Supervive played: You have never seen a Battle Royale like this before

It sounded like any other game trying to dip its little toe into a genre water that's actually way too big to not sink in. A small fish trying to go with the flow but being completely overwhelmed by its force. But Supervive is more than that. It doesn't want to be the next League of Legends or Fortnite. It combines battle royale and playable heroes into a new, competitive experience that I've never seen before.

Battle Royale with a difference

Like any good battle royale, you have a map that keeps getting smaller and smaller. This is where the goal comes from to win a round. You and your squad have to be the last players on the field. However, you don't fight against each other in the style of a shooter, but with the mechanics of heroes or champions, like those from League of Legends. You choose a hunter who has several unique skills and rush onto the map.

Here I was reminded a lot of League of Legends. So if you're coming from that game, you'll feel very comfortable and familiar with the abilities. Celeste, an ice mage who I played in most matches, is somewhere between Anivia and Lissandra and can create ice walls that push opponents away, and with her ult she creates a huge field of ice while becoming untouchable for the duration.

Other hunters also had similarities here and there. I could see a quasi-Vi, a near-rumble and a few visual similarities. But they are just that: similarities. Because they play quite differently than their distant relatives in LoL. And also very different, because the normal attacks can be very different, as can the playing styles. Celeste is more of a fast caster with moderate damage, while Void casts very slowly but also deals more damage. I found Void really difficult to play, because you really need perfect placement of the skills here.

The division of classes in Supervive is a bit strange. Two hunters are “rulers”, i.e. magicians, three of them are “protectors” and nine are assigned to the “fighters”. But you can also find tanks among the fighters. I was missing at least a fourth column for a better overview. But I digress.

Supervive motivates with many possibilities

So now ten teams of four players each are sitting in the plane and decide when to jump onto the map. Once on the map, I noticed that you don't move with the mouse as usual, but with WASD. The mouse is used to indicate the direction of your abilities. It's also interesting that you can glide for a certain period of time. This is particularly useful because the map isn't one big patch of land, but consists of many floating island pieces.

So if the ring gets tighter and you are outside it, it will be a little more difficult to get inside the ring. Before you can do that, however, you have to get stronger. You do this by killing monsters on the map and collecting their loot – or you do the same with your opponents. This way you can get potions, weapons, armor and special items with new effects.

You don't have to fear death too much in Supervive. Sure, you can die, but there are plenty of ways to bring yourself back. And they aren't even particularly complicated. If you're just on the ground, your allies only need to stand next to you for a few seconds. If you're already under the ground, the only thing that helps is finding an altar that will bring back all the lost hunters from your group. This makes the 20 minutes or so per match feel much more motivating.

The whole concept of the game was so exciting and new to me that I barely noticed how my three hours of play time flew by. The controls took a bit of getting used to, but they made sense. Supervive looks great and ran smoothly and cleanly during my test period. With my team, who also had MOBA experience, I was even able to win the crown a few times.

The battles against other teams are a lot of fun, as you can fight over a large area and use a lot of skills. I would have liked to have played one or two more rounds. The more important question, however, is whether Supervive can last in the long term. The Battle Hero Royale definitely has potential, but the balance and matchmaking have to be right by the time it's released. We can take a look at it in the open beta at the end of the year, right?