SlapBR (PC) Review

 

SlapBR is a mix of Slenderman and a 'Hide and Seek' BR like Tag Royale. Thankfully the servers actually work very well in this game and aren't broken like in Tag Royale.

The gameplay has a lot of similarities with Slenderman, since the players are placed in a lonely forest in the middle of the night. A flashlight gives a tiny fraction of visibility ahead, but the majority of the screen is filled with darkness. You know that the other players are out there and that one hit could either finish your life or theirs. SlapBR therefore manages to create a real Horror atmosphere within a Battle Royale gamemode.

There is a Stamina System in place, which enables players to sprint for a short time to potentially escape other players. Players can also be combated by using the slap attack. Every slap is deathly, but can be blocked with a block ability, which lasts around 2 seconds. Players therefore have to carefully time their slaps and blocks or decide to vanish into the darkness to slap another time.

Every match takes a maximum of 5 minutes, which equalizes the time it takes the walls surrounding the playable area to close in from all sides. Unfortunately the walls don't do any damage, they just prevent players from leaving the playable area and push them closer towards each other.

The walls however also show the game's weakest aspect which are the visuals. The walls are just a single coloured turquoise obstacle and totally standout from the forest visuals. This should have definitely been done better (I would have even preferred a simple thick black wall, that equalizes the inevitable darkness). The ground and tree textures are also of rather low quality, but get the job done and the small view distance and night scenario conceal them well. The character models are also just simple white mannequins, which at least helps them to standout from the darkness when you see them. Because of the small view distance however you will have to be standing really close to another player to recognize them. The game even introduces a jumpscare soundeffect when you stumble on another character, which totally freaked me out the first time. I don't think there are even any other sound effects in SlapBR except for your footsteps. Some creepy wind sound effect running through the trees could have been another cool addition, but the present sound effects do help to create the Horror atmosphere in the game. You are always on your toes, expecting the unexpected.

 

Pro:

+ Mix of Horror and Battle Royale (unique concept)

+ Slenderman vibes through small visibility

+ Mix of slaps, blocks and hiding works well in the dark forest scenario

+ Game creates jumpscare moments

 

Contra:

- Simpler visuals

- Not overly complex gameplay

- No outside the zone possible

 

Result:

I like the unique idea of creating a Horror Battle Royale and while SlapBR is overall certainly a rather basic and simple game, it does the things well, that it attempts. The visuals could certainly be improved, the gameplay could be way more diverse through additional elements, but SlapBR is a decent first attempt at a Horror BR and probably the closest one can get to a Slenderman BR.

 

5.5/10