Battlerite developers Stunlock Studios have come up with a different take on the online survival genre. In V Rising, every player is a vampire. You start with nothing but a mothball ridden cloak and a broken fang dangling from your mouth (I assume), and build up from there. Every neck gnawed is a step on the goal to building your own castle and crafting a Dracula-like legacy.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.
I am partial to top-down wizards. It's a perspective that makes plans as important as reaction speeds, where every spell and step is clearly visible to everyone. Battling in Battlerite isn't about who gets the jump on who, it's about who can bait out a jump and counter it with their own wizard nonsense.
]]>The makers of Battlerite and its spin-off Battlerite Royale have announced plans to 'scale back' development of their free-to-play MOBA-ish multiplayer murderzones, saying the two simply aren't doing well enough to be their main focuses. Stunlock Studios reassure players that the games aren't shutting down and they might return to them, but right now they have no plans for more big updates after Season 3, which starts next week. Our Matt gushed praised in his Battlerite review and enjoyed his time with Royale but, alas, they've just not found the players they need.
]]>Battlerite Royale is exactly what it sounds like – a BR spinoff of the MOBA Battlerite – and it’ll be launching out of early access and into free-to-play next Tuesday, the 19th of February.
With one or two other free-to-play battle royales floating around at the moment, developers Stunlock Studios will be hoping their arena brawler origins are enough to set them apart. If you’ve not played Battlerite before, you can get an idea of those influences from the launch trailer:
]]>Battlerite Royale - a last-man-standing spinoff from Stunlock Studios's arena brawler Battlerite - will eventually be free-to-play, but while it's in early access, you've got to pay to get in. Not today, or through the rest of the week - the game is free to try for the next four days, and a bit cheaper to buy in if it tickles your fancy. Our boy Matt dropped into the field last month and was enthralled by its blend of top-down, class-based combat and the multiplayer formula of the decade. Take a peek at the trailer below, then tag in to get in on the Halloween event while it's still live.
]]>The spookening draws near. That hallowed time of year where devs look at each other and go "oh we should do something for Halloween, right?" and people like me battlewrite about the consequences. Battlerite Royale has just finished pulling on its costume, chucking in a couple of creepy consumables as well as trick or treat shrines that may or may not turn you into a cat.
Update 0.2 has also landed alongside the "Curse of the Night" event, introducing private lobbies, a new champion and a sweep of balance changes.
]]>Gosh, Battlerite Royale is morish. In many ways that's not surprising. I've been a longtime (if intermittent) fan of Battlerite's brawling, and while half the games industry seems determined to wear away my patience for them: battle royale structures work for me. They thrust me into situations that other modes don't.
Does Battlerite's top-down MOBA-esque combat still work when transplanted from the fast-paced 3v3 matches it was built around? I rather think it does.
]]>Battle royale games are exciting, but assault rifles are dull - perhaps Battlerite Royale's fantasy fusion of top-down arcade shooter, MOBA, and battle royale will be the one to win me over? A spinoff from Stunlock Studios MOBA-ish arena fighter Battlerite, Battlerite Royale is out now as paid early access, although the final version will be free-to-play. Twenty characters (with their own abilities) dive into an open battlefield, and only one gets to walk out. Familiar in concept, but there's no sniping people from half a mile away in this magical murderworld.
]]>I've run out of ways to say I'm looking forward to Battlerite Royale, so it's good that we finally know its early access release date. The battle royale off-shoot to Battlerite, the MOBA without most MOBA bits, will land near the end of September as its own standalone game. I'm not wild about having to buy something I was originally told would be free, but at least I get a fifty percent discount and a ridable tiger.
]]>Last week Stunlock Studios announced that the upcoming Battlerite Royale, formerly a battle royale spin off mode in Battlerite, is actually going to be a standalone game. This week, they've shown off what the "Team Arena Brawler" looks like in its new form via the reveal trailer below. It looks almost exactly how I thought it would, except the flying wolf-wyrm that drops you off at the start is unexpectedly fabulous and there's an item that hides you in a barrel.
They've also kicked off the closed-beta signups, so keep reading if you want a chance to ride the marvellous creature above.
]]>I've spoken to multiple people who've assumed Battlerite's battle royale mode must be already out, so here's your first bit of news: Battlerite Royale isn't out yet! As developers Stunlock Studios announced yesterday, the battle baby isn't due until the end of September. They also announced that baby is getting a crib of its own, and you're going to have to pay for it: it's going to be a standalone game with an upfront cost. My feelings are mixed.
]]>I love the smell of updates in the morning - especially when they include sweeping changes that improve a game I already like. Patch 1.7 for Battlerite, the fighting man's MOBA, smells delicious. Round times have been shortened from two minutes to ninety seconds, which means the teal zone of death encloses sooner and encourages everyone to play less passively.
Today also marks the start of competitive season three, bringing with it a new cosmetic item and balance tweaks along with "broader changes to general systems and mechanics in the Arena".
]]>"If you're gonna battle," Wham sang, "battle right (right), battle with Battlerite." That's why young Matthew said in his Battlerite review that it "takes the team fights from MOBAs, strips out everything else and distils those fights into intricate ballets of timing, fast reactions and tactics." But if you're gonna battle royale? Battle royale right (right), battle royale with Battlerite Royale. Stunlock Studios today announced they're making a 20-player battle royale mode for their class-based arena brawler, see.
]]>Stunlock Studio's "team arena brawler" has done Battlerite by me. I've been dipping back into it with the release of every new champion, and each time I say to myself "ah yeah, this is the update that's going to get me properly get back into this". You know what though? I think this is the update that's going to get me properly back into this.
Today sees the launch of patch 1.4. Matchmaking has been improved, there's a new cosmetic rewards system and season 1 of competitive play has begun in earnest (we've just been in the "pre-season" up till now). More important than all that though is the new melee champion, Jamila the Shadowblade Assassin, whose skill set somehow includes everything I want from a hero in my MOBA-lite-likes.
]]>The calendar's doors have been opened and the games inside have been eaten. But fear not, latecomer - we've reconstructed the list in this single post for easy re-consumption. Click on to discover the best games of 2017.
]]>Battlerite has brought forth another champion into the arena, and she's an absolute beast. There's more than a touch of Samus to Destiny 'The Sky Ranger', with her massive arm cannon and ball transforming ways. You can see her in action in the trailer below.
I also spoke to Stunlock Studios about Battlerite's future as an e-sport, and what makes it "the fighting game of the MOBA world".
]]>Battlerite bills itself as a Team Arena Brawler. It takes the team fights from MOBAs, strips out everything else and distills those fights into intricate ballets of timing, fast reactions and tactics. I’m having a blast.
]]>Battlerite, the not-a-MOBA top down champion brawler, has been hazed in the battlefield of early access for long enough. The full version is out today in free-to-play form, though the release has been delayed until 3pm. I checked the game out last year, and it pushed all the right buttons.
To celebrate, Stunlock Studios are also launching a new bramble-based hero. You can see him in action in the trailer below.
]]>Battlerite [official site] is getting into the summer spirit (is that a thing?) with a big seasonal patch. The patch brings a new support character - Blossom, the Forest Mender - to the arena brawler along with a new campaign mode, a new game mode, a bunch of new outfits and a host of tweaks and changes. Let's start with a look at the newcomer:
]]>"Even if you wouldn’t touch a MOBA with a ten foot barge pole, this might still be for you," wee cherub Matthew Cox said about Battlerite [official site] when it hit early access last year. Because it's not a MOBA, okay. It's a team-based arena brawler which, sure, has heroes/champions/summoners/duelists/wizards throw down but it's not a MOBA, rite. I understand tone is difficult to assess in text, especially coming from a sarky prick like me, but I mean it: Battlerite is not a MOBA. You can see for yourself later today, as a week-long free trial is launching in a few hours.
]]>Battlerite [official site], the arena brawler presumably named after an all-night brainstorming session when a producer murmured "So you, like, er, battle, right?" and the room erupted into applause the exhausted producer couldn't understand, this week welcomes a new warrior. Raigon, The Exiled Prince is a chap swinging a honking great sword, and I'm led to believe he's another Battleriter based on a character (Reaver this time) from the game's spiritdad, Bloodline Champions. Stunlock Studios have also announced the first official tournament, coming later this month.
]]>Battlerite [official site] is called a "Team Arena Brawler" by its developers, which is a new one on me when it comes to the long list of attempts to name this genre about different kinds of wizards beating each other up. What they mean is: it's a MOBA in which some of the MOBA bits have been cut away, leaving behind just the teamfights and the skill shots. It's in early access, already frightfully popular, and it's getting a free weekend which begins this Thursday.
]]>Aside from starting a new tradition of unusually-named Steam Awards, Valve have also pulled out their worn and adored bargain bucket and have begun to fill it with games you’ll enthusiastically buy and probably never play. Yes, it's their Autumn Sale. In the streets, the apocalyptic jockeying for TVs and blenders has started. The moon has turned blood red. And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Black Friday, and sales followed with him.
]]>The creators of arena brawler Battlerite [official site] are not content with adding two spooky champions just before Halloween, and so have revealed another champion that’ll be added in a patch tomorrow. What can this boyo do? Well, he can teleport a short distance, summon debilitating chains and read fire at you from a big book. His name is Ezmo The Mischievous and he can be seen in this preview trailer. He’s not from around these parts.
]]>Battlerite [official site] has got Hallowe'en all wrong. To celebrate The Big Spooky, the top-down team brawler is preparing to add two new characters tomorrow. That's not how Hallowe'en goes. You're supposed to menace players, Stunlock Studios. Force them to give you two new characters under threat of a good egging/spooking/kicking. Sure, I've heard that Battlerite - the spiritual successor to Bloodline Champions - is a lovely game, even in early access, but this seems wrong. We can only hope that Jumong, 'The Beast Hunter', and Ruh Kaan, 'The Crypt Warden', are cursed. Maybe everyone who plays them will melt into snakes and insects.
]]>I have a terrible confession to make. While, on a weekly basis, I protest about the oft-unchanging nature of these charts, the truth is that a new entry makes me sigh. It means I have to laboriously type out new HTML rather than just copy the links from last week. This means terrible, unspeakable suffering in a week such as this, where there actually are quite a few 'new' games.
]]>As it was prophesied, soon it will come to pass. The Steam Charts approach their endgame: where all sales and all pre-order shenanigans converge to ensure that just one game occupies all top ten placements. Soon, there shall be unity. Terrible, terrible unity.
]]>If you’ve ever enjoyed a teamfight in a MOBA, I can guarantee you’ll get a kick out of Battlerite. That’s a bold opening statement, but Battlerite distills those clashes into tense, 10 – 15 minute matches where knowledge and reaction speeds are equally vital. Even if you wouldn’t touch a MOBA with a ten foot barge pole, this might still be for you.
]]>I had all the characteristics of a blogger — frayed jeans, opinions, laptop, tea — but my depersonalisation was so intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to compile charts had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating top ten articles, a rough resemblance of a best-sellers list, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning.
And yet.
]]>I'm trying to think who it could be. I don't really have enemies any more, or not knowingly so. Some forgotten bully from school who never left our hometown and is still obsessed with tormenting me? A fellow journalist whose article I might have drunkenly tweeted something rude about in 2009? Someone I unfollowed or unfriended because they were tiresome or awful? You Know, Those Guys? Or: all of them, working together. Pooling their life savings to buy as many copies of a certain game as they can. Make no mistake: someone's out to get me. It's the only possible explanation.
]]>Fancy a new PvP arena brawler? Battlerite [official site] may be your cup of tea. Made by Bloodline Champions developers Stunlock Studios and billed as that game's "spiritual successor", it's got colorful heroes, things to shoot, and whatever "battlerites" are. That sounds like it might be fun!
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