When a game reaches peak popularity, it's always going to attract a rash of imitations. Think back to the early 00s, when it seemed like every single FPS going was pitching itself as a new take on war, attempting to cash in on those Medal of Honor bucks. Or when Vietnam was the new hotness, a trend that culminated in the horror that was Tunnel Rats: 1968. As you might expect, this kind of thing is still going on to this day.
The battle royale genre was never huge until fairly recently. Since PlayerUnknown developed his mod for Arma 2, it's snowballed in popularity. From H1z1 to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to Fortnite, we're living in the age of the battle royale. You can expect this flood of titles to continue for years, with established franchises like Call of Duty also itching to get in on the new trend. I don't doubt that their take on it will be executed quite well. What doesn't handle the execution so well are the many, many rushed, autotranslated nightmares, a few of which we'll cover on this list. Whether they occupy hard drive space on consoles or PC, or are one of the many, many, many phone games attempting to make a quick buck, they all have one thing in common. They wear their influences on their sleeve. Often, they're absolutely terrible. Join me as we look at a handful of the many bad and the few good Fortnite ripoffs.
25 Is Ultimate Battle Royale PvP A Word Jumble Or A Game?
You know a game is going to be good when it sounds like a collection of meaningless adjectives. Such is the case of Ultimate Battle Royale PvP. This atrocious attempt at ripping off Fortnite, albeit with Minecraft style pixel graphics, is terrible. As well as endless ads, the game itself is buggy, slow, unpopulated, and unoriginal. It’s the very worst kind of cash grab, something that doesn’t even have the dignity or skill to handle the execution of its stolen ideas. Don’t give this appalling game space on your mobile device.
24 Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4: A Big Budget Battle Royale
You didn't think I'd keep talking about this to the intro, right? Call of Duty has never been one to miss new trends, and Black Ops 4 is set to continue that with its new battle royale mode. The mode, called Blackout, is set to feature CoD's biggest map ever, 1500 times larger than Nuketown. It's also going to bring extended verticality, a new health system, and vehicles of all varieties under the sun. Battlefield meets Fortnite? I'm down for that.
23 Battle Craft Royale: A Ripoff, But Of What?
In doing this article, I’ve looked at a lot of bad games. Battle Craft Royale puzzled me. It’s ripping off so many things at once that it leaves me dazed, confused, and feeling dehydrated. The usual autotranslated hype is there below the screenshots, but it tells me nothing at all. The game is a top-down slightly anime-influenced blend of Minecraft, GTA, and Fortnite, done with no skill whatsoever. The reviews are confusing, with many 5-stars, but I have my suspicions. Look at the 1-stars, and you’ll see a big old red bar. I think they are where the truth lies.
22 ZombsRoyale.io: Made With Love And Graph Paper
ZombsRoyale.io – 2D Battle Royale honestly looks like it was made with graph paper. Cannon Fodder, which came out back in 1993, had better graphics. It’s almost as old as me, and it had better graphics and, I would wager, gameplay. It’s a lagfest too, despite these awful graphics. Reviewers report crashing, falling off the world, and trash controls. I want to have a word with the devs, End Game, and just frankly encourage them: they can do better! You don’t need to do this cash grab!
21 STAND OUT: Battle Royale VR Gets You Right In The Game
Battle Royale games seem like they're a natural fit for VR. The complete immersion offered by the platform has the potential to make the genre absolutely terrifying. Standout, on the Vive, is a polished experience with a ton of weapons and excellent VR integration. If you want to live out the last man standing experience with the best atmosphere possible, you owe it to yourself to grab this. Get in, get on the ground, die a lot, and try not to cry when you're hiding from well-equipped players.
20 Rules Of Modern Survival WW2 Fortnite Battleground: When SEO Goes Bad
This game is called Rules of Modern Survival ww2 Fortnite Battleground. Let’s break that title down. Not only does it contain the name of the two actually good battle royale games, and the one decent ripoff, it also has to grab “modern” and “ww2.” Those two things are ABSOLUTELY DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED! As you’d expect given the title, the game is irredeemably bad. Look at that screenshot. Tell me that’s something you want to spend your time playing. I’m frankly sorry for exposing you to it.
19 The Culling 2: Cull This
You wanna see something funny? Go look at the Steam reviews for The Culling 2, I’ll wait. This game isn’t as egregious as many of the others on here: graphically it’s not too bad, but everything else about it is. The game has no players, and if by some stroke of horrendous misfortune, you find a match, you’ll be met with clunky weaponry, terrible animation, many glitches, shoddy netcode, and, well, nothing good! This is the king of ripoffs: a rushed, unpleasant, seedily developed game. Avoid at all costs.
18 Battle Royal Rules Battlegrounds Of Survival Earth: Wait, Is That Duke?
This is so funny. In what world is Duke Nukem still a hot property? Who would decide to attach their ripoff to a dead franchise? Apparently Spider Grabs, the hack developers of Battle Royal Rules Battlegrounds of Survival Earth! The game challenges you to “survive on a deserted.” Their words. The resulting game is glitchy, runs at around 10fps, and also seems to want to be Counter-Strike, with factions divided into two sides. I’m so confused right now. If you're going to rip something off, at least stick to one property, lads.
17 The Prison Experiment Is Testing Our Patience
The number of sins this game commits is numerous. First of all, it isn't free to play, despite being basically dead on arrival. Secondly, it looks TERRIBLE. Finally, the game's very own marketing materials define the game as being nothing new. Its battle royale mode, the main centerpiece of this shoddy-looking thing, is described as "what players have come to expect from a battle royale game." No! No Aerolab Studios, you don't get to do that. That's not a boast, that is shameful.
16 Ultimate Battle Royale 2: Hot Off The PS2 Presses
Do you remember back when the PS2 was nearing the end of its lifespan, when countless awful games were being pumped out by the bucketload? Ultimate Battle Royale 2: PvP Unknown Battleground could so easily have been made then. It not only boasts that “the player unknown has now gone multiplayer,” as if it wasn’t always, but the graphics are blocky, it’s pay to win, ad-heavy, and has almost no players. Not a huge surprise: who would play this hunk of junk?
15 The Hunt: Showdown — Watch For Spiders
This is one of the few good Fortnite ripoffs we talked about earlier. Developed by legendary developer Crytek, this game is putting its own interesting spin on the battle royale genre, as well as scaring the heck out of us occasionally. Seriously, if the giant spider monster in this game doesn't scare you, you're a braver man than I. I'm looking forward to seeing where this game goes. Battle Royale or not, it's very cool, and with these developers behind it, I'm expecting great things.
14 Pixel's Unknown Battle Grounds: I Guess Copyright Doesn’t Exist Anymore
Another game that is treading the tightrope of not only good taste but legality, Pixel’s Unknown Battle Ground rips off BOTH of the top Battle Royale games. So help me, let’s go. So it’s not gritty enough to be PUBG, but too realistic to be Fortnite, sitting in some uncomfortable, unfun middle ground. The game freezes and crashes at random, has awful controls and level design, you have to watch adverts to get to the OPTIONS! It’s just not worth it. Play Fortnite or PUBG on your console at home.
13 Darwin Project Is Making Brutality Fun Again!
Darwin Project is a really cool little game. While it sticks to the battle royale genre, it takes place on a tiny map with no guns. In these Hunger Games style matches, you and nine other players must use melee weapons and traps to off each other. What's more, another player can become the Show Director, triggering traps and various effects, or dish out rewards and punishments to players. It's doing things that no other battle royale is doing, and that's got to be commended.
12 Radical Heights: Anything But
Another early access treat from Steam, Radical Heights doesn't really seem to know what it wants to be. Its aesthetic is somewhere between Saints Row and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Not a terrible idea. Its most heinous crime is it still remaining on Steam. Why? Well, the developers have shut down, and, as you might have guessed, so have the servers. If your time is valuable, this game represents a tremendous waste of time. Cash-grab or not, if your game doesn't work, get it off Steam.
11 Totally Accurate Battlegrounds: Truth In Advertising
This game started as an April Fool's by Landfall Games of Totally Accurate Battle Simulator fame. Upon release, it got three million downloads in four days, and it earned them completely. It's a fun, well-balanced, ragdoll-filled fun fest that, while not free currently, shows that even the unlikeliest of games can get popular. Honestly, if seeing your enemies flop around thanks to the game's exaggerated physics, you're probably more machine than human. Throw this goofy game $5, and get ready for some fun times.
10 Craft Your Forts Iv
Don’t. Ignore that title and for the love of goodness, don’t play Fortcraft. This game doesn’t so much wear its influences on its sleeve as it is performing a rectal exam on them. The game begins as Fortnite does, but instead of flying over a bright, interesting map, you fly over something that could have come from a 90s flight sim. The textures are bad, the gameplay is awful, and what’s worse, it even copies the characters from Fortnite! Zero effort went into this in any regard.
9 Realm Royale: A Shameless Moneyspinner
I'm including Realm Royale on this list despite it not being a terrible game. The reason it's earned a place on this list is because the game is so unoriginal. Instead of sticking with and developing the base game, Paladins, it simply uses the same battle royale tropes as every other game out there. If you're going to put time and effort into making a game, do something different! Earn your right to a place in this overpopulated genre. This is especially important for F2P games, as Fortnite is already that!
8 Battle Royale Grand Mobile: Only Half Of The Title Is True
In scrubbing through the app store, you can’t escape this plague of rip-offs. This one came up as a recommended game for me recently, and I’m baffled as to why. Why in the name of goodness would I play Battle Royale Grand Mobile. It sure ain’t grand. As well as “boasting” PS1-esque graphics, it doesn’t even attempt to pull off the Battle Royale genre. Its developers say “this is our personal ideas base game don’t compare it with others royale games.” Says it all really, doesn’t it?
7 Let's Hope That Battle Royale: Survivors Doesn't Survive
Oh, Steam. Do you remember back in the day when it used to be a well-curated online store? Now they let everything and anything on there. Battle Royale: Survivors is a bizarre isometric game set on an abandoned island. Who would have thought? The game currently supports just 25 players per match, but I doubt you'll last through a single one given its vomit-inducing camera. The controls are bad, and the netcode is worse. It's F2P, so at least you won't have to spend actual money on it, but whoop de doo, so is Fortnite. NEXT!
6 Fortrite: Affiliated With Neither Fortnite Or Riteaid
WANT A PRESCRIPTION? GET YOURSELF DOWN TO FORTRITE AID! Let’s give it its full title: Fortrite Battle Royale: Battlegrounds. Fills you with confidence. So, it’s another game that’s ripped off Fortnite and Minecraft, but let’s get right down to it. This is bad. This is particularly bad because it’s actively trying to deceive people. This isn’t just a lazy rip off trying to get some quick ad dollars. This is trying to fool people into giving them some ad money. That’s simply not alright. Don't be a douche, developers.