Far from the original Battlerite, which was based on fair, competitive matches, it’s the norm in Battlerite Royale to closely battle an enemy down to 10% only for a third player to swoop in and clean up. With so many players squished into a small map, and even smaller buildings housing the valuable items you’re after, a true 1v1 is rare.
The phrase “Killing spree” is regularly shouted by the announcer, and it’s usually not due to feats of skill. Which brings us to the problem of swooping in on other players’ close fights… It’s No Esport, and That’s Okay Or maybe you’ll just disguise yourself as a barrel while two other jokers battle it out. Maybe you’ll drink a Stealth Potion to enjoy ten seconds with the element of surprise. If you’ve already used your escape ability to engage (rookie move), you can pop a Warp Stone to gain some distance, or drop a Meteor between you and your enemy. But if you just hide all game? By the time the circle closes in, you’ll be bringing the equivalent of a knife to a gunfight. Whether scavenging from chests and corpses, or brawling as much as possible, you’ll get the gear to increase your level. This is a very RPG-ish solution to the camping problem that battle royale games have had since the start, and only some have successfully addressed. Getting “kit complete” is the first priority before worrying about what tier of Breastplate of Vitality or Boots of Speed you have. It’s like starting a game of LoL with only your “Q,” or Mortal Kombat with only your jab. Even your abilities are treated as gear - players start with only a few abilities and must complete their kit by breaking chests (or breaking other players) and picking up the rewards. In Battlerite Royale, your “level” is decided by the quality of the gear you’ve picked up in that match. But the biggest change of all is the concept of levelling up mid-match, and acquiring gear. Characters will have new abilities to balance them out. Some walls you can jump over, and some you can’t. Now that 30 players are dropping into an oversized map, changes needed to be made. It was pure, skill-based, competitive RPG brawling. No auto-targetting, no random number generators. A small arena housed 2v2 or 3v3 battles in which every ability was a skillshot. Battlerite was a game beautiful in its simplicity.