The Best Battle Royale Games To Play Right Now

Battle royale video games as a concept have been around for a while, but the idea as a format or genre has only really come about in the last five years. Where games like Minecraft Survival Games or DayZ lay the foundations for what came after, it’s safe to say there are many battle royales out there on the market that see thousands of players each day.

But what are the best battle royale games to play at the moment? Check out our list of our top faves.

FORTNITE

How could we start a list like this off without naming Fortnite? Like it or not, the game is here to stay. Although it wasn’t the original pioneer of the battle royale popularity, it can definitely be considered one of the best at what it does. While typical Fortnite matches use the standard BR format that we’ve grown accustomed to, one of the game’s biggest appeals comes in how it’s somehow managed to become a sort of metagame in itself. Fortnite has hosted music concerts, film festivals, art promotions and educational shows as part of its brand. It’s a game that is constantly evolving the way we talk about video games and their impact on the real world.

Image from COD Warzone — Credit: Activision

CALL OF DUTY WARZONE

Over 15 years after the series originally began, Call of Duty had received much criticism for each of its yearly releases feeling stale and uninspired. Even more recent entries such as Call of Duty Vanguard and Black Ops Cold War have been berated for their similarities to older games in the franchise. Warzone, on the other hand, feels like the antithesis of this. It takes the familiar gameplay of Call of Duty but twists it into a battle royale format. Firefights are intense, but the gameplay is much slower than what you might expect in a typical CoD game. Raven Software has done an excellent job at converting these elements into a new format, and keeps the game fresh with a bunch of new content and events each themed around the current yearly release.

PUBG BATTLEGROUNDS

PUBG Battlegrounds (formerly known as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) has somewhat been removed from the battle royale spotlight recently, but it still deserves a place on this list as one of the original titles that kicked off the genre craze. You know the story; you parachute down onto an island with a shrinking death ring along with a hundred others and must fight for survival until you’re the last team standing. While there are some performance issues and long-standing bugs, the game still receives a steady number of updates that make it worth checking out. It’s also Free To Play as of January 12th, 2022, bringing it in-line with other F2P battle royale games on this list.

HUNT SHOWDOWN

Hunt Showdown is a little different from your average battle royale due to its focus on sensory awareness and long, drawn-out matches. You and up to two teammates are dropped into a post-apocalyptic map where you’re tasked to hunt down a bounty; usually a big monster that’s holed up in a nearby settlement. Meanwhile, other teams of players are competing for the same bounty, and it becomes a game of cat-and-mouse as you each drag yourselves through pain and chaos to reach your target. This is a game where communication is key, and quick firefights can escalate into long endurance tests as you outwit and outgun your opponents.

APEX LEGENDS

Although it builds on the same ideas brought about in Fortnite and PUBG, Apex has managed to find its own little layer in the battle royale pie. Created by Respawn, the development team behind the Titanfall series, Apex Legends uses its own roster of “Legends” with unique abilities to create fast-paced and chaotic situations on the battlefield. Three-player squads make up the bulk of each match, with them fighting for survival inside the safe zone using whatever weapons and equipment they can find scattered around the map. In particular, Apex’s legendary Ping system is one core accessibility feature that made the game stand out from its peers, and its fusion of other genres makes it a worthy addition to the list.

NARAKA BLADEPOINT

One of the more recent additions to the battle royale genre; Naraka Bladepoint has quickly gained a massive following in the past six months since its launch. It’s now amassed a daily peak of 130,000 players, and the number seems to be rising. Naraka Bladepoint is a multiplayer action game where up to 60 players battle it out using martial arts and gravity-defying stunts. It takes a while to “git gud” at the combat, but considering how tiring the thought of yet another battle royale entering the fray is, Naraka does a great job at justifying its presence.

Those are our picks for the best battle royale games to play right now! Let us know what your favourite one is on our social channels.

If you’re more of a singleplayer focused gamer, perhaps you’re interested in the best open world games or our favourite platformers.

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Featured Image Credit: Epic Games