Battlerite Royale, The How’s and Why’s.

Last week's announcement of a Battle Royale mode for Battlerite has brought much controversy to it's community. Will it impact the quality of the base game? Will it repopulate its playerbase? such are the questions constantly fluctuating between yes and no, and that's most likely why the developers decided to adress it and explain their thoughts and how they led them to make this decision.
Battlerite News by KEENGAMER

The Dev's update was separated in two -one part thanked the players for sticking with Battlerite for so long, some since the alpha testing (like myself), and mentioned a number of directions they've been working towards the past few months in order to "secure the future of the game". One of them, for example, was focusing only on the PC market in order to deliver the best possible updates, as frequent as they could. They are also expanding the game globally, partnering with Nexon in Korea and Tecent in China.

Now, I believe "secure the future of Battlerite" was the key phrase here, as the second part talked about the core of the late controversy that is "Battlerite Royale". They talked about how Stunlock Studios has previous experience with free-for-all games, like Dead Island: Epidemic, and how the've been searching for a less punishing and more engaging mode for players to ease their way into the game.

After trying their luck with the Battlegrounds mode, they decided choose a path different from focusing on team-based strategic content, while reusing the the key points which make Battlerite fun:

  • Great small-scale combat where skill and teamplay determines the outcome.
  • A deep and robust Ability and upgrade system (Battlerites)
  • A wide variety of Champions – all which can stand and fight on their own
  • A core experience that revolves around elimination –  when you’re dead, you’re out
  • An exciting way of forcing matches to end – The Death Vortex has been with us from the early stages of Bloodline Champions alpha back in 2010!
  • Short, fun, and exciting matches

And arrived at the "natural" answer of exploring the royale mode. Given their experience and how Battlerite already has some royale-like aspects, they began with a prototype of 6 players in a free-for-all map, they liked it and then decided to push it up to 10, which was already hard because everything was optimized for a max of 6 players. Once done and checked, they pushed it further to the now known 20 players max.

Also, they mentioned what we already knew – A map 30 times bigger than the standard arena, 20 players alone or duo, in a match 10 minutes long. But here is what we didn't knew: Players will begin without skills, which must be found much like you'd find an assault rifle in Fortnite, along with equipment and "a variety of fun and exciting consumables". The objective, like in any BR game, is to be the last one standing, or the duo. In any case, they assured the arena will remain as their main mode, and that they trust in the versatility of their champions to continue being the key even in this new mode, while reserving a path of exclusive changes if needed be.

I believe the new mode will breath a breeze of fresh air into the game, attracting more casual players to the mix. Because, as much as I love the arena mode, I do miss a way to just trash around with different champions, without the fear of letting my team down in the process. Yet I hope they keep their word and don't let this new mode blind them from the real core of Battlerite.

Finally, for more details you can visit their official blog with all their thoughts on the matter, and a few exclusive images.

2 Comments

  1. Avatar photo

    Let’s be honest, if it’s Battle Royale, people will just lap it up anyway. Probably a smart move on the dev’s part

    Reply
    • Avatar photo

      I do believe most people will, but some are just tired of seeing every single game getting a royale mode, while others prefer Battlerite as it is. The only minus point I see in the future is if it takes away the spotlight from the core of the game, but yeah, I agree with you. A smart move indeed.

      Reply

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