Z1 Battle Royale review

Keep it simple

Many critics (especially the older ones) of Fortnite often raise the same thing: “It’s all confused!”

And, to be honest, it is. That game asks you to be an expert street cleaner, craftsman, builder, and shooter, and to become an expert while your digital life is at stake. That level of multitasking is a little too much for many players.

However, I’m not sure if Z1Simplicity is the answer to this problem. Instead of making it easy to create by a small margin, Daybreak has toned it down a lot. Instead of simplifying weapon management a bit, they’ve basically done away with weapon upgrades and customization.

The end result is a game with nowhere to really grow. This seems metaphorically brought home by the fact that many of the rebranding changes were supposed to make the game more like H1Z1 in its heyday. So if you liked that game or this at first glance, you’ll be good to go. But if you didn’t like it or got bored after learning it, there might be little else to do.

Props where they are due, though: Z1 Battle Royale features vehicles as part of the mayhem. And even though physics goes out the window when you get behind the wheel, engaging in vehicle-based manslaughter makes it look a little different from the competition.

Final verdict

Ultimately, it’s hard to recommend Z1 Battle Royale. Some readers have already played this game in its previous incarnations, and depending on your taste, they may have preferred the old game more.

And those who have never tried the old game have probably played new and better battle royale games. This means that Z1 Battle Royale ends up looking like a simple throwback, even though the core gameplay may have been groundbreaking at one point.

Maybe the zombies never left the game. After all, the whole thing feels like a dead premise that developers keep bringing back to life from the dead.