Regular readers of my blog know that I enjoy Battle Royale Games. Many players, however, only know the biggest BR games, like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Warzone or PubG, but there are a lot of lesser-known games also worth playing. Don’t get me wrong, there are also plenty of terrible or mid BR games (my blog can prove that much), many of which have already shutdown, but I believe the BR mode in Warface is actually one of those hidden gems, not many people have talked about.
Warface is not a dedicated Battle Royale Game, which means that BR is only one of many PVP-Modes in Warface. Sadly, this also means it will shutdown together with all the other Warface Gamemodes in late August 2026. I have previously reviewed this game around 6 years ago, but I thought this was the right moment to give it one more updated closer look.
In Warface Battle Royale, players start in a match, together with a maximum of 32 other players, at the edge of the map circle. So there are no planes and no parachutes to start with and the map circle begins after just a few seconds to slowly and continuously close in. Players start with melee weapons only and have to search for firearms, which usually have very limited ammo. Players can also only carry one heavy weapon in addition to a pistol and the melee weapon at the same time.
The start of the match at the edge of the zone, when you can see a player 50 meters left of you and another player 50 meters right of you and you all only have melee weapons, is something really special, that only a few BR games can replicate. You start to run desperately looking for a gun somewhere, but you also know you can’t afford to miss, since the gun will barely have enough ammunition to take out more than one player. If you miss too much, it might not even be enough for that. This keeps you on edge during the whole match, which is just very immersive.
I really like this concept. It reminded me of the Hunger Games and perhaps games like The Culling. Nowadays BR games are usually set up differently, which certainly isn’t worse, but it’s always nice to also see a more classic Battle Royale concept implemented.
Warface BR is therefore less focused on collecting loot than most other games in the genre, since there are simply fewer weapons available and the ever-closing circle alone keeps you on edge most of the time. Getting one of the better weapons is naturally still important, if you want to compete for the win. Nonetheless, I like that you actually have to consider when you spot another player, if you attack him, which could waste your precious ammo or go in another direction instead. You are also, of course, forced to aim better since every bullet can count.
The pacing of the game is, despite the sneaking possibilities, relatively fast and the matches are over pretty quickly. Rarely does a round take longer than 5-10 minutes.
There are 2 different maps with Mojave Desert and Prypjat City in Map Rotation. I have to say I like them both. Prypjat creates the atmosphere of an abandoned Russian Ghost City and Mojave is a cool and bright desert map. Both maps offer you a lot of cover possibilities to sneak between buildings or environments.
One of the bigger disadvantages of Warface Battle Royale is that there are no Duo or Squad-Modes available. Every game is Solo only. Some people won't mind this, for others it might be a real dealbreaker. There are also no Battle Royale statistics in the game, that tell you how often you have won or how many Kills per game you achieved and so on. These are just some of the other signs of the simpler presentation. You are not going to get the same amount of polish as in other games, which exclusively focus on a Battle Royale mode.
The visual presentation of the game is also rather basic and could in the best case be described as average. Warface is not among the very worst-looking, but also certainly not among the best looking games either. You can clearly see that Warface is actually an older F2P (Free to play) game. The game originally released in 2013. There is only so much you can do without a change in graphics engine.
Even though theoretically 32 Players can engage in a match, I have rarely experienced that. Between 2018 and 2019 (the PS4 launch time) I have most of the time been playing with 20 to 24 players, occasionally dropping to even lower numbers than that. Since the gamemode for a long time required at least 16 players to start, it was a lot more difficult to get games going in the following years. It was still possible on occasion, however, on PS4, but next to impossible on the PC version. In 2026 the developers actually reduced the minimum number of players to 4, which thankfully revitalized the gamemode. While I never saw numbers like back in the day, I still participated in a couple of matches with more than 10 players in 2026.
Another aspect we simply have to address, when it comes to any Gamemode Warface related, are the Pay-to-Win Elements. Thankfully, the Battle Royale mode has been much less affected than any other Gamemode in Warface. There are no Loadouts available for BR, so premium armour or weapons from the shop do not affect the gamemode. Unfortunately for a long time you were able to take more powerful melee weapons as your starting weapons into a Battle Royale match. A Kantana, for example, did more damage and had a longer range than a starting knife. The effects were a lot smaller than in the other PVP-Modes, where paying players could straight out buy better weapons, but an unfair balance was still being created in Battle Royale. A couple of years ago they fixed this unbalance by giving all melee weapons identical damage, range and speed values. So in the last 2-3 years there was no longer any P2W to be found in Warface Battle Royale.
Pro:
- Serious survival atmosphere
- Lack of Ammunition encourages strategy
- Fast pace
Contra:
- Solo only
- (Small) P2W elements for a long time
- Visuals were quite dated-looking
Result:
Warface in general was a really mixed bag. A fun, but dated FPS with a big variety of gamemodes, that was severely limited by its heavy P2W issues. Thankfully, Warface Battle Royale was a lot less affected by this. The maps, the lack of ammunition and the smaller player count created a real survival atmosphere, which is Warface Battle Royale's biggest strength. You didn’t just had to hunt down other players, like in a lot of other BR games, but your main goal in Warface Battle Royale was to actually just survive. It’s a shame this gamemode never got much attention, because I think it would have deserved it.
7/10
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