.
Building fortifications completely change the dynamic of the experience, bringing a whole new level of strategy into play. Even beyond hilarious fort-building antics, often seeing players create towering stairs into the sky or quickly propping up walls of makeshift cover in the middle of battle, it also facilitates faster traversal. See a supply drop or chest up on a hill? Use the intuitive build mechanic to shoot upward with a ramp. In a pickle down in a valley with enemies atop? Throw up some cover and then build a ramp up and out the other side. It might not be realistic, but it’s a hell of a good time. Traps from the PvE main game are also scattered around the island, which can be laid in the patch of unsuspecting enemies — no kill is quite as satisfying as electrocuting or impaling a player with a well-laid door trap!
The pace of proceedings also moves much faster than other Battle Royale titles. The Storm shrinks the safe zone quickly, meaning each match is much quicker than something like PUBG or Arma 3 Battle Royale Mod. And Fortnite Battle Royale might have only just gone live, but in less than four weeks its player count numbers ten million, so servers are nearly PUBG levels of busy. It also happens to be a totally free-to-play experience available across PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
While it still doesn’t quite have the clout to take the top spot, Fortnite Battle Royale does innovate with its build mechanics and up-tempo formula. It just doesn’t quite have the depth of strategy due to a lack of vehicles, slightly wonky gunplay, and (so far) meager arsenal of weaponry and items. Things may yet change, but for now, Fortnite remains a very good alternative, as opposed to the definitive experience.
1. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Unquestionably the biggest gaming phenomenon of the year, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) continues to break records with each passing month. It’s easy to forget the game is still in Early Access – such is the level of polish, but its addictive gameplay formula and military shooter simulation mechanics see its player base continually expanding. And it’s not even out on consoles yet.
PUBG is Battle Royale done right, with designer Brendan Greene drawing on his experiences modding Arma 3 and H1ZI to create the ultimate last man standing gameplay. PUBG feels like a more streamlined, mature version of his previous work, casting aside the clutter of complex crafting and putting a greater emphasis on gunplay, strategy, and intuitive resource gathering. In doing so, it strikes a perfect balance between military simulation and accessible entertaining gameplay; there’s a flavor of Arma 3’s realism and strategy, but it’s an entertaining, visceral experience that’s much less intimidating. PUBG is the ultimate Battle Royale game.
PUBG is currently only available for PC via Steam, but it’s heading to Xbox One sometime later this year, and possibly PS4 thereafter.
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