I Love Battlebit: Remastered (A Review)

2023-10-24

A SMALL NOTE FOR STEAM DECK PLAYERS:

I've played this game exclusively on a Steam Deck, docked to a 1080p with a mouse and keyboard. Controller support just isn't there for now but I'm pretty sure the devs mentionned it'll come eventually. The game at a mostly consistant 60 fps but seems to be CPU limited here and there, causing some dips. :)

Here's a non exhaustive list of things you WON'T find in this game:

Dumb#ss battle passes.

No fear of missing out, no tiers to grind out before it's too late. This game won't try and hold you hostage, to keep you engaged with little rewards here and there after way too much grind like you're some sort of ADHD-riddled monkey on crack desperate for some dopamine. None of that. You want some dopamine? Get a kill and enjoy that sweet, sweet sound of victory that plays every time you do so.

You want some more content? The game gets regularly updated and there's already plenty of guns and more then 18 maps. No need for seasons, battle passes or whatever. What the hell do you think this is? Some sort of massive budget game where you only have like 6 maps at launch, half of them are terrible, and have to wait 5 months for the next season to bring you a new map? We're having none of that here.

This game is probably cheaper than the last Battlepass you bought and has probably more content than the failed live service FPS game you paid full price for after two years of drip-fed seasonal content.

An overly convuluted progression system.

If it takes more than two sentances on a post-it note to explain your progression system... you're not doing it right.

You want to unlock this weapon? Well, you have to get 20 kills with the M4A1. 50 headshot kills with a smoke grenade. Only on the third sunday of the month and only if the moon is full and if Jupiter is in retrograde. Just reach the correct level and it's yours. :)

Imagine having to play with weapons you don't like to get something you may not like or having to use a gun to unlock another gun's attachment.

You want to unlock a weapon? Reach this level and you'll get it. You want this attachment for Weapon X? Well, play with Weapon X and with enough kills, you'll get it.

Super duper realistic graphics that just ruin visibility.

EWw, tHIs GaME loOks LIKe RoBlOX, iT'S uGLy!

You're ugly, how about that? Huh?

Seriously, though. I'm actually going to talk about this here for a second, because I actually like this game visual style and believe it's perfect for this game. Photorealism is over-rated.

Some people like to talk about Battlebit as the Roblox meets Battlefield. But people also throw in Squad in there. It's got the deep mechanic of a more "simulation" type game like Squad. And the fast pace movement over the top action of a Battlefield. And the Roblox style comes in because of that mixture.

Some think that this visual style is a limitation, something you need to get over to enjoy the game. But I think it's not. I think it's much more than that. I think it's a feature, not a bug. The game is absolutely not limited by this art style.

It's fun and can allow for a less realistic approach to it's element, allowing to balance the realism/fun balance purely through it's gameplay. The maps could be as crazy as they want them to be and all though they're on the more realistic side of things, it wouldn't be an issue if some weren't. But most importantly: It doesn't get in the way. You can see them and they can see you, easily. Visibility issues are non existent in this game.

It also allows tons of people to enjoy it, because it runs easily. And that's fantastic.

Skill based matchmaking and similar bullcrap.

Don't you love it when a game disbands your lobby to put you with people who haven't taken a shower in three weeks and are playing the game like their lives depend on it? No? Well, you won't find any of that here. There are people who are trying way too hard, but overall, you can be as serious or as laid back as you want to and have a good time.

A store.

This game has multiple tabs in it's menu, such as Multiplayer, Settings and the likes. But no store. You want cosmetics? Well, here's a revolutionary idea... straight out of Modern Warfare 2 (the good one, from 2009). The more kills you get with a weapon... the more "skins" you unlock for it! Crazy, right?

There is no artifically inflated economy or predatory lootboxes. The paint on your gun is a testamony to how profecient you are with it. They see you with that in your hands? They'll know you're not to be messed with, it means something because you didn't just throw money at it, as the option for you to do so just doesn't exist in this game.

Same with your soldier. No money required for you to customize it and customization is not just cosmetic too, it changes your player's stats (how much ammo you can carry, your player speed, and so on), as well as an armor system to make improve your survivability in combat at the expanse of something else. But other than that? No clown skins, none of that. You're not going to see Snoop Dogg, a cute but out of place furry, Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars, Fluttershy from My Little Pony, Spider-Man, a fish person [...] or whatever, run across this battlefield.

And now, here's a non exhaustive list of things you WILL find in this game:

A welcoming and friendly community.

Do you like being called racial slurs? Do you like to have half the servers turn into masturbating monkeys the second they hear a woman? Do you like to have people threaten to find out where you live and do horrible things to you because you dared to remind them that they can't aim for sh#t when you won yet another firefight against them?

No?! Huh... Well, then. I have good news for you!

The people in this game are really friendly and while I can't promise you a dumbf#ck free experience, I can tell you that the people here are really chill and fun to interact with. If you have a question about the game? Ask in the chat and you'll get people giving you actually helpful answers.

This has got to be the least toxic chat I've seen in a multilayer FPS. And it's probably because this game has...

Moderation that's actually good.

I'm gonna be a bit more serious here: The report button isn't a magical "get rid of the problem" button but it seems that the team behind this game actually cares a lot about the state of this community. Every time you join a game, you first have to accept the rules. You can have fun, you can banter, you can insult each other in a playful way, but you can't be a massive d#ckhead. Racism, homophobia, mysoginy, transphobia and discrimination in general won't fly in this game.

As a trans girl, I don't go shouting it on every server because, it's kinda private and people can be awful about it. But being properly gendered is something that is important to me, so if I'm being refered to as a man, I say things like: "I'm not a man, heh :P" or something like that. Not always, but sometimes. Do people give me a hard time when they figure out I'm a she? Absolutely not. Do people question what I am if my voice sounds a bit deeper than the average woman? I had one person asked me if I was trans once. I said yes. And they were like: "Oh, ok cool!" and that's it. No slurs, no intrusive questions, nothing. For the most part, people either don't care or are just respectful.

This may not be important to you reading this, but know that for some people, this is really important. This is for them. :)

Proximity voice chat.

Wether it's the pleasure of hearing a bunch of grown man meowing in the beginning of the round, before later turning into Oscar worthy actors screaming "MEDIC!", or hearing your oppononent reaction to you killing them, giving you a growing taste for blood... Battlebit provides.

And it's all proximity based. because no one wants to hear 254 people speaking at the same time. All you can hear, is your Squad, at all times. And the people close to you... friend or foe. If you hear an enemy talk, they're nearby. So be careful before you make calls, think of who might hear you. Or use it to sadistacally play with your prey, alerting them to their presence despite it being already too late for them. You can do all sorts of things. But screaming in panic, as you fly like 8 other people to their death in your helicopter crash, is mandatory.

A server browser.

Imagine slapping the sh#t out of little Timmy ; who's only gaming experience is playing Fortnite, Call Of Duty and Valorant ; after he, ONCE AGAIN, posted "dEad GaME" in the comments of the game's update, because the game isn't the top game on Twitch and has less then 200k players on SteamDB ; and being absolutely in the right for doing so? How good would that feel? Well, you can! (needed to get that out of my system)

The issues of matchmaking system in games completely falling apart the moment there is less then 5k players on the game (which, I'd remind you, is still MORE THAN ENOUGH to enjoy a multiplayer game) won't ever affect you or this game should it ever fall down to such population numbers. That's right! SgtOkiDoki, Vilaskis and TheLiquidHorse (the three people who made this game, yes, just three) are bringing you the latest and greatest (from the 1990s) in multiplayer technology, a server browser complete with community hosted servers on them! I know, it's incredible, I mean... where do they get all of these ideas?!

(a matchmaking system that's quick and easy to use is also implemented in the game. It works really well.

Some surprisingly deep mechanic.

Oh no! I shot my gun once and have only 29 bullets left in the mag', I better reload!

This you? You simpleton fool? Let me ask you this. If you were to take out a full, minus one bullet, magazine out of your gun to replace it with a full magazine... what do you think your army instructor would say, hmm?

You're gonna have to actually care about your ammo and mange your magazines, and you're going to love it! Reloading with a half empty mag, is putting that half empty mag alongside your full ones. This game makes the simple act of reloading your gun a tactical decision, because you know what's faster than reloading? Switching to your pistol? No! Reloading, but faster!

You fought some dude with some scary looking guns, and they're coming for you. You emptied half your mag, the other half is not gonna cut it, but they're coming now! So you hold reload, to dump the half emptied magazine on the floor instead of putting it back in your vest and quickly put another mag in. The bullets you dropped with the mag, they might be lost in the chaos but you can always come back to pick them up later.

Wow, look at you! You nailed those guys but now you're bleeding! Bandage yourself before you pass out from blood loss! And oh no, your brother or sister in arms ran in the middle of an open field like an idiot and got themselves shot by one of the 30 snipers who spent the whole game standing in the same spot, pissing in jars and doing what snipers do... Well. If you're feeling brave, you can go to them, drag them to a safe place and then revive them. No need to be a medic, it's just gonna have to take longer.

And there's a lot of things I didn't mention! Maps are destructibles, Bad Company 2 styles! The weapon customazation is really deep, and so on...

I love this game.

Listen. I gave up on online games a long time ago, the last time I got actually invested was in 2016 with Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2. Seeing this game and the way it is made? It just makes me smile. Little things like being able to unlock weapon paints as you get more and more kills, just like it used to be before cosmetics became another way to suck money away from the players is such a big deal to me. Like, I have a friend who I've been ranting to about this for years, about how I missed just being able to play with a weapon to unlock some skins for it, for skins to be a show of mastery... and it's in this game. It just makes me happy.

I love this game and I'm actually grateful for its existence. It's good to be excited about a multiplayer shooter, again. It feels like an FPS from the pre-2010s in all the good ways, but in 2023. The game could remain frozen in this state forever, without ever receiving an other update and I can guarantee you that five or even ten years from now, you'll still be able to find some servers that full of players. It's already that solid.

Sure there are issues but in the end, there isn't much I'd like to ask for, here. Here's a quick and improvised wishlist.

• More guns for the support class? Does the M249 slaps? Hell yeah it does. But four guns just isn't enough as it is.

• Some female skins for the soldiers would be appreciated. Devs, please. c:

• More explanations. Actually, this is a big one. There is a shooting range and a small tutorial, but when it comes to actually telling you what a class does? Or what a gadget does? More often than not, there is nothing. And you may say: Why do you need the classes explained, isn't it obvious? It's not actually. Why would I pick Assault over Medic, or basically any other class, was a big one for me and I had to search that online to figure out (...still barely uses the class).

• I could also make an unreasonable request, like a fully featured single player support with offline bots? That's asking for a lot, but... you know... a girl can dream. At least, there is the game Ravenfield for that craving. Which, comes to think of it... the two could make for an interesting collaboration. Just saying. c:

But I don't have much more here. This review is already quite long and I've been typing this for multiple hours now, so...

Closing thoughts.

Battlebit is simply, a bullsh#t free experience.

If you've been playing FPS multiplayer games for a long time, you really have to play it to get it. You'll get it pretty quickly. The absolute lack of cynicism in the way this game is made, instantly makes it one of the most refreshing game of the last couple of years.

I'm gonna close on this:

I said there was no cosmetics you could pay for... that's not entirely true. There are some. And they're all contained in a Supporter Pack you can get on Steam. It contains some really sweet looking skins. They're not just pretty coat of paints, some of them are just straight up different models for some guns. These are just some unique skins to add to the dozens and dozens of skins you can get for each weapon through gameplay alone. And if you like this game, please consider buying this pack.

As this will go to the three people who made this game. It's not a bunch of billionaires executive exploiting their employees to the bone, it's not a cynical company who's trying to bleed you for as much money as they can get, no, it's just them. The skins are a plus, but in the end, I want to support their vision of them and their vision of video games.

(Now I can only hope they don't turn greedy or turn out to be absolute scumbags in the long run. Please guys c:)

So please, if you like the game, consider buying this. And if you can afford it and want to buy the game, consider buying the "Supporter Edition" of the game. 15 bucks is disgustingly cheap for such a well made game. But then again, I think it reflects the philosophy of the game.

Just like the graphics, this game is priced so that everyone can play it. And they should.

Thank you for reading.