A well-polished 2D BR with an FPS feel to it
Disclaimer: Have spent over 150 hours playing the game since Alpha and am now a community mod. This is sort of a review/guide hybrid for the early access release.
Tl;dr: Super Animal Royale is a smooth overhead 2D BR with an FPS feel owing to unique sightline mechanics and solid sound design as well as short rounds. It’s both a battle royale for people that don’t like battle royales and also a great game for vets tired of the usual grind.
Super Animal Royale (SAR) catches your eye at first with the well-done character art and beautiful environments. It’s not overly detailed to the point of turning into static noise, yet every item in the game looks lovingly crafted with unique features. The game is easier to approach than most other BRs and serves as a great entry-point into the genre. At the same time, there is plenty to learn and figure out as you get better and ascend to the top of the food chain more and more often.
The super animals are essentially bipedal versions of their species that can dance and use lethal weaponry. And there are a variety of weapons that are easily recognizable and do about what you would expect from them. As well as some unique standouts like a rideable hamster ball that can take down others at full speed and bananas that slip players up. Yet more powerful weapons exist with some only found in the occasional drops from a mole that appears at random on the map.
You start off with a few animals unlocked and others yet to be researched through DNA you obtain by playing matches.
The different animals all have the same hitboxes and stats so any difference is purely cosmetic. There is plenty of clothing, items, emotes, dances etc. that drop randomly at the end of a round. I appreciate this model as it keeps the playing field level by giving you all gameplay related features right off the bat and limiting unlocks to cosmetics. And no loot boxes unlike certain other games.
The map is sizeable with plenty of different environments to explore. From a claustrophobic swamp with its many bridges to navigate to a frozen over tundra to a research facility where they [REDACTED]. There’s definitely a living world here with plenty of lore to uncover. And there to ignore if you wish to focus more on the gameplay. It is also quite navigable by foot without feeling stranded just because you lack a vehicle.
The gameplay differentiates itself from 2D battle royales in part by having a line of sight system. While the game is presented in an overhead view, you don’t automatically have full knowledge of everything on the screen. Trees, rocks, houses, and even stacked crates can obscure your vision. This allows for tense situations where you have to rely on the game’s sound to figure out where you opponents are.
And what a great sound design this game has. Everything sounds pleasant to the ears and feels crisp. Figuring out where shots come from is pretty easy and also essential to staying alive. Rolling, running, and crouch walking all have varying levels of sound. While you might wish to roll forward towards an enemy, doing so close to them will be quite audible and give away your position.
Also worth mentioning is that running will reduce your weapon accuracy. Crouch walking and standing both help out in landing shots, but also expose you to enemy fire. Learning to balance aim accuracy while on the go will be key to surviving. Most of the time you can get away with reasonable accuracy while running, but it is sometimes worth slowing down and aiming a few key shots with your magnum or sniper. The shooting is ultimately more arcadey than realistic so don’t worry too much.
The pacing of this game stands out from other BRs. SAR takes no more than ten minutes to finish a single round which is often just the start of the midgame in similar titles. Dying after a few minutes of looting is far less frustrating than spending 20 minutes running around just to die to a random headshot. This is the ultimate game for when you’re waiting on someone or something and just want to get a quick match in.
The core battle royale mechanics are all here. Inhales deeply Up to 64 super animals launch from an eagle flying across the map. You choose where to jump off and conveniently the game also tells you when fellow teammates eject. There is an ever shrinking circle outside of which you take damage. There is a healing mechanic that is streamlined wherein you gather health items that are added to a health juice bottle that you carry around. Plenty of items to be found lying around. There’s several degrees of armor. And you can currently queue up in Europe, North America, or Asia as either a solo player, with another person, or in a 4-person squad. Exhales
And lastly, the game just feels smooth. From the animations to gunplay to the actual game running on my computer. You can run this thing on pretty much any computer released in the past decade and it’ll run perfectly. There’s been a ton of optimization since the game’s launch and your average modern gaming rig will max this easily with plenty of power to spare. Look down on games that can’t run at least 300fps smoothly at all times? SAR’s got you covered. Dislike sloppy networking code that robs you of kills? SAR performed reasonably well even when I tried playing it on the Asian servers all the way from New York (~230ms ping).
This game is just polished to an insane degree considering the small team size and the fact that this is their first such title on PC/MAC. They have been incredibly responsive on their discord when it comes to bugs and feature requests. The game’s grown from a small map with scant items to multiple biomes and a full arsenal in a fairly short time. I’m reasonably optimistic about expecting more of the same in the months of early access to come. Given the low entry price, I feel that I’ve already gotten my money’s worth in the alpha/beta tests. And with more features promised in the future, it already feels like a steal.