Around one and a half year ago Battlerite, developed by Stunlock Studios (the creators of Bloodline Champions), got its initial Early Access release and received a lot of praise but didn’t see too many players. Just a few weeks ago Battlerite went free to play with its full release, and it just exploded!

Gameplay

Battlerite is a MOBA type brawler with a wide selection of unique characters you can choose from, categorized in either melee, ranged or support. The menu kind of reminded me of the Overwatch menu, with a somewhat similar feel to it. If you want to start playing Battlerite I highly suggest playing through all of the tutorials, because the game can be a little overwhelming at first but, after a couple of hours you should feel comfortable with some of the champions and the game mechanics.

Battlerite mixes personal skill perfectly with teamwork, someone who is really good can solo carry a team with low effort but will probably lose to a really good together working team. The game definitely feels fair and really balanced. Every champion can be really strong with the right team comp. Not only is Battlerite mechanically really solid, it also is a lot of fun to play the short but intense matches make for really exciting and fun gameplay, combine this with a raster of champions who mostly are fun and unique to play and you’re guaranteed of a good time.

There are a few issues I found. When playing alone you can get queued with people who are a lot better or a lot worse than you. However, this only occurs in normal games and doesn’t apply to ranked so it’s not that big of a deal. Another little issue I have are the loot boxes. Just like all games nowadays you get loot boxes, and I don’t really mind those, you actually get them very frequently so it feels fair and doesn’t encourage you to buy them, but you just get so many duplicates after having obtained 100 out of the roughly 800 things to collect and I already get constant duplicates. But these things are not enough to ruin the fun of the game.

Controls

For a competitive and intense game, I thought to address the controls separately was justified, since they can really make or break the game. And they totally make it, when I first started the game I expected the standard click to move style of gameplay but was pleasantly surprised to see you move with WASD your abilities are on Q, E, spacebar, R and your mouse buttons. The controls feel very tight and responsive and this makes the gameplay perfectly it feels very nice and smooth, which I am very happy about, it makes the game even more suitable for competitive play.

Graphics

Battlerite has pretty standard MOBA like graphics, they look alright and are nothing to complain about. The particles and special effects do look pretty nice though. The characters look nice and varied as well they have a variety of character models from very big to pretty small and they look colorful and interesting. There are a few different maps that are quite similar in layout but the settings make them look unique and different, which only shows the impact of a good setting or theme for a map. Overall the looks of Battlerite remind me of a bunch of games but are also unique at the same time.

Replayability

Battlerite can is a lot of fun and can be very addictive due to its intense gameplay and short matches the game also constantly rewards you with loot boxes and currency for leveling your account and champions this creates that “one more game” type of behaviour that can keep you playing for hours and everybody know you can’t leave on a loss but when you’re on a winning streak it would be a waste to quit as well. But I can only give the game credits for making it so much fun to play.