I’ve played 34 different battle royale games. Here is how they rank from best to worst.

When I decided to start streaming and become a content creator, I had to decide what kind of creator that I wanted to be. I had recently fallen in love with the battle royale genre and found the “last man standing” concept to give a rush like no other. I knew that my aim would never be as good as Shroud’s. I knew that I would never be as intense or cocky as Dr. Disrespect, no matter how hard I try. So what can I do to make myself unique? I decided to embark on a quest to play and win a round of every single battle royale game that ever gets released. This way, whenever a new battle royale game hits the scene, my community and viewers know that they can tune into my stream to find out about it and see how it stacks up to other games in the genre.

After more than a year of embarking on this battle royale quest, I have played 34 different battle royale games (not including mobile) and have won 32 of them. I’ve played the good ones, the bad ones and a handful that you probably never knew existed. I’ve played battle royales that are competitive, silly or packing unique traits. This list details all 34 battle games that I’ve played and ranks from worst to best. Hold onto your butts.

34. World of Tanks- Steel Hunter mode

Some game had to be dead last and unfortunately it’s World of Tank’s Steel Hunter mode. Luckily for World of Tanks players, Steel Hunter is a limited time event mode that has been run multiple times, but hasn’t been included in the game’s permanent offerings. My vendetta against this game is more personal than practical. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the way the game looks, performs or plays, it just wasn’t fun whatsoever. The game’s combat is slow, clunky and filled with rage inducing moments that make little to no sense. While there is technically logic behind it (different tanks have different vulnerable spots and if you shoot them there, they take more damage), for the most part, I just found the game’s combat to be more frustrating than enjoyable. There are few games on this list that I truly recommend that you should steer clear of but this is one of them, which is funny since the team behind the game advertises it as a game for more refined and mature audiences.

33. Red Dead Redemption 2- Gun Rush

Red Dead Redemption 2 has some of the best visuals and audio in any videogame to date. Unfortunately, those don’t help make its battle royale mode anything more than excruciating. I literally deleted RDR2 from my hard drive multiple times while trying to win a game of Gun Rush because it was so anger inducing. I can’t tell you the number of times that I would be shot in the head with a pistol and instantly die while sprinting. When things were reversed however and I was the aggressor, my experience was like this; approach someone standing still and unload my weapon on their body, they stand right up and shoot me in the face. While Red Dead Redemption 2 was hailed by many for its achievements, its clunky controls and wonky physics made the game completely unplayable in my book. If I’m going to be competing with other players, I don’t need to be fighting against the game itself as well.

32. The Culling

The story of The Culling is probably the most interesting videogame story on this list. The Culling launched way back in 2016, before the battle royale genre had really blossomed and actually received a fair amount of attention at launch. The Culling took a very sadistic approach to battle royale, offering chainsaws, spears, swords and other non-conventional weapons in addition to firearms. Imagine if Jiggsaw from the Saw movies put together a battle royale set in a jungle and you’d be close to The Culling.

Shortly after launch, the game received a number of updates that pushed the playerbase away. Instead of trying to recover through game updates, Xaviant (the game’s developer) created and launched a sequel (That you had to pay for) that was worse than the game that everyone had already abandoned. The CEO of the company posted a very emotional apology in response to the failed launch and actually pulled the game from release altogether. The developers actually removed the game from Steam and replaced it with a day one version of the original The Culling and made it free to play, in an attempt to win back its original fan base. Unfortunately for Xaviant, all of The Culling’s players had moved far past the franchise with so many other better battle royale games to choose from. The Culling: Origins has now been taken offline, just like its short lived sequel. No playable version of The Culling currently exists and will likely never be heard from again.

31. Rapture Rejects

Rapture Rejects is actually one of the first games that spurred my quest to win a round of every battle royale game. Based on the Happiness & Cyanide universe, Rapture Rejects uses a 2.5D isometic environment which allows the player to spin the camera 90 degrees at will. This unique hook didn’t do much for me but the pessimistic yet humorous charm of the game definitely grabbed my attention. Rapture Rejects lets you wield some interesting weaponry like compact disc throwers and tubas that shoot objects at your enemies but unfortunately many of the game’s weapons are as worthless as they are creative. While I found nothing innately wrong with Rapture Rejects there just isn’t much of a reason to play it unless you’re a big Happiness & Cyanide fan.

30. Fear the Wolves

Fear the Wolves was one of the first battle royale games to introduce PvE elements into the battle to be last man or woman standing. While you loot and run from nuclear radiation spreading across the map, deadly packs of wolves roam about as well. This introduces an interesting element and forces tense decision making. Do I shoot these wolves and give away my position to surrounding players or do I run and hope that they don’t kill me before I get to safety? Unfortunately for the developers, the game didn’t do enough to garner the attention of gamers and was eventually shut down due to an impossibly small player base. The dull appearance of the game’s post apocalyptic world probably had something to do with the game’s struggles. While Fear the Wolves is based on the old S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games which are generally remembered fondly, audiences in 2019 are just looking for more than Fear the Wolves has to offer.

29. Fractured Lands

Fractured Lands adds a cool Mad Max-like aesthetic to battle royale and gives players a personal vehicle to drive and upgrade throughout the match. Not only can you upgrade your vehicle for combat purposes but it also can help you escape the circle. What I found most odd about Fractured Lands is that I didn’t really see a benefit to using the vehicle, which is central to the game’s marketing. You can generally just walk around on foot and shoot enemies like other games, where you’ll probably feel more comfortable. While still in active development, Fractured Lands has a very low player population with games only running during community play date events. While the game has a likable personality which makes me hope it finds some level of success, I’m not sure that it will. There’s just too much competition in the battle royale genre to make Fractured Lands worth investing in.

28. Islands of Nyne

Islands of Nyne is just one of the many tragedies on this list. Created by a development team with Counter-Strike development experience and a fututistic-Far Cry like aesthetic, Islands of Nyne took a fast paced and futuristic approach to battle royale. While I really enjoyed the gun play of Islands of the Nyne, it too was shut down fairly quickly due to a low player base. The sad part about Islands of the Nyne’s failure is that there was obviously the foundations for a good game but the developers clearly ran out of time and money to build upon it.

27. Radical Heights

Speaking of running out of time and money, Radical Heights is yet another tombstone in the battle royale graveyard. Designed by the creator of Unreal Tournament, Gears of War and Lawbreakers, Radical Heights was an extremely early access version of a battle royale that was launched in an effort to save the game’s developer, Boss Key. The game sported a fun 1980’s aesthetic and vibe, introducing us to vendor kiosks that allowed players to buy weapons and items that they wanted instead of relying solely on RNG to obtain loot. It also featured a really cool “final circle” showdown where the sun would go down and neon lights would come up, helping to up the ante and set a tone for everyone that was still alive in the final circle. I really enjoyed playing Radical Heights before it shut down and it pains me that I never won a round, only reaching 2nd place before the servers were killed off. I truly wish that the game and the team behind it had more time.

26. Totally Accurate Battlegrounds

The Totally Accurate series is based on offering wonky physics based entries in as many genres as possible. Their games are essentially satire. With Totally Accurate Battlegrounds, the concept was to take PUBG, add some ridiculous looking characters, weapons and items and put it out there. So that’s basically what the developers did. They released a wacky and laugh inducing game that makes little sense but makes you laugh along the way. Unfortunately, not many people bought into TABG, so its hard to even experience but hey, it’s out there and it is exactly what it claims to be; Purposely crazy.

25. Geneshift

Geneshift was super fun for me to play because it is strongly inspired by Grand Theft Auto 2, a game that I absolutely loved as a kid. I have to be one of the only people on the planet that believes that the best GTA games were the top-down arcade style entries as opposed to the modern, gigantic, bloated, open world games. Geneshift’s top down, ability filled take on battle royale actually provided me with a fair amount of fun and allows players to continue the game as a zombie when they die. If you can get a melee kill as a zombie, you actually get brought back to life on the spot. I really liked this because it gives players something to do after they die and an incentive to get back in the game. Zombies can respawn infinitely and games get really intense when a bunch of zombies are coming after a few remaining players. While I doubt that Geneshift has many people playing it at this point, I do give the developer (I believe that it was made by one person) credit for making a high quality game.

24. Zombs Royale

Zombs Royale is one of several browser based games on this last but before you laugh, browser games are no joke. Games like Krunker.io have developed really solid communities, are legitimately fun and in Krunker’s case, can be extremely competitive. Zombs Royale however, was the least fun I had playing a browser based battle royale, probably because I had extensively played a game just like it which ranks higher on this list. There’s nothing wrong with Zombs Royale and it even has a ton of unlockable cosmetics to strive for. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as as Surviv.io which ranks higher on the list and is the superior simplistic, top down arcade style battle royale.

23. H1Z1

The sad thing about H1Z1 is that many people will tell you that at its peak, it was the best battle royale game that there has ever been. While much of that belief may be nostalgia as H1Z1 was the first game to really blow up in the battle royale genre, there is something to be said for any game that manages to attract millions of players, viewers and tournaments. Unfortunately for fans and the game’s developers, other battle royale games came along and left H1Z1 in the dust by offering more complex gameplay and a wealth of content. Right around the time that more battle royale games began to creep up, H1Z1 received a string of updates that players and fans just didn’t care for. In its current state, H1Z1 comes in at number twenty three on my list but in the history books it will be remembered very fondly for exposing millions of gamers to the concepts of dropping, looting, shrinking circles and all of the adrenaline that comes with it.

22. Notmycar

Why did the car combat genre die, anyway? Games like Twisted Metal, Vigilante 8 and Cel Damage are generally looked back again with excitement but the entire car combat genre just disappeared. The developers of Notmycar noticed this and created a car combat battle royale to be unique. While Notmycar delivered on its premise and actually played pretty well (Shout out to the developers who gave me my own customized flag in the game), it didn’t attract many players and shut down after just two seasons. While many predicted Notmycar’s fall, let’s hope that we see the car combat genre make a return because there really isn’t a reason that we don’t have a new Twisted Metal game on the market in 2019.

21. Flappy Bird Royale

You read that right. The now deleted mobile sensation Flappy Bird made it onto the internet in the form of Flappy Bird Royale. You square off against 99 other players trying to navigate the game’s environments and be the last person left alive. One of the best parts of the game was seeing 30 or 40 birds instantly die at the very first pipe obstacle because if you don’t remember…Flappy Bird was incredibly hard. Believe it or not, this was actually one of the more difficult games on the list for me to capture a victory in. You can’t just rely on aim and game sense to win Flappy Bird Royale. I was actually sweating on stream while I played it for two-hours straight before winning. If the game hasn’t been brought down by a copyright claim, it can be played on any internet browser. It’s one button gameplay holds up and makes it simple for anyone to pick up and play. You really should try it.

20. Super Mario Royale

Much like Flappy Bird Royale, Super Mario Royale is another browser based battle royale that pits you against 80 or so other Marios in the very first Super Mario Bros. The game picks random Super Mario Bros worlds and sends you through them. The only way to win is to not only survive longer than your opponents, but you also have to race to beat Bowser before your opponents, which creates a whole extra level of pressure. Not only do you have to survive, but you have to race go faster than everyone else! Imagine surviving several levels, making it to the end and then finding out that you were too slow and didn’t win. That’s exactly what happened to me several times before I finally nailed it and sent Bowser to his lava-filled death before anyone else. I had a lot of fun doing it along the way as it was a big throwback for someone like me who played the original Super Mario Bros. It’s a very clever modern spin. Hearing the old school Mario music brought a lot of nostalgia.

Surprising no one, Nintendo filed a complaint against the game’s developer pretty quickly, who had to take the game down and replace everything that resembles Super Mario Bros with his own sprites and art. The levels are still very much Super Mario Bros and you can still play it. It’s just not Super Mario Bros, if that makes sense.

19. Cuisine Royale

Cuisine Royale is just another spoof game, right? Well, kind of. While you wear pots and pans for armor and the majority of the game is tongue in cheek, it’s actually pretty fun. As far as I can tell, Cuisine Royale actually runs better than PUBG does, which is really something. There’s nothing spectacular or “must play” about Cuisine Royale but it’s one of those free, fun games that’s worth playing if you’re bored.

18. Ring of Elysium

Ring of Elysium is one of those games that’s really hard to nail down. Developed and published by Tencent as a free-to-play PUBG-clone early on in the battle royale life cycle, RoE has took an approach of its own by adding snowboarding, hang gliding and bike riding into the mix. For a free to play game, Ring of Elysium really isn’t bad it just lacks soul. Nothing about it is too incredibly satisfying and nothing is obviously wrong. The most unique aspect of Ring of Elysium is that you extract on a helicopter at the end of a match. When that helicopter arrives, a big, sweaty stand off begins as it only has four seats. Do you rush the chopper or do you play it conservatively and try to pick off enemies who make a break for it? Will you get left behind if you wait too long? Will you get shot at when you make it to the ladder? Do you wait it out and not give away your position? The chopper extraction is by far the best aspect of Ring of Elysium. If you can get a group of friends to play, it’s definitely something that you can have some fun with just don’t expect a game that is as polished or deep as the best the genre has to offer.

17. Fallout 76- Nuclear winter

If there’s a game on this list that gets the “most surprising” award its this one. Fallout 76 was not perceived well at launch, changing up the core Fallout formula to the chagrin of fans and in typical Bethesda fashion, offering an Ungodly helping of bugs and glitches. So what did Bethesda do in response? Add a battle royale mode, of course. The crazy thing is that it somehow actually works pretty well. While combat may feel slow for esports fanatics, I found PvP in the Fallout universe to be a decent amount of fun. If you’re a Fallout fan and you have access to Fallout 76, you should seriously give it a try. If you’re not a Fallout fan, you should probably just skip this one.

16. Mordhau

While there are some unique takes on battle royale on this list, Mordhau is probably stands out as the most different. Mordhau abandons guns and places players in medieval times to battle with swords, axes, bows and even horses. What stood out to me about Mordhau is not just it’s unique premise, but the precision that the game’s melee combat requires. You really do need to learn the timing of the weapons, blocking, parrying, countering, etc to become competent in Mordhau. Its worth noting that battle royale is just one of Mordhau’s modes, with the other modes being large scale 64-player objective style modes that include respawning. Its pretty hard to place this game on the list but it’s definitely a high quality game that I can recommend to anyone with a taste for melee combat and the medieval era.

15. Planetside Arena

The story of Planetside Arena is a strange one. When the game was first announced, it was to be the first sci-fi battle royale on the market and I even had a chance to play the game during its alpha period. Shortly after the alpha debuted, Apex Legends launched out of no where and Daybreak (The same Daybreak that created H1Z1) delayed Planetside Arena, indefinitely. The development team was almost completely silent until very recently when they launched the game as free to play with very little marketing. While Planetside Arena offers 300-player battles that are truly unique and a very solid game all around, there just hasn’t been too many people playing it because of the botched roll out and launch. When I played, despite the game supporting 300-player matches, most matches were only 70–80 players. While I wish there was some hope for Planetside Arena, the core Planetside community has rejected it and there is simply too much competition in this genre to pull players away from other games that are more complex and have more content.

14. The Cycle

The Cycle looks a lot like Destiny-battle royale and even feels like Destiny-battle royale but what its really known for is balancing a blend of PvP and PvE. In The Cycle, you don’t just have to survive other players and extract on a drop ship, you have to survive the world itself which is filled with AI controlled enemies. On top of that, “Prospectors” as you are dubbed are tasked with completing quests and objectives while out in the field. The player who completes the most objectives and survives until extraction wins the match. This creates a really cool dynamic and an extra level of tension. You probably won’t win the match by just focusing on killing other players and you probably won’t be able to do objectives without having to kill a few enemy players along the way.

The Cycle also offers the ability to “team up” with one other player on the fly by offering them a gesture. Both of you then have a short window of time where you can’t kill each other. Be aware however that when the alliance is broken off or when the treaty is declined, your teammate may have intentions of betraying you and ending your round. This creates an awesome social dynamic that no other battle royale can boast of.

In the end, The Cycle offers something that’s a much different pace than most of the other games on the list. It’s intense, but it creates its tension utilizing a different set of tools in a very clever way. If The Cycle sounds intriguing to you, I definitely recommend that you download it on the Epic Game Store.

13. Battlefield V: Firestorm

It seems that DICE can’t get a break, lately. Let’s forget about how odd it was to make a World War I game followed by a World War II Battlefield game that focused on the campaign and review the facts. Battlefield V’s “Firestorm” battle royale mode is a decent battle royale. It plays exactly as you would expect it to. It’s signature Battlefield but in a battle royale setting. For Battlefield fans, this may be a very good thing. The actual fire effect of the circle which shrinks as the map goes on is perhaps the coolest “circle” use that I have seen in any battle royale. You really fear the ring when you see it swallowing up and burning everything in its path. Unfortunately for DICE, there just isn’t anything great about Firestorm. The classic Battlefield modes included in Battlefield V are all more fun than Firestorm. If you’re going to play Battlefield V, you’ll most likely find yourself playing it for reasons other than Firestorm which is just kind of exists for the sake of it.

12. Counter-Strike: Danger Zone

There is one thing that makes Counter-Strike: Danger Zone great; Classic Counter-Strike gun play. There’s just something timeless about the way that the weapons of Counter-Strike feel and fire. With that said, Danger Zone takes a smaller scale approach to battle royale, having a maximum of 18 players per map. In a bit of a twist, Danger Zone is more about survival than aggressive gunplay as weapons and ammo are scarce. You need to collect cash to buy weapons, armor and ammo, while eliminating or avoiding other players on a map that doesn’t feel too much larger than a standard Counter-Strike map. While I did enjoy my time playing Danger Zone, I have a feeling that most people are just going to enjoy standard Counter-Strike a whole lot more than Danger Zone, which is decent but doesn’t do anything particularly well.

11. The Darwin Project

The Darwin Project takes the “Hunger Games” aspect of battle royale literally, dropping players into a game show focused fight for survival. You have to scavenge, craft and kill your way to victory with everything from melee weapons, bows and abilities. A “Director” role adds an extra level of chaos as the player in charge of running the match can have a drastic impact on how things play out. You can close off entire zones, forcing everyone to flee out of them, you can even directly intervene and shield a player who is in the middle of a duel with another player. Survival aspects such as needing to maintain your temperature also come into play. All of these elements combine for an experience that manages to feel fun and relaxing, while simultaneously making you sweat. If survival games are your thing but hyper competitive games are not, The Darwin Project might be the battle royale for you.

10. Super Animal Royale

Super Animal Royale takes the cake for the “cutest” battle royale of the batch. Dropping players into a world that could be pulled from Animal Crossing, Super Animal Royale drops all of the cute dogs, cats, bears, sloths and more into a fight to the finish. Yes, you will see raccoons wielding assault rifles and yes, you will be run over by a shotgun wielding panda inside a hamster ball. Super Animal Royale plays from a top down arcade style perspective as shown in the screenshot here and I really had a lot of fun with it. The developers have been doing a great job supporting the game with tons of new content since release as well. If you’re looking for some casual, arcade style, competitive fun or maybe looking to introduce your children to PvP games, Super Animal Royale is a good place to start, assuming that you’re comfortable with the weapons being portrayed. Just for the record, the game contains no other blood or violence.

9. Surviv.io

I don’t even know how I discovered Surviv.io but I am glad that I did. Of all the games that I have played on stream, I found the Surviv.io community to be one of the most supportive. Due to the nature of browser games, matches are over in just a matter of minutes, there’s no matchmaking times, and everything just flows smoothly. While you’ve seen several other simple looking top-down 2D battle royales on this list, Surviv.io takes the cake as the best of them all. Seriously, type Surviv.io into your browser right now and give it a try. There’s just something about the game’s simple charm that makes it fun and keeps you coming back for more.

8. Maelstrom

The quality of Maelstrom, a naval combat-based battle royale really took me by surprise. Unlike World of Tanks, which felt clunky and cumbersome, navigating Maelstrom’s waters felt like using a ship in a videogame should; Challenging, yet responsive. Maelstrom gives players a lot of stylistic choices from visuals to play style, offering a variety of ships, playable race and enhancements to unlock. Each of the game’s ships have different styles of weapons, speeds and more. Perhaps most exciting was the game’s approach to environments. Sailing waters while fighting other ships is challenging enough but there are also “maelstrom” whirlpools that can take your life or worse, roaming sea monsters which are as exciting as they are terrifying. You almost want to see yourself get taken down by one of the game’s sea monsters just because its so dang cool. Maelstrom recently went free to play and is a game that I can easily recommend to anyone. Everything about Maelstrom shines with quality and while it may not be as simple to pick up as your standard first-person shooter, its worth taking the time to learn.

7 Spellbreak

Spellbreak puts you in control of a powerful Mage instead of a soldier and pits you against other Mages like yourself. The results are epic battles that feel like they are out of an anime rather than most of the battle royale competition. Of all the game’s on this list, there are few others that rival the satisfaction of destroying your enemies with powerful spells. The developers have done a wonderful job perfecting the way that casting and the game’s abilities feel. When you play Spellbreak, you really feel like a Mage with the ability to destroy everything in your path with elements like wind, fire, ice and earth. The development team has been working hard on building Spellbreak up since its early access period and I continue to hear good things so if you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to play a DBZ-like battle royale, go pick up Spellbreak on the Epic Game Store.

6. Hunt: Showdown

Hunt: Showdown has been available to the public for over a year but not nearly enough gamers have been exposed to it. Developed by the creators of Far Cry and Crysis, Hunt: Showdown takes place in the late 1800’s in the bayou and adds a ton of creepy demon-like enemies to the mix. Mix that with some of the best audio that I’ve ever heard in a videogame and you have one really unsettling gameplay experience. So how is this a battle royale? Both of Hunt’s modes spawn you into these creepy worlds with other players and its every man for himself. Not only do you have to contend with all of the world’s creepy and demonic enemies, but you also have other players on the prowl. This creates a fantastic game of cat and mouse. When you have a herd of zombies chasing you, do you open fire on them and give away your position to other players? Hunt is filled with all sorts of tension that is truly unique. Everything from the game’s setting, weapons, music and more is expertly crafted. Hunt: Showdown overwhelmingly receives the Mayoral stamp of approval and is currently one of the most under appreciated multiplayer games going.

5. Fortnite

This is going to be a controversial one, I know. While there’s no denying that Fortnite has brought battle royale and videogames altogether to new heights with the mainstream and has set a new standard for game updates and new content releases, all of that comes with some drawbacks and of course, a large helping of personal preference. While Fortnite’s building mechanic is undoubtedly genius game design and extremely unique, it’s just not for everyone. While building is certainly a skill, it’s just not what I want in a competitive shooter. I don’t like that when a shoot out is about to begin, the first thing that everyone does is start building themselves a giant hiding spot. I respect everyone who is skilled at building and I think the gunplay and vibrancy of Fortnite is great, it’s just not my style of game.

I would also argue that Fortnite’s break neck pace for implementing new content has its drawbacks and often leads to bad weapons and features being implemented into the game. While these things (planes, mechs, etc) always get the community talking, they often take away from the game itself. While there’s no denying that Fortnite is something special and a game that is great in every sense of the word, it doesn’t get to call itself the best battle royale out there because of these drawbacks and my personal preference.

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Until Apex Legends came along, there was no doubt in my mind that Call of Duty: Black Out was the best battle royale game on the market, especially at launch. It looked great, ran great, had classic Call of Duty gun play, was much faster paced than games like PUBG and felt very satisfying all around. Unfortunately for many, the PC community quickly abandoned Black Out (As they often do with Call of Duty games) and a slew of microtransaction heavy updates left a bad taste in the mouth of many players. With all of that said, Black Out is still one of the highest quality battle royale modes out there and will likely serve as the basis for the next iteration of Call of Duty battle royale rumored to be releasing this winter as a separate but sort-of linked addition to Modern Warfare.

3. Realm Royale

Yes, you read that right. I am actually ranking Realm Royale in my top three but listen before you roll your eyes. Of all the games on this list, I found very few to be as relaxing as they are satisfying and fun. If I want to drop in for some casual fun, but still enjoy the battle royale experience, Realm Royale is the place to do it. While Hi-Rez made a lot of early blunders when the game went into early access, they’ve spent all of 2019 making up for it with significant content updates and support for the game. You wouldn’t be too off base to think of Realm Royale as Fortnite, but without building and that’s what I love about it. It’s casual, colorful fun that anyone can pick up and play. The folks at Hi-Rez know how to make games and Realm Royale is just one of the strong games in their stable. They folks at Hi-Rez have given us Smite, Paladins and the upcoming Rogue Company to name a few. If you’ve never given Realm Royale a shot, there’s never been a better time to do so with the game being available for free on virtually all platforms.

2. Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds

Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds is really where it all started. While H1Z1 is often cited as the birth of the battle royale genre, PUBG brought it to the masses. Featuring “realistic,” high recoil and bullet travel time gun mechanics, large maps and so many bugs and glitches that you had to laugh, PUBG set records for concurrent players on Steam. PUBG was the game that everyone was talking about for quite a long time and still has a very sizable community playing it which says something on its own. While still no where near perfect, the developers have managed to better the game’s performance and finally start to stabilize things. While many of us have “moved on” and no longer “main” PUBG, there is no denying that there is something special and satisfying about it. Thanks to what it did for the battle royale genre, a happy helping of intensity and all-time classic gun play, PUBG makes it to number two on our list.

1. Apex Legends

While choosing the absolute “best” battle royale game is difficult and comes down to personal preference, Apex Legends makes the strongest case. Since it’s surprise launch, Apex has nailed every aspect of what a fast paced, fun to play and deep battle royale should be. It has a cast of playable characters that offer drastically different play styles, weapons that feel great to use, a mobility system that no other battle royale can match, looks great and runs even better. The developers at Respawn have also found a great pace when it comes to balance and content updates. Apex has it all from a competitive ranked mode, to special events and boat loads of cosmetics, all without including throw away content that other franchises have fallen for in an effort to keep things fresh.

At the end of the day, Apex Legends takes battle royale cake because its simply so much fun to play. If you’re a developer and you’ve built a game that stands out because of its core systems and gameplay, you’ve got a winner in my book. Even if you stripped away battle passes, ranks, skins and all of that jazz, I would still play Apex Legends on end because tinkering with different characters and burning down opponents with the game’s weaponry feels so satisfying. There’s nothing as thrilling as dropping into a place like Skull Town on King’s Canyon and coming out with 6 kills in a 2-minutes, while bullets whiz by and you narrowly escape with your life, one shotting opponents with the Peacekeeper every step of the way. If there is one game on this list that I recommend to any quasi-competitive gamer whatsoever, its Apex Legends and that’s why it’s number one on my list. The speed and intensity of Apex just has to be experienced and lead it to stand tall atop this list.

Upcoming battle royales to watch out for;

Fall Guys

If you see Devolver Digital’s name attached to a game, you can pretty much count on it being high quality, unique and creative. Fall Guys is no different. Developed by the up and comers at Mediatonic, Fall Guys sets you and a wealth of other players into a life stomping obstacle course where the environments themselves are literally your enemy. Early feedback of Fall Guys has been great and I personally can’t wait to play it in 2020. Devolver never misses.

Krunker Royale

Ever since I first played Krunker, I wished that they would translate the game’s spectacular, slick and lightning fast gun play into a battle royale. Lucky for all of us, rumor has it that they are. The thing is, the developer(s) of Krunker communicate in a pretty sparse manner and I have no idea if it will ever see the light of day. I certainly hope that it does because the stand alone Krunker.io is one of the most surprisingly great first-person shooters that I have played in quite some time.

Unable to rank

Civilization VI: Red Death

Believe it or not, Civilization VI, the turn-based strategy game recently implemented a battle royale mode called Red Death. I honestly tried to play it for a whole 7-minutes before I uninstalled it and requested a refund. I’m not knocking the game, I just don’t have the patience to learn how to play a turn-based strategy game just so I can play the battle royale mode, which seems to be getting ignored by much of the player base. If you’re a Civilization VI fan in general however, there might be something for you to enjoy here.

If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read my list. I hope it’s been helpful and while I know we won’t agree on the exact rankings, I hope that you learned about some games that you hadn’t heard of before and find time to check them out. Let’s hope that the battle royale genre that we all know and love continues to grow, evolve and perfect itself into 2020 and beyond.

You can catch more of Mayor Reynolds’ content by following “MayorReynoldsWP” on Twitch, Sliver.TV and Medal.TV.