By: Nick Gambino
The first-person shooter game BattleBit Remastered is currently blowing up on Steam, climbing to the top of the charts. While that’s not much in the way of news, it’s crazy impressive when you consider the fact that this little game was made by only four people.
The game fetches a mere $15 and allows up to 254 players at a time. And therein lies the secret to the video game’s success. They are offering a full meal of gameplay for a pittance. There aren’t really any microtransactions in the game. You could spend $20 on a Supporter Pack if you want some extra skins for your gun, but they don’t make a big deal of it. Everything else you’ll unlock by simply playing the game.
The story of the little engine that could – an indie against juggernauts like CS:GO, Call of Duty and Battlefield – just makes its success that much sweeter.
Now upon first glance, BattleBit Remastered doesn’t look like much. The design resembles Roblox which could be off-putting, but if you can get past the front door, you’ll experience a pretty amazing gaming experience. It just feels like there’s so much going on. In terms of scope, it’s most similar to Battlefield which offers up a huge canvas to run and gun on.
It’s got everything you’d want – there’s dynamic environment destruction, vehicle commandeering and even the ability to build stuff a la Fortnite. As I said, the more you play, the more you’ll unlock, including 6 different classes, 39 guns with 78 attachments and a plethora of gadgets. And for the initial $15 you’ll get access to 17 maps.
But most importantly, and despite the basic graphics, the gameplay is smooth. In fact, it can be argued it feels lighter and cleaner than a lot of the top first-person-shooter titles out there.
Something tells me there will be expansions down the line that cost money and even some sort of ecosystem created where you can buy things. But for now we can just enjoy the simplicity and un of pure gameplay that feels a lot less commercial than what we’ve grown accustomed to.
