ROYALE REVIEW BLOG #3: THE ENDGAME AND THE ART OF NOT GETTING JUMPED (Final Blog)

This is a lot but it's the LAST blog I promise, the end game blog, so bear with me! Here's a link to blog #1: https://kovaze.com/blog/70443 Here's a link to blog #2: https://kovaze.com/blog/70489 Category: The Endgame – Shopping Runs, Danger Zones, and Weapons...so many weapons For me, the endgame is final 12 and below, and if you are lucky enough to make it that far out of a cast of 60, this is easily the most fun part of the game. 1. The world suddenly feels huge. Nothing really changes with the rate of weapon or health pop ups (a potential fix in game mechanics maybe??), and the map does not shrink, so it almost feels like the world opens up. There is more room, fewer people, and a lot more opportunity to move around and collect. 2. Movement becomes even more powerful. What makes this phase really fun is that items spawn in areas even when you are not there and they stay spawned. If you have enough stamina and a few stamina items, you can literally go on a shopping run around the arena. You can also team up with a few people and sweep areas where nobody has been, collecting weapons and materials quickly. 3. Spawning may need a little tuning late game. I do think once the game reaches around final 12, the spawn rate and maybe even the grid size could be reduced a bit. It became a bit crazy especially when someone ended up with about 300 Kunai lol. If you move around enough and make a kill or two you can stack an almost wild number of weapons in a short time. 4. Danger zones are actually worth it late game. I did not talk about these much in the last blog, but danger zones really shine in the endgame. Weapons and items spawn faster there, so if you can safely sit in one of those rooms for a while, you can build a little collection of items a bit more quickly. 5. Pop ups are not capped, which changes strategy. You can collect as many items as possible, and when you eliminate someone you get all of their weapons. For me, weapons spawned far more than food or stamina, and arrows spawned the most by far. Item Rankings: Best to Worst 1. Teleport Best item in the game, no contest. One click and you are anywhere on the map with no stamina required. You can teleport to friends for help, escape danger instantly, or reposition strategically. I loved this item. 2. Energy Pack Restores stamina to 100 and gives you five moves, which is huge. The only reason it is not number one is that teleport is faster in a true emergency. I do think these could spawn a little more often since stamina refills so slowly. 3. Kovazebees A cute fave of mine lol. These randomly transport everyone in your square to different locations with no damage. It is basically a chaotic teleport that also messes up your opponents or allows you and your allies to go check out different parts of the map with no stamina cost. They are obviously not great if you are trying to reach a specific person for help, but pretty clutch for escaping someone trying to jump you. 4. Bomb and Sniper Both pretty strong long range damage options. The bomb hits everyone in the room, so be careful not to take out your friends. Different mechanics, similar usefulness. 5. Health Pack Restores 20 health and very helpful after being jumped. I would totally rank these higher if they spawned a little more frequently because I think the spawning rate of these was a tad bit low. 6. Kunai Simple, reliable, and effective. Five damage to someone in your room, straight serious business. 7. Food Necessary and solid mechanically. I never starved, but if I ignored pop ups for too long my food definitely dropped. 8. Arrows These spawned the most and only do one damage each. I really wish they did slightly more damage because by the time you click through a bunch of them, your target has usually left and you have mostly just annoyed them or shown your cards. 9. Poisoned Berries Public service announcement: Do not eat food from people you do not trust. Honestly, maybe not even from people you kind of trust. People find it funny to hand these out but I do think most people don't fall for it because they know these exist. How I Died (and One Fix That Would Help a Lot) One of the small but important flaws is that there is no notification when someone enters your area. If you are not constantly refreshing and are trying to hide, someone can enter and leave without you ever knowing. This is exactly how I died. Someone found me, I did not notice in time, and I did not have time to move. There are already notifications for item use, so something simple like "Chase entered the castle area" would make a huge difference defensively and reduce the need to sit and refresh constantly. Overall Thoughts: Would I play this again? Absolutely. Sin has done a great job. The game is complex, exciting, and layered with different strategies. If you are not great at comps, do not worry. Movement as defense matters more than anything imo but you MUST be active with the current mechanics. I am genuinely excited for the people who have not gotten to play yet. Top 4 Best Things 1. Final 10 strategy and movement around the island; I LOVED the map concept and strategy this required. 2. Friends being able to help you or fight with you (with their weapons) was really hilarious at times and made for a great time on call. 3. Movement mechanics and the ways to navigate the arena was very fun to think through and strategize about. 4. The opening bloodbath phase is literally perfection, Sin did a great job here. Top 4 Suggested Fixes 1. Some LIMITED flexibility for being offline without being defenseless, something that wouldn't be abused or drag out the game but allow a person to breathe a bit. 2. Reduced item spawning and possibly a smaller arena late game as the cast gets smaller. 3. Notifications when a player enters your area PLEASE to keep from having to constantly refresh. 4. A slightly smaller cast size, maybe around 30 players, to ME seems like a good fit. Overall, this game was chaotic, strategic, occasionally stressful, and ridiculously fun, and I would absolutely jump back into the arena again. TLDR: The endgame is the most fun, teleport is king, stamina is life, and if you are not paying attention someone will absolutely wander into your square and ruin your day. Thank you Sin for all the hard work I am sure this took! Readers - sorry this is an actual novel but if you made it this far thanks for listening! xo