Battlerite is a free-to-play team-based action game inspired by multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) gameplay. It was developed and published by Stunlock Studios, the same team behind the game Bloodline Champions. An early access version of Battlerite was released in September 2016 and sold more than 440,000 copies in three months. The game officially launched on November 7, 2017.

In May 2018, the developers announced a new game mode based on the battle royale genre, which was planned to release in the summer of that year. However, in August 2018, the developers changed their plans, stating the mode would no longer be free and instead become a separate game to be released by the end of September 2018.

In July 2019, Stunlock Studios announced that development of Battlerite would stop. The last content update for Battlerite and Battlerite Royal occurred in October 2019. Both games would remain in "maintenance mode," meaning they would receive only minor updates and fixes for the foreseeable future.

Gameplay

Battlerite has two teams, each with two or three players, competing against each other. Before the game starts, each player selects a special character called a Champion. Each Champion has unique abilities for attacking, defending, and moving. To win a round, a team must defeat all players on the opposing team. Winning three rounds wins the game. Each round lasts about two minutes. When time runs out, a Sudden Death area appears, slowly pushing players toward the center of the map. The game can be played on different maps, each favoring different strategies.

Unlike traditional MOBA games, the goal is not to destroy enemy towers or base structures. Players also do not kill neutral units to gain resources. Because of this, players cannot buy items or other resources to improve their Champion's abilities. This results in fast-paced gameplay with shorter matches compared to the longer, strategy-focused games in the same genre.

Reception

Battlerite received mostly positive reviews from critics. On the review website Metacritic, the game has an overall score of 85 out of 100.

PC Gamer gave Battlerite a score of 89%, praising the game's fast pace, free-to-play model, and simple design compared to similar games. IGN's Ian Nowakowski gave Battlerite a score of 8.2 out of 10. He criticized the game's randomized progression rewards as "not very exciting," but he concluded that Battlerite succeeds in its main features, such as the arena battles. He noted that the teamfighting in Battlerite is strong and captures what makes competitive gaming enjoyable.

Battlerite became popular quickly after its release. Two weeks after launching on Steam's Early Access, Stunlock Studios said they had already reached 200,000 players, even though the game was pay-to-play at the time. However, Battlerite now has a small player base. According to SteamCharts, the game's player count peaked in November 2017 with 44,850 players. By 2018, the average monthly peak had dropped to less than 4,000 players.

PC Gamer included Battlerite in its list of the best free games available on the Steam platform.