Black Survival: A PvP Battle Royale Style Video Game [FULL REVIEW]
On this blog post I’ll talk about some aspects of Black Survival such as what a single match looks like, why I really love it, why you should try it, and other supplementary content related to the game and its genre.
I tried to capture the good and the bad in more depth on this blog. And in the end, it’s still up to you whether you should try the game or not. However if you are already playing the game, then you can enjoy all the references. I will be leaving a list of the contents of this blog below, in case you want to know the contents immediately.
The Steam release is around the corner, and hopefully, this will bring a new batch of Test Subjects onto Lumina Island!
Table of contents
I. Battle Royale
— i. Comparing Black Survival to other Battle Royale inspired games
II. Non-gameplay related
— i. Business Model
— ii. Economy
— iii. Advertisements
— iv. The Network
— v. Finding matches
— vi. Match balancing
— vii. The Art, Music, Lore, and Flavour Text
III. Gameplay related
— i. Metagame
— ii. PvP Game
— iii. Match Flow & Mechanics
— iv. Mastery
— v. Equipment
— vi. Level
— vii. Routes
— viii. What a single matchlooks like
— ix. What a good match looks like
— — a. Placing High
— — b. Having Fun
IV. Conclusion
If this looks too daunting to you, you can check out the shorter version of this blog here.
Battle Royale
Time for a little backstory, folks! 😅
You can skip this part if you want to go straight to the gameplay aspects
I am a fan of dark, and psychological type of mangas and one day, I got my hands on a copy of Battle Royale.
If you ask what is my favourite manga, I would still say it’s Battle Royale. It truly encompasses what humans are capable of doing when they are on the edge. Aside from that, I also love all the characters and the morbidity of the story. Battle Royale conveys so many strong emotions such as betreyal, despair, revenge, etc. It’s an emotional roller coaster ride.
The synopsis of the manga goes like this:
In the future, random Jr. High School classes are chosen to compete in a game called Battle Royale. The rules: only one student can survive after 3 days on an island or else they all perish. Weapons are handed out and each student is sent out into the field alone and unprepared for the horror that awaits them.
Here’s some pages from the manga for you to check out. Start reading from right to left 😅:
Since I have read the manga — I think that was back in 2012 or 2013, I cannot really recall — I have been dying to find a game that is similar in style. Few years later, the genre is finally recognized and games with similar style are now gradually being published. To back that up, here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry of the Battle Royale (novel):
Video game adaptations of the battle royale survival concept became popular in the mid-2010s, with the early examples of the “Battle Royale” mods for Arma 2/DayZ, the stand-alone edition of DayZ and Arma 3 made by the modder PlayerUnknown, concept subsequently transposed into full games like H1Z1, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite.
Why isn’t Black Survival mentioned here? 🤔😅
Anyway, from my google playstore comment — I was surprised they even replied to my dumb comment — Archbears shared that they took heavy inspiration from Battle Royale. Check this out!
I’m really happy that this is a genre now
The idea of the manga is really morbid and I like how the author didn’t hold back on its premise. I highly recommend the Battle Royale manga if you haven’t read it yet. Just a warning though, the manga has a lot of NSFW content such as gore and sexual nudity. But if you are cool with that, then go ahead and try reading it yourself.
Anyhow, despite all this Battle Royale talk, I got into the game because of the store’s screenshots. 😂 And to my suprise — finally! a Battle Royale game!
Comparing Black Survival to other Battle Royale inspired games
We can’t avoid to compare Battle Royale games to each other and I have played one recently in a friend’s house; Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds.
I have only played the game a few times but my first two matches are the most memorable for me.
Time for a little story again
In my first match I familiarized the game’s controls. The mechanics aren’t that hard to grasp (basically, it’s just be the last one standing while avoiding the restricted areas). In the first few minutes, I got some good loot, armour, and a vehicle. The island is HUGE and traversing it by foot is a pain in the arse. Luckily, I got a vehicle early on. I tried baiting my vehicle but no one ended up taking it and so I eluded the incoming restricted barrier by car. I escaped for a few rounds but I decided to try something stupid. Playing GTA or other open world games made me try dismounting in the middle of a high speed drive, and so, I tried it. Then, unexpectedly, I died on the spot. My friends laughed, and we took turns playing. There goes my first try of the game.
I asked my friends what’s their highest placement on the game. They said they haven’t won a single game yet. One friend’s top placement was 13, and the other one is in top 10, I forgot the exact number.
On my second game, my friends went downstairs to get some food and it was my turn again to play. I took extra caution that time, no more jumping-out-from-a-vehicle-in-mid-air, and survived pretty well. Then finally, I got my first kill. I killed a guy using a shotgun in a close quarters combat with the element of surprise. My friends cheered on me, but I’m serious playing the game so I ignored them. Shortly, I found a vehicle and got closer and closer to the middle of the island (the restricted areas are also limiting the battlefield). I made a huge blunder when only three survivors remain. I accidentally showed my location — which means I lost my advantage — and then suddenly, there are only two people left. Me and the other person engaged in 1 vs 1 combat but I lost since he has the automatic gun and I have slow shotgun and crappy aiming skillz. Not to mention, my friends pressuring me behind my shoulders. I got placed top 2. Shoutout to my friends Genesis and Val. 🙄😤😑
To put it plainly, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds is like a military-inclined Battle Royale. Everyone parachutes down the island, everyone is using military grade weapons and armor, and then everybody guns down everybody. I also don’t think they have the survival aspects in terms of eating, resting, crafting, and so on. Therefore, PUBG doesn’t directly translate to Battle Royale or The Hunger Games but it’s a good game nonetheless — the stats don’t lie. I cannot compare any other battle royale games though, since I haven’t played all of them.
I think more and more games will be added into the genre. Games focusing on the survival part; surviving the temparature, hunger, exhaustion, diseases, and other aspects than the combat part only, ala Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater. I think a battle royale game like that would be really interesting. (Don’t starve × Battle Royale? 😂)
If you are truly a fan of the genre, I think you will love Black Survival. The tension from restricted areas expanding and contracting, running away with very low health, crafting health & stamina survival items, defeating everyone else until you’re the last one standing, it all resonates to the genre’s main inspiration; Battle Royale.
Non-gameplay related
So enough story time
Time for something that’s actually discussing the game itself. But first, I’ll walk you through the non-gameplay elements. This includes the game’s business model, economy, the network, the art, the music, the ranking system, the in-game currency, the game’s built-in index or wiki, and much more.
Business Model
Black Survival’s earns revenue via microtransactions (and ads? I’ll explain later). Its business model is like that of League of Legends.
- Free to play
- Weekly rotation of trial characters
- You can purchase characters and skins (cosmetics) via in-game currency (gold coins)
- You can purchase characters and skins via premium currency (bought using real money or gained by other means, I’ll explain later)
- You can also purchase other items such as name changer, etc., that doesn’t really impact the gameplay
- Ads (more details below)
Economy
There are three types of currencies in this game.
Gold, Gem, and Bear Point
Gold is gained through a number of methods:
- Winning a match
- Ranking up (only in Herbivore League)
- Finishing a match
The total gold collected from graduating Herbivore League can be used to purchase 2 or more characters permanently. It can also be used to purchase items in a match (lunchbox and backpack) and as well as revive your character when they die.
Gem is the game’s premium currency. It can be purchased using real money and obtained via the roulette.
Bear point is used to spin the roulette and can be gained through a number of means:
- Logging in daily
- First win of the day
- Other means (such as killing wild animals in a match, etc.)
Advertisements
There is only one place in the game where you can see ads. If you are feeling like a cheapskate and don’t want to spend gold to revive your character, you can watch a 30-second advertisement and BAM, your character is back in shape. I don’t know how will this work in the Steam version, though.
The Network
I have seen people on discord and reddit complain about the lag and sometimes I experience them too. I lost a few ranked matches because of network problems such as sudden disconnection and cannot reconnect, or just the ping. But hey, we can’t always blame the servers. I play other online games too and I get disconnected sometimes. All I can say is you can enjoy playing the game 9 out of 10 times with the current network condition.
Finding matches
It’s so easy to find a match. It ranges from a wait time of instant, to a few minutes. I think one and a half minute is the longest wait I’ve ever encountered.
While finding a match, you can browse the main menu, check the game’s index, and more which is a really nice feature.
Match balancing
My rank is just Fox, but I have encountered high ranking players in a match such as Lion / Bear / Dragon. It’s unfair, of course. I think the Archbears need to look into the team balancing aspect in finding a match. On the bright side, it’s so scary and exciting to play with high ranking players!
The Art, Music, Lore, and Flavour Text
The art and music are superb, 10/10. I only wish there are animations, and it’s required though. The game is fun without it. I just thought it’d be cool. 😆 However, problems will arise is in programming aspect animation duration, animation cancelling, backswing, and a lot more, Archbears has a lot to consider.
The lore and flavour text are also entertaining. They have a lot of references in other contemporary literatures, even anime!
Gameplay related
Metagame
Like all other games, there is also a meta-game on Black Survival. Here’s an excerpt from Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki:
The metagame (also called the meta) is the current trend that is often considered to be the optimal way to play the game by the community. This always changes over time, and is driven by community opinion, professional players, and balance patches.
I don’t think I am experienced enough to make an in-depth judgment about each character’s balance but there is always a metagame. There has been a patch recently that addresses the OPness of Yuki, nerfs to JP, Jenny, and other changes. (All of these information are from reddit and discord which should be considered unofficial and opinionated)
First off, let’s discuss the flow of the game, and types of games.
PvP Game
Normal Game- Unranked game for PvP practice, and climbing through Herbivore League. You can gain gold in this mode.
Ranked Game- Every win, you gain some rank points, and every loss is the opposite. When you reach Lion rank and above, you can be eligible for the Season Skin and Avatar Border.
Practice- Normal Game versus AI.
Match flow & Mechanics
The game starts in the Underground Path, where you choose what kind of weapon you wield at the start. It automatically defaults to your highest Mastery.
Mastery
In the screenshot above, I was using Bernice. His equipment defaults to a Gun. You gain few mastery points from attacking and crafting. There are also other ways to gain mastery, such as laying traps (Isol), setting up cameras (Nathapon), and other ways specific to a character.
There are 7 types of equipment and each character has different mastery on each equipment. Blade, Stab, Blunt, Thrown, Gun, Bow, and Hand. Trap isn’t considered as a wielded weapon.
Characters normally have at least one good mastery and can range up to 3 masteries.
In order to deal more damage, you can either train your mastery, or upgrade your weapon.
Equipment
Equipment in the game are categorized by rarity and type. These are Weapon, Armor, Food, and Normal.
The game is focused heavily on collecting materials and crafting them. Each item can be found within the 22 areas in the game and with some exception, can be found from Wild Animals and appears at random areas.
The game has a nice guide feature where you can choose a certain equipment andd the game lists where all the equipment’s components can be found.
Level
Levels are gained by enough experience. (just like any other video game out there) Experience can be obtained through a number of ways. Attacking, searching, surviving (you gain experience after each round passes), and crafting.
So, a quick recap is to be able to become strong, you need to up your mastery, level, and equipment.
Routes
Routes is a pattern you do when playing the game. For instance, when playing Gun type characters, they usually go to the Beach, Docks, or Chapel, where guns are the common to find. And when you finally get or not get what you want, you go to plan B or you move on to the next equipment you want to build and so on. For an example of routes, check out the guy asking on the post below.
What a single match looks like
The game continues to run, changing from day to night. And all throughout it, you must craft, survive, run, and fight. You play the game by tapping onto the game’s UI or into the screen. No D-pad, only commands like search, attack, skill, craft, etc. The map changes from time to time, areas become restricted and in the final round, the 8th round, only 1 area will remain where 2 or more players should outperform each other in order to win.
What a good match looks like
A good match depends on your definition of “good”. For me, a good match is when I enjoy the game or place high (within the top 3).
A game lasts more or less 20 minutes. You need speed, skill, memory, and luck to become the victor. After the game, whether you lose or win, you go back to main menu, where you can start another game again.
Placing high
Placing high is usually as a result of two outcomes. It’s either you dominate other enemies, or you are just being good at escaping. The former is when you become really strong then you have a high chance of winning. The latter when you spend your game running around messing up and you can’t take out the last opponents in a 1v1 or 1v2 situation. (happens everytime 😆)
Having fun
Sometimes, there’s just no way to win. All restricted areas are, well… restricted, and you can’t craft shit. Your enemies have purple items and you have nothing! But it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the game. Check out this screenshots. One of my dying moments, and the other player is having fun with me. Look at the logs!
This game is an example of a bad performance by me. But I enjoyed it a lot! You can have fun games like this despite you didn’t win.
Conclusion
What I really like about this game is its straightforwardness and high learning curve. I play Dota 2 before, and if have also tried the game, you know it’s level of complexity.
Black Survival has a universe of its own and I am still trying to fit into it. For sure, I will be clocking in many hours just like I did in all of my beloved games. It’s up to you if you want a challenging game like this, or you could also just have fun if you are playing casually.
If this post is too long for you, and just happened to scroll all the way down here, you can read a shorter version of blog post here!
If you’re going to try the game, have fun playing Black Survival! And may the odds be in — err — Let there be glory to the pawns who reached the end of despair!
If you like my post, or if you think I missed something important, please give a me a clap 👏 or a comment. Thank you so much for reading this far!
