Each one of the best battle royale games revolves around one core idea: lots of players go in, and only one can leave (or maybe a team, depending on the game). Battle royale is a violent, unpredictable, and frenzied multiplayer mode where the only goal is to endure until you're the sole survivor. You can win by hiding in bushes and waiting for the herd to thin out, or scavenging a weapon and reducing the numbers yourself.
With the explosion of free PC games like Fortnite, Warzone, and Apex Legends, you would be forgiven for misremembering that there are plenty of battle royale games out there. Whether you're after a battle royale FPS game or an inventive new twist on the formula, there's something out there for everyone. So, to help you broaden your horizons, we have assembled this handy guide to decide on which one you should spend your time playing.
The best battle royale games are:
1. Battlefield Redsec
EA has dipped its toes in the battle royale ocean before, but Redsec does things differently by building it on the bones of the incredibly successful Battlefield 6. There's a clear attempt to spice up the genre by making the impending ring much more deadly compared to other shooters, forcing players to get a move on when the Redsec map begins to collapse. Squads have to think strategically when deciding where to land, as the ring could wipe them out before any players do.
The Gauntlet game mode is arguably the best part of Redsec, condensing the battle royale experience into a squad-based elimination format where each team is tasked with unique challenges. Redsec has been designed to be played with other players in squads, so you may not want to give it a whirl unless you have friends to group up with. Fortunately, the game is free-to-play, so it shouldn't be too difficult to convince your mates to download it. Read our Redsec meta guide to get ahead of the competition by equipping the best weapons available.
2. Fortnite
Want some poppy, comic book visuals with your 100-man massacres? Fortnite Battle Royale takes the perfectly poised match structure of PUBG and ditches all the gritty realism for bright colors and soft edges. Moreover, Epic Games continues to outdo itself with each new Fortnite season, changing the map, adding heaps of new Fortnite skins, and overhauling gameplay mechanics. It's no wonder Fortnite player numbers continue to swell: this is the current king of battle royales.
In the original build mode, you're also able to harvest resources and build structures like houses to camp in, walls for cover, and ramps to help you climb mountains. This is a battle royale game for those who like to get creative. That said, building takes quite a while to get good at, but you can jump directly into the fight by playing the Zero Build mode. This game mode offers exactly what it says, giving you the freedom of Fortnite without any of the resource gathering or building mechanics to get confused by. And if you tire of the BR mode, then you can hop into Fortnite Creative mode and play some incredible player-made maps, creations, and game modes using Fortnite Island codes.
3. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
There's a reason PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds regularly boasts hundreds of thousands of concurrent players: it's the basic battle royale premise done right. PlayerUnknown isn't just a cool-sounding title either; it's the pseudonym of Brendan Greene, the creator of PUBG and the man responsible for the incredibly popular Arma 3 Battle Royale mod.
That experience shows in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which forgoes complications like crafting and a complex melee fighting system and instead focuses on razor-sharp firefights, tactical play, and scavenging. More so than any other battle royale game on this list, PUBG feels and controls realistically, resulting in reactive gameplay that never grows old.
4. Apex Legends
Apex Legends zips along at an astonishing pace. Sure, it may not be the parkour and wall-running we've come to expect from Respawn's famous robot game, but this battle royale moves in its own way. Sprinting is swifter than you'd expect, and sliding takes you a greater distance, especially with the mountainous terrain considered. Movement sets the tone of the gunplay, too: if your team successfully flanks another in a well-timed push, you earn their bounty.
Apex Legends weapons themselves are finely tuned, showing Respawn's confidence in launching Apex Legends as a full game rather than in early access. Shotguns fire off with a fearsome crunch that can punish a poorly timed push as much as a well-placed headshot will aid anyone who is a dab hand with a sniper rifle. What's more, from a time-hopping assassin to a zip-line quip-happy robot, the cast of Apex Legends characters is wonderfully diverse, quirky, and cool to inhabit.
5. Call of Duty: Warzone
If you're looking for a free battle royale game that's fast-paced and accessible, then Warzone is one of the best options out there, and one of the best war games too. Verdansk is the latest Warzone map to be added to the game, giving players a rush of nostalgia as they run through the original map.
The first time you die in a game, you get the chance to redeem yourself in the Gulag - winning this 1v1 will see you respawn back on the map, ready to reconnect with your teammates. You can collect cash and spend it on respawning teammates or killstreaks at Buy Stations, and you can even set up your best Warzone loadout before a match if you intend to risk it all for your preferred guns.
6. Fall Guys
Fall Guys borrows elements from the battle royale genre and the hit Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle to create something unique. Bringing together 60 contestants, each player must defeat their fellow jelly beans in a mad dash for the finish line, but only the top number of players can progress through each round to eventually be crowned victorious. The challenges aren't always obstacle courses either; they range from memorization games, clinging to a platform for dear life, and even an oversized football match that splits players into two separate teams.
The beauty of Fall Guys is that no matter how skilled you are, almost anyone can win, and that random factor is what makes Fall Guys so entertaining. Even if you don't win, you'll have a good story to tell, as Jen Rothery experienced in our Fall Guys review. While the popularity of Fall Guys has dropped since it launched back in August 2020, the game is still incredibly popular. The developers continue to release new content every few months, like new games, skins, and challenges, and they listen to community feedback to fine-tune the experience for new and experienced players alike.
7. Totally Accurate Battlegrounds
What started development as an April Fool's Day joke turned into one of the most inventive battle royale games of 2018, and developer Landfall can claim three million Totally Accurate Battlegrounds downloads in four days as proof. Totally Accurate Battlegrounds (TABG) boasts countless melee and ranged weapons, attachments, and gear to ensure every gun battle is as unpredictable and messy as the ragdolling character models.
TABG's big selling point is its exaggerated physics, which sees your character flopping up staircases and tumbling over obstacles. You've also got the recoil from high-caliber weapons, punting you backward with every shot. Landfall embraces the goofy nature of their battle royale with a ridiculous character customizer and a dedicated key for holding your weapon sideways and beatboxing.
8. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt
Vampire: The Masquerade is probably the last series you'd expect to have a battle royale game, but it works surprisingly well. Despite the initial hesitation from the VtM community, the devs have proven they know how to introduce battle royale to the World of Darkness series. Bloodhunt plays a lot like PUBG with superpowers, except fights ensue across the rooftops as players leap from building to building.
Players can revive if left alone for long enough, so be sure to 'diablerise' them before they get the chance. Bloodhunt rewards situational awareness almost as much as accuracy. With the battlegrounds being more vertical than anything else on this list, you'll do well to watch the skies as well as your back. Sadly, the devs announced they will not be supporting the game anymore; however, the servers will not be switched offline any time soon, so you can continue to play with Bloodhunt's dedicated community.
9. Super Bomberman R 2
If you were being cynical, you could argue that every game could have a battle royale mode. Well, Super Bomberman R 2 is proof of that, pitting 64 players together in multiple arenas, bringing the victors of each battlefield onto one arena.
Let's be honest, the classic Bomberman formula is as good as it's ever going to get. Up to eight players gather in an arena filled with blocks, and they're equipped with bombs to clear those blocks and gain power-ups. The player who manages to stay alive at the end of the game is the winner. Battle 64 brings that nail-biting battle royale flavor to the game, leaving the last person standing as the ultimate winner.
That's your lot, the best battle royale games on PC. If you need to kill some time while the best upcoming PC games finish baking, you really should fire up the brutal battle royales above. Granted, Fortnite and PUBG may have conquered the world, but there are some smaller wonders out there worth playing for yourself.