Realm Royale Reforged | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Heroic Leap Games |
Publisher(s) | Hi-Rez Studios |
Engine | Unreal Engine 3 [1] |
Platform(s) | |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Battle royale, third-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Realm Royale is a free-to-play third-person shooter battle royale game developed by Heroic Leap Games and published by Hi-Rez Studios. The game features multiple character classes each with unique abilities. [2] [3] It is a spin-off of the hero shooter Paladins , where it originated as a game mode known as "Battlegrounds". [4] [2] [5]
The game was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam's early access program in June 2018, [4] with versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One released two months later. [6] [7] Realm Royale entered open beta on PS4 and Xbox One on January 22, 2019. [8] On May 24, 2019, the game entered closed beta on Nintendo Switch and went into open beta on June 20, 2019. On August 22, 2022, the game was updated as Realm Royale Reforged, marking the first update to the game since February 2020. [9] On October 18, 2024, Hi-Rez Studios subsidiary Evil Mojo Games, through a post on Steam, announced that the game's servers would be shut down on February 17, 2025. [10]
The game plays similarly to other games in the Battle Royale genre, in which 100 players drop down from an airship and must traverse a shrinking safe area, collect equipment such as weapons and abilities to fight and eliminate opponents, and aim to be the last remaining player. [11] [5] In the Trios mode, players are grouped into teams of three against up to 74 players. The game also includes Realm Wars, a 10 versus 10 team deathmatch mode on a separate map named Primal Island, as well as an upcoming 40-player mini battle royale mode, also on a separate map. A crafting system allows found items to be disenchanted for shards to craft better items or abilities at fixed locations found on the map, [3] called Forges, which often become contested by many players. [11] [12] Players who have been "knocked down" by other players are transformed into a chicken, and may be transformed back if they manage to survive attackers for a period of time, during which "chickened" players have the option to deal small amounts of damage in the form of short-range melee attacks. [5] The game includes a battle pass that rewards players with character and menu cosmetics. There are five classes, with each class having specific "talents" that can be earned by leveling up. [13]
The game is developed and marketed by Hi-Rez Studios, which are known for multiplayer online battle arena games such as Paladins and Smite .
Initially, the game was intended as a separate game mode for the game Paladins, but was later developed into a separate offshoot, which was initially called Paladins: Battlegrounds and is now Realm Royale. The game was released for free on June 5, 2018, for Windows as part of the Steam Early Access program. [14] A version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One was also released. [15] [16]
In February 2020, the "Deviled Eggs" (also known as "OB23") update was released, after which no update was released for the next 2 years. Throughout 2022, some teasers were released indicating an upcoming update to Realm Royale. In July 2022, Realm Royale Reforged was released on test servers, with the full version releasing a month later. Realm Royale Reforged is currently maintained by a team of two developers working under Hi-Rez Studios, with occasional help from Evil Mojo Games, who develop Paladins.
Realm Royale received generally favorable reviews from critics. [17] [18]
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | N/A |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
IGN | 7,8/10 [19] |
Jeuxvideo.com | 14/20 [20] |
Nintendo Life | 7/10 [21] |
Realm Royale's visual style and gameplay have drawn comparisons with the MMORPG World of Warcraft . [11] Alex Avard of GamesRadar+ likened the game's classes to "the early days of World of Warcraft's PvP, in all the right ways." [5] Jordan Forward of PCGamesN named the Forge as a key addition that a real sense of direction to the early and mid-game of RealmRoyale". [11] Due to the game principle, such as the character class system, Realm Royale is also compared with Fortnite and Overwatch . [22] [23] [24] Some critics[ who? ] are also of the opinion that, in contrast to Fortnite, the game is not overwhelmed with the many and hectic construction functions and the game runs faster overall than in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and other comparable titles. [25] Furthermore, the combination of multiplayer online battle arena or hero shooter and battle royale is praised. [26] GamesRadar+ inducted the game in their top "Free PS4 games: The best titles you can download without paying a thing". [27] TheGamer listed Realm Royale in their top "Best Battle Royale Games For Newbies" praised the various magical abilities, indicating "Making every battle with players sometimes feel much different from the last". [28] Trusted Reviews integrated the game in their "Best Battle Royale Games 2020", calling it "fun" and saying "Some questionable development decisions meant the game declined in popularity almost as quickly as it rose but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. Give this a chance". [17]
More than 100,000 players played the game in the first week after it was released on Steam, making it the fourth most played game on Steam. [29] [30] The game gained fame among other things through live streams on sites like Twitch. After three weeks the game has reached over 3 million players and was number one of the most watched games on Twitch and Mixer. [31] [32] [33] In July 2018, the game reached 4 million players. [34] [35] The game was the 4th most-downloaded free-to-play game on the PlayStation Store in the US and the 5th in Europe in 2019. [36] [37] On July 2, 2019, Hi-Rez Studios announced that Realm Royale reached 10 million players. [38] [39]
Year | Award | Category | Results | Refs. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | DualShockers’ E3 2018 Awards | Best Competitive Game | Won | [41] [42] |
Gamers' Choice Awards | Fan Favorite Battle Royale Game | Nominated | [43] [44] | |
MMO Huts-Best F2P Games 2018 | Best New Battle Royale | Won | [45] [46] |
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following its first commercial video game release, ZZT (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who has been its vice president since. After moving the headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio changed its name to Epic Games.
Hi-Rez Studios is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was established in 2005 by Erez Goren and Todd Harris. Hi-Rez Studios' games include the squad-based shooter Global Agenda, the critically acclaimed Tribes: Ascend, the third-person MOBA Smite, the hero shooter Paladins, and the third-person shooter Rogue Company. In 2012, Hi-Rez Studios was recognized as a Top 30 Video-Game Developer by Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra. Hi-Rez are the current owners of the Metaltech license, including Battledrome, Earthsiege, Starsiege, the CyberStorm series, and the Tribes series. With the exception of Battledrome and CyberStorm, the games were released as freeware by Hi-Rez on October 30, 2015.
Fortnite: Save the World is a looter shooter survival video game produced by Epic Games, part of the game Fortnite. It is a cooperative and sandbox-style game with elements of tower defense and played in hybrid-third-person, described by Epic as a cross between Minecraft and Left 4 Dead. The game was initially released as a paid-for early access title for macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on July 25, 2017, with plans for a full free-to-play release announced in late 2018. Epic eventually opted to move the game to pay-to-play in June 2020. The retail versions of the game were published by Gearbox Software, while online distribution of the PC versions is handled by Epic's launcher.
Smite is a 2014 free-to-play third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by Hi-Rez Studios for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Amazon Luna. In Smite, players control a god, goddess or other mythological figure and take part in team-based combat, using their abilities and tactics against other player-controlled gods and non-player-controlled minions.
Rocket League is a 2015 vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix for various home consoles and computers. A sequel to 2008's Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, Rocket League features up to eight players assigned to each of the two teams, using "rocket-powered" vehicles to hit a ball into their opponent's goal and score points over the course of a match. The game includes single-player and multiplayer modes that can be played both locally and online, including cross-platform play between all versions.
Z1 Battle Royale is a battle royale game developed and published by Daybreak Game Company. The game's development began after the original H1Z1 was spun off into two separate projects in early 2016: H1Z1: Just Survive and H1Z1: King of the Kill. The games were further split as separate projects in October 2017, with Just Survive dropping the H1Z1 name, and King of the Kill becoming simply H1Z1.
In video games with online gaming functionality, also called cross-compatible play, cross-platform play, crossplay, or cross-play describes the ability of players using different video game hardware to play with each other simultaneously. It is commonly applied to the ability for players using a game on a specific video game console to play alongside a player on a different hardware platform such as another console or a computer. A related concept is cross-save, where the player's progress in a game is stored in separate servers, and can be continued in the game but on a different hardware platform.
The Culling was a first-person action battle royale game developed and published by Xaviant. Following an early access beta phase, the game was released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox One on October 5, 2017.
Paladins: Champions of the Realm is a 2018 free-to-play online hero shooter video game by Hi-Rez. The game was developed by Evil Mojo, an internal studio of Hi-Rez and was released on May 8, 2018, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, followed by a Nintendo Switch version released on June 12, 2018.
PUBG: Battlegrounds is a 2017 battle royale video game published by Krafton, and developed by Krafton's PUBG Studios. The game, which was inspired by the Japanese film Battle Royale (2000), is based on previous mods created by Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene for other games, and expanded into a standalone game under Greene's creative direction. Played from either a third-person or first-person perspective, up to one hundred players parachute onto an island where they are tasked to scavenge for weapons and equipment to kill other players while avoiding getting killed themselves. The available safe area of the game's map decreases in size over time, directing surviving players into an ever-tightening space to force encounters.
A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who start with minimal equipment and then must eliminate all other opponents while avoiding being trapped outside a shrinking "safe area", with the winner being the last player or team alive.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018 was the 24th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers and members of the video game press. The event, organized by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 12–14, 2018, with many companies holding press conferences in the days prior. With the industry still in the middle of the eighth generation of video game consoles, no new hardware was introduced, and publishers and developers principally focused on new games to be released in 2018 and beyond. The event drew 69,200 attendees, the largest since 2005.
Fortnite Battle Royale is a 2017 battle royale video game produced by Epic Games. It was originally developed as a companion game part of the early access version of Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative survival game, before separating from it and then dropping the early access label on June 29, 2020. Fortnite Battle Royale is offered under a free-to-play model funded by microtransactions and is updated as a live service game; originally released for macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, it has since been ported to iOS, Nintendo Switch, and Android, and later as a launch title for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. Fortnite Battle Royale and its various modes are part of the overall Fortnite platform.
Fortnite is an online video game and game platform developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in seven distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: Fortnite Battle Royale, a battle royale game in which up to 100 players fight to be the last person standing; Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative hybrid tower defense-shooter and survival game in which up to four players fight off zombie-like creatures and defend objects with traps and fortifications they can build; Fortnite Creative, in which players are given complete freedom to create worlds and battle arenas; Lego Fortnite, an open world game collection divided between survival game Lego Fortnite Odyssey and social game Lego Fortnite Brick Life; Rocket Racing, a racing game; Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game; and Fortnite Ballistic, a tactical first-person shooter currently in early access. All game modes except Save the World are free-to-play.
Fortnite Creative is a sandbox game, developed and published by Epic Games, part of the video game Fortnite. It was released on December 6, 2018, for Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in November 2020 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Rogue Company is a free-to-play multiplayer tactical third-person hero shooter video game developed by First Watch Games and published by Hi-Rez Studios. The game was released in open beta on October 1, 2020 for Microsoft Windows via the Epic Games Store, Steam, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, with an Xbox Series X/S release following on November 25, 2020, and a PlayStation 5 release on March 30, 2021. The game features full support for cross-platform play and cross-progression. The game takes inspiration from the Counter-Strike series of tactical shooters. The game came out of beta on June 9, 2022.
CRSED: Cuisine Royale is a battle royale multiplayer online shooter video game developed by Latvian studio Darkflow Studio and published by Gaijin Entertainment. It was previously known as Cuisine Royale. The game was officially launched on December 19, 2019, and was relaunched under a new name in December 2020. It is a free-to-play game with optional microtransactions.
Nintendo Switch owners can now join a community of over 10 million Realm Royale fans