When thinking of the battle royal genre, what likely comes to mind first is the genre-redefining Fortnite. However, the genre existed long before its release in older titles as well, spanning even as far as a decade back. Though the whole genre in general sprouted from one classic Japanese piece of media, the 1999 hit novel, Battle Royale.

From there with the release of the 2000 film adaptation, the genre made its way to the west where it then exploded in films, novels, and gaming. Sandbox games that allowed gamers to create their own game modes paved the way for the genre today as titles like Arma and Minecraft popularized it worldwide.

10 Tetris 99 (2019)

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Initially debuting in 1984, the ever-popular Tetris is practically its own genre and, after the success of Fortnite, there was a surprising new version that no one saw coming. On February 13, 2019, during a Nintendo Direct, Tetris 99 was revealed to the world as a 99-player battle royal experience.

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Stacking multicolored blocks has never been so competitive as with the addition of online Tetris players were finally given a platform to show off their skills and compare themselves against nearly a hundred other players at the same time. The function to attack other players by giving them more blocks only added to the chaotic and tense experience. The only critique for the title is the fact that with limited game modes, there's little to no replayability as players can experience everything the game has to offer in the first 30-40 minutes.

9 Forza Horizon 4 (2018)

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The last thing anyone ever expected for a prominent racing game series to feature is a dedicated battle royal mode, even more so when it came to light that it's actually pretty fun. Face off against 72 drivers in an ever-closing zone racing from checkpoint to checkpoint. The Eliminator game mode presents a surprisingly large amount of depth compared to other titles of the same genre.

With the option to customize and upgrade their vehicles, players can strategically choose to chase after a car drop as indicated by a purple flair in the risk of running into other players. "Combat" in a sense is initiated once two players accept a challenge in which they must race to a designated checkpoint first, with the player number dwindling until only two racers remain. Forza Horizon 4 capitalizes on the niche well with a unique spin of its own only faulted by its lack of updates and support from the developers who've moved on to different projects.

8 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt (2021)

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodhunt cover art

Battle as vampires in a multi-faction war with unique abilities determined by the type of faction chosen in a detailed environment perfect for both ground-level and high-ground combat. Team up with friends or tackle the deadly night alone against up to 45 other vampires with modern-day weapons in conjunction with supernatural vampire powers.

While not technically a horror game, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt can provide a heart-pounding experience as the inhuman speeds a player can run and abilities like wall climbing and super jumps make it so encounters with other players are sudden and often unexpected. In that sense, it can provide a third-person horror experience rivaling some of the best third-person horror games of all time. The only thing the title suffers from is long queue times and often unstable experiences that make the game unplayable, which overall can hinder the experience.

7 Totally Accurate Battlegrounds (2018)

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Despite the goofiness of Totally Accurate Battlegrounds' art design and graphics, the game features a ton of aspects that rewards players for thinking creatively and tactically. One of the game's unique features is the implementation of curses and blessings, with the former being forced onto a player if they fail level 2 of the game's obstacle course that greets them upon death. The curses can severely affect a player's gameplay negatively, with some of them forcing a player to fire their weapons randomly or even teleport to their former positions as if they were lagging.

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Blessings, on the other hand, are granted upon completing level 3 and can range from anything like healing when crouching to the ability to launch an airstrike. The game conforms even further into the hilarity with odd attachments that could be attached to most weapons that often only inhibit a player's ability. Or even throwables like dummy bombs that just put down inflatables everywhere. Unfortunately though, in recent times the game has stopped receiving any new content and a statement was released by the developers stating they were moving on to different projects (per Steam).

6 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (2017)

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As one of the inspirations for Fortnite's inception, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been a core component of the battle royal gaming genre as the progenitor to all other games like it. Originally a game that began as a mod, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds provides a realism-focused battle royal experience with an emphasis on using modern firearms to eliminate enemy teams tactically.

With a majority of the maps being large in scale, there's not much to worry about running into another team immediately. Though that also stands as a problem, as players actively looking for a fight can do so for tens of minutes and spot no one, even using any of the many traversal vehicles whether by land, air, or boat. PlayerUnknow's Battlegrounds is a game that simply provides an assured casual experience for players who are looking for a sort of vanilla battle royal game that isn't too colorful or overwhelming, thus making it a great game for almost everyone.

5 Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (2020)

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Unlike traditional battle royal games, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout does without the usual gun-and-run gameplay and solely focuses on eliminating players via their placements during the course of several mini-games. The end which of course decides the overall winner, or in the case of the team-based game mode, winners.

While Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is often declared one of the easiest multiplayer games for beginner gamers, some of its levels are complex enough that they might even give experienced gamers trouble despite their simplicity. Games like matching tiles, running through obstacle courses, and surviving on an ever-moving revolving log are just some of the levels prevalent in Fall Guys. The overall difficulty of some levels is quite low and after going through them a few times most players pass through them easily, which leads to boring stalemates quite often with little to no risk.

4 Hunt: Showdown (2018)

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Western games hard to come by these days, and western games that have teams of players grouped together on a perpetually closing map sprawling with horrific monsters and dangerous folk is a concept entirely unique to Hunt: Showdown. The main purpose of the game is for a group to take down their target monster boss and then evacuate before being eliminated by another team.

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Unlike other battle royals, Hunt: Showdown straight from the beginning allows players to customize loadouts to take into the bog depending on the resources they have. The usual requirements for things like weapons, equipment, and medicine are sums of the game's currency and a required level to unlock it. In that way Hunt: Showdown is unique for having players make decisions before the game has even begun. Though many players end up quitting before reaching a level where they could comfortably make such decisions. Things like map knowledge and information about enemy spawns becomes vital to the point that without it a player is at a major disadvantage.

3 Apex Legends (2019)

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Apex Legends was one of the first battle royal games to implement Heroes, a list of selectable characters with special abilities that each differ in purpose and utility. And with that implementation came hundreds of different gameplay opportunities as some Heroes, or as referred to in Apex Legends, Legends, suited to different situations.

For instance, one Legend equipped players with a grappling hook that they could use to swing away from dangerous situations or to reach an advantageous location in the middle of a firefight. Another Legend allowed players to create portals teams could use to either retreat or force enemies to their ambush. The Legends overall were a feature that incentivized both teamwork and adaptability as chaining abilities with a team usually rewarded victory in most scenarios.

2 Call Of Duty: Warzone (2020)

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Shortly after Fortnite's inception and the explosion of the battle royal genre, as is the process for all things, there was a period of time when the hype began to die down. Even to a point where Fortnite of all games was starting to decline in players. But then, Call of Duty: Warzone came out and changed everything. It managed to revive the genre with innovative and new ideas other games would then rush to copy.

One such feature was the ability to buy back teammates, with it came incentivization for teammates of dead players to not throw the match and instead keep on living for the sake of bringing back their team. The gulag also become common in battle royal games too thanks to Call of Duty: Warzone, as the feature to fight for the chance to respawn again enticed players to stick to the very end. In all, Call of Duty: Warzone would have won a place in the best Call of Duty games of all time even if it weren't a part of the already great Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

1 Fortnite (2017)

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In 2017, Fortnite revitalized the battle-royal genre as a video game that managed to spread its influence to all corners of the world. It immediately grabbed onto the interests of people as since PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' release there hadn't been another title to focus so much on the genre.

But what tantalized most gamers besides the charming art style was the gameplay more unique compared to other games at the time. Exploring an island full of sites and interesting areas whilst in a battle with 99 other players was like something straight out of a fantasy. And with updates coming out practically every month, players got to experience live updates that only enhanced the experience further. Even today the title runs unique events periodically, which is something not a lot of games tend to do.

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