There are so many battle royales out there now that we could definitely hold a battle royale of battle royales to identify the ultimate battle royale. While most of them appear to be completely forgettable, Naraka: Bladepoint is one that I’ve been eager to play since it’s not about hiding in an abandoned woods house for 20 minutes until a circle on a map forces me to leave (I am not patient).
Instead, Naraka: Bladepoint is a martial arts war royale in which you play as a high-flying ninja armed with grappling hooks, katanas, and, oh yes, a massive chainsaw.
We got another peek at Naraka: Bladepoint during the PC Gaming Show with its release date teaser, which boasts about how successful the beta playtests had been. According to Naraka’s Steam concurrent gamers, people aren’t wary of battle royales just yet. But I’m not shocked that Naraka is already popular because it looks good. Naraka is all on physical fighting and aggressiveness, rather than firearms and concealment.
Every player gets a grappling hook with which they may zip about the terrain or climb high into the trees to plan an ambush. There are a few distant weapons, such as the bow, but most of the fight appears to take place up close with swords, spears, or fists, with players unleashing tremendous combinations and countering each other’s assaults.
There’s also a massive chainsaw, supposedly. This new weapon is shown towards the end of the trailer by developer 24 Entertainment. It doesn’t exactly fit with the martial arts motif, but I’m not going to pass up a perfectly nice chainsaw. And I’m interested to see how this item works: I’m not sure if it’s a powerful weapon that you have to acquire on the map, like Halo’s Energy Sword, but the thought of slicing a ninja in half is intriguing.
Naraka: Bladepoint will be released on August 12 and is currently available for preorder, with the standard edition costing $20.
