Fortnite Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds took the gaming world by storm years ago. They cemented the Battle Royale genre as a dominant genre in the gaming industry and has remained one of the most played game types ever since.
However, Fortnite and PUBG are not the only battle royale games out there, and today we are taking a look at all the best games of the genre as of 2020.
Note: We will not include games such as H1Z1 despite it being relatively popular as we feel it is incredibly similar to PUBG and Ring of Elysium but not nearly as good.
1. Apex Legends
Best squad-based Battle Royale
- Developer: Respawn Entertainment
- Platform:Â PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One
- Steam Rating: N/A
- Perspectives:Â First-person perspective
- Price:Â Free-to-play
- Link: Official Site / Origin Page
This surprise release from Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts has taken the world by storm and turned the gaming market upside down. Reaching 25 million players in its first week, it is by far the fastest-growing game of all time, and there is a good reason for this.
While having insane viewership on Twitch and a well-timed surprise release certainly helped to create the hype, but in the end, the success of Apex Legends come down to its gameplay. Apex Legends is a fantastic game that feels like a mixture of all the best elements from Overwatch, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six Siege, and every great battle royale out there.
In Apex Legends, you play as one of the nine hero characters, all of which have a unique set of abilities and skills, which makes the game more fun and keeps it fresh. It also has the best-designed map of any battle royale on the market with a lot of verticality and unique design choices. It just doesn’t feel like the typical generic map you see in most of these games.
The gameplay is fun and fast-paced and feels much more polished than most games do at release nowadays. Apex Legends is already a tremendous success, and we cannot wait to see what new maps and characters Respawn Entertainment will add to the game down the line.
2. Ring of Elysium
The best free-to-play game like PUBG
- Developer: Tencent Games
- Platform:Â PC
- Steam Rating: 7/10
- Perspectives:Â Third-person mode, First-person mode
- Price:Â Free-to-play
- Link: Official Site / Steam Page
Ring of Elysium is Tencent Games’ attempt at their very own battle royale, and it is honestly already one of the best ones out there. While it is still officially in early access, it is, in many ways, more polished and smooth than its closest competitor, PUBG. The game looks great, runs really well, and it certainly doesn’t feel like an early access game. In most ways, it feels incredibly similar to PUBG. Still, it does have some wonderful twists such as attachments automatically being equipped, starting with a gun, and, most importantly, the classes. When you drop into a game in Ring of Elysium on the snow map, you can choose between a snowboard, a paraglider, or a mountain climber kit. Each kit has a few unique advantages over each other, and these transportation methods make the game less stale than other battle royales. More kits and mobility tools will come with each new map, such as the grappling hook and bike for the Europa City map.
My honest opinion is that Ring of Elysium is a slightly better and free-to-play version of PUBG, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to try out the battle royale genre. With that said, PUBG does have more maps and content in general, so if you want a lot of variation right now, you might be better off with PUBG.
3. Call Of Duty: Warzone
Free-to-play Call Of Duty battle royale
- Developer:Â Activision Blizzard
- Platform:Â PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Perspectives: First-person mode
- Price:Â Free-to-play
- Link: Official Site
Call of Duty: Warzone is the battle royale mode that came with 2019’s Modern Warfare but was made entirely free-to-play in 2020. Warzone is everything Black Ops 4’s battle royale mode should have been, and it takes all of the best aspects from it, such as the excellent gunplay, vast array of gadgets and vehicles, and the overall polished Call Of Duty ”feel” – all the while remaining free-to-play.
If you enjoyed Black Ops 4’s battle royale, then you will love Warzone. It has a polished pay-to-play feel that very few free games can match.
While Warzone is a bit behind on the number of maps compared to other battle royales, it has some of the best gameplay mechanics on the market. Everything from the various vehicles to the guns feels very satisfying to play around with, and it will keep you engaged for hours on end.
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4. PUBG
The first big battle royale
- Developer: PUBG Corporation, Bluehole
- Platform:Â PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android
- Steam Rating: 6/10
- Perspective:Â First-person mode, Third-person mode
- Price:Â 29.99$
- Link: Official Site / Steam Page / Amazon
The game that started it all, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or more commonly known as PUBG. Despite a rocky development and several performance issues over the years, PUBG has remained by far the most popular pay-to-play battle royale game in the world. While the early success of PUBG was due to a lack of competition, it has more recently grown to deserve its place as one of the most popular games in the world.
PUBG was known for the longest time for having unstable servers, laggy gameplay, and a ton of other issues. However, over the last year, Bluehole has improved the game immensely by adding a ton of new content, balance patches, and overall fixes to the gameplay. While the game is smoother than ever and runs a lot better than on release, it does still have more issues than you’d generally expect from a pay-to-play game.
5. Fortnite: Battle Royale
The most popular game in the world
- Developer: Epic Games
- Platform:Â PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
- Steam Rating: N/A
- Perspectives:Â Third-person perspective
- Price:Â Free-to-play
- Link: Official Site
You can’t talk about Battle Royales without mentioning the biggest of them all, Fortnite. While Fortnite Battle Royale might get a lot of hate from the gaming community, there is a reason it is the most popular game in the world. The gameplay is incredibly smooth, the game is patched regularly with balance adjustments and events to keep it fresh, and the building mechanics adds another layer of complexity to competitive play.
6. Battlerite Royale
Best MOBA-Battle Royale hybrid
- Developer: Stunlock Studios
- Platform:Â PC, Xbox One
- Steam Rating: 6/10
- Perspectives:Â Isometric perspective
- Price:Â Free-to-play
- Link: Official Site / Steam Page
Battlerite Royale is marketed as ”the MOBA Battle Royale,” which is a reasonably accurate description of what to expect when you pick this game up. The isometric views and use of abilities make it feel very familiar to the classic MOBA game but add a vast map with no-respawn policies, and you have yourself a fifty-fifty fusion of the two genres. Battlerite Royale is the perfect battle royale to pick up if you are not a huge fan of traditional shooters or want something closer to a MOBA.
Note:Â Battlerite Royales’ relatively low steam rating is mostly due to Hi-Rez Studios making it a separate game, which caused quite a bit of outrage from people with established Battlerite accounts.
7. Darwin Project
Most underrated battle royale
- Developer: Scavengers Studio
- Platform:Â PC, Xbox One
- Steam Rating: 9/10
- Perspectives:Â Third-person perspective
- Price:Â Free-to-play
- Link: Official Site / Steam Page
Darwin Project from Scavengers Studio is another incredibly underrated battle royale that deserves a lot more attention. It is also one of the more unique on the list with Scavengers Studio changing the entire battle royale recipe. And what we are left with is a much more personal, fast-paced, and frankly, more skill-based battle royale than any of its competitors.
Darwin Project is still in early access but feels more polished than a lot of full-priced games. The movement, combat and overall gameplay feel exceptionally smooth, and the game’s stylized graphics look fabulous. Darwin Project will not be for everyone, but I do believe any fan of the battle royale genre should at least try it out.
Read moreApart from having no respawn and an ever-shrinking map, the Darwin Project doesn’t have anything in common with the other games on this list. You start with an axe and bow, both of which are incredibly satisfying to use, which is a good thing as you won’t be replacing them at any point. Luckily you have a ton of things that change up the gameplay, such as electronic tokens that let you unlock special abilities like shields or invisibility, survival elements such as keeping warm and most drastically, ”the director” which I will get into below.
Each game has ten players and one director, and it is the director’s job to oversee and change the experience. A responsibility that comes with considerable powers for those responsible enough to wield it. The director can activate different powers, which can be something small like telekinesis, which allows everyone to talk to each other. Still, it can also be a colossal game-altering stuff like dropping a nuclear bomb. Now it might sound like it would be hard to have a fair match with one person wielding so much power, but after each game, everyone will rate the director, and a poorly rated director will not be able to use all the significant, game-altering skills like the nuclear bomb.
Lastly, I mentioned that the games are a lot more personal and skill-based than in any other battle royale, and here is why. The map is smaller and has a lot fewer players in it, and the combat between players takes a lot longer than in regular battle royale games. So instead of being sniped from 1 mile away by some random player, you have a duel of wits, reactions, and skill between two combatants, which makes that takedown mean a whole of a lot more.
I could honestly go on for a few more pages on why Darwin Project is such an underrated gem, but the gist will be the same. This game deserves your attention and especially if you are someone who might be a bit tired of the same old battle royale model and look for something similar but fresh.
8. Dying Light: Bad Blood
Best PVE-PVP Battle Royale
- Developer:Â Techland Publishing
- Platform:Â PC, Xbox One
- Steam Rating: 6/10
- Perspective:Â First-person perspective
- Price:Â Free-to-play(once it’s out of early access)
- Link: Official Site / Steam Page / Amazon
Dying Light Bad Blood is a spin-off mod to the incredibly popular and beloved horror shooter game, Dying Light, and it combines a lot of what makes Dying Light so good with the thrill of the battle royale genre.
Bad Blood is a horror-survival game with battle royale rules that combines the classic zombie PVE environment with royale PVP, and the result is quite satisfying. Dying light has incredible gameplay with perhaps the most enjoyable melee combat out of any game of its type alongside fantastic gunplay. While the overall gameplay of Dying Light Bad Blood is excellent, it is still in early access and has a few issues such as occasional bugs, no squad mode, and perhaps a too low player count(12 players per map). Dying Light Bad Blood is a battle royale to look out for, and once it comes out of early access, it might take the genre by storm.
9. Black Ops 4: Blackout
Great but expensive battle royale
- Developer: Treyarch
- Platform:Â PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One
- Steam Rating: N/A
- Perspectives:Â First-person perspective
- Price:Â 39.99$(Battle Royale & Multiplayer only)
- Link: Official Site / Battlenet Page / Amazon
With the incredible popularity of the battle royale genre, it was only a matter of time before Activision and Treyarch jumped on the BR wagon. Call of Duty has always been one of the best first-person-shooters on the market, though the yearly releases might be overpriced there is no getting away from the fact that the gameplay and gun mechanics are pretty outstanding. Which meant that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was always the ideal game to get its own fully fleshed battle royale mode.
Black Ops 4: Blackout might be the most expensive battle royale on this list, but it is also one of the most polished, fun, and overall smooth on the market. The gameplay is exactly what you’d expect from a Call of Duty game, fast and fluid with a million different guns and gadgets to play with. Some of the more unique twists that Blackout offers is with the familiar Zombie locations that provide the signature mystery box from the popular Call of Duty Zombie mode. Blackout also has some pretty incredible vehicles such as the Little Bird Helicopter and the Zodiac that cements it as the perfect battle royale for four squads.
10. Last Tide
Underwater BR
- Developer: Digital Confectioners
- Platform:Â PC
- Steam Rating: 7/10
- Perspective:Â First-person perspective
- Price:Â 20.99$
- Link: Official Site / Steam Page
When I first heard of an underwater battle royale, I was very skeptical, but I must admit the battle royale gameplay translates surprisingly well to its aquatic setting. The movement was my big concern as moving underwater is usually a chore in most games, but you move quite fast in the Last tide and even have a grappling hook to aid you even further, which is a lot of fun to use, and yes it can be used on players.
Now it wouldn’t be an underwater game without any sharks, would it? So, of course, Last Tide has sharks to be aware of, which can be quite deadly if you are not careful. There are just enough sharks in the water for you to be alert, but not so many that it gets distracting, and it adds quite a lot of excitement to the game, to be honest. There is even a megalodon shark, which is a lot bigger than the regular great white shark, but I have not encountered it myself yet. Last tide is a surprisingly fun and exciting aquatic royale, which brings just enough of a twist to the genre to feel fresh.
11. Realm Royale
A fun BR with MOBA elements
- Developer: Hi-Rez Studios
- Platform:Â PC, Xbox One
- Steam Rating: 6/10
- Perspectives:Â Third-person perspective
- Price:Â Free-to-play
- Link: Official Site / Steam Page
A spin-off mode to the popular shooter, Paladins. Realm Royale is another unique take on the battle royale genre with its introductions of classes that all have special abilities. On the surface, Realm Royale might look like another Fortnite clone, but the classes make it feel more like a battle royale MOBA hybrid.
12. Maelstrom
Most unique BR by far
- Developer: Gunpowder Games
- Platform:Â PC
- Steam Rating: 9/10
- Perspective:Â Third-person perspective
- Price:Â 20.99$
- Link: Official Site / Steam Page
Maelstrom is, without a doubt, the most unique and weird battle royale on this list but also one that is a lot more fun than I had dared hope. In Maelstrom, you sail a ship into battle in a last man standing ship-vs-ship-vs-monster multiplayer experience; in other words, it’s a battle royale on a boat. However, Maelstrom has a lot more to offer than just being another BR in a new setting. Such as different captains and ships to choose from that significantly impact your experience as well as the best out of game progression out of any BR, which gives more weight to the games.
