Realm Royale Reforged - Game Infinite Review

Realm Royale is BACK! It was a game I played a good amount and really enjoyed during its initial launch a few years ago. It existed in Hi-Rez's Paladin's multiverse and was a Class Based Fantasy version of the popular explosive genre. The game was unique and different enough to provide entertainment value. I really liked it and played a good amount. It however came out around the time of all the other Battle Royales, the BR Gold Rush. PUBG, Fortnite, Blackout, Apex, then Warzone, all exploded onto the scene and so did every other developer in their attempts to join the craze. For every big name that entered and survived the BR Gold Rush there are a dozen others that failed. Some even from some big developers that failed and shut down. The IRL Battle Royale of Battle Royale games were kind to some granting victory, while others died and were cut. Realm Royale was one that had a very lukewarm death. it fizzled rather than failed. Realm Royale had its following. It had its fans. Even now, three years later, there were still people playing it. Sure it never got huge, but it didn't get shut down. The developers just went quiet and stopped updating the game for two years. It was just there. It got drowned by bigger games.

(Official Trailer)

With no new events, cosmetics, LTE's or anything, the live service stopped being "live" and I just eventually quit playing.

Out of absolutely nowhere, Realm Royale's twitter page, inactive forever tweeted out a mysterious gif of one of the games Forge's smoking with the line saying the Forges were "heating back up". This got fans of the game existed that something was coming. Then a couple days later we got a livestream showcase announcing that Realm Royale Reforged, a rebooted and new version of the game was dropping that day! Ongoing support and updates for the game were returning. The dead game was alive again!

I will say one thing. Realm Royale Reforged is very much an under the hood relaunch. it doesn't really feel much different then when I left. It really feels similar to be honest. Then you might ask, why am I giving it a 9/10? I defend the score for a few reasons. Realm Royale was always a fun game, and this is just a polished better version. Before when I would get crashes and glitches, here I don't. So if I judge the game as a whole rather than "how well the reboot" went I give it a 9. Also, Reforged at launch feels less like a full overhaul and more like the devs making a grand gesture that support is coming back. We can expect more updates, more stuff, more events. This game is back from the dead, even if right now not much has changed on the surface. It is the devs telling gamers, hey come back and get back into it because this game is coming back.

GiPlays

(Gi Gameplay)

The game is fun, polished, and feels good. Gunplay and movement feels really good. I do have some negatives though.

I am rating this Reforged very high because the game is very polished and fun. While Reforged feels like it focused on under the hood, stability, and quality of life improvements, there were some changes. Armor is back instead of runes. Class based weapons and powers are back instead of everyone free to use it all. movement powers are locked. To be honest, these two biggest gameplay changes in Reforged, and I kind of dislike all of them. I hate that I open loot and can get weapons and powers I can't even use while people are shooting at me. Shards are great and all but people are shooting at me! I felt runes were simpler to do in fast based combat. I just liked the old way better. Runes and Universal Weapons/Powers were better. It feels more restrictive. Before I could be a mage but then eventually pick from a long list of nice movement powers. It limits the weapons I can use. What if you don't like the new grapple hook for the one class? Too bad. I just wish classes were more about slight buffs or maybe ONE restriction, but Weapons, Combat Powers, AND Movement Powers? It is a change I don't like, but not enough to not play or lower my score. I get they want the classes to feel different, and they do. Maybe if they add more powers and weapons, it will feel like I can actually customize my play style. This was a relaunch, and it felt like it almost less options, when I wanted more. I think it should have launched with maybe a new 5th class, or at least one new weapon.

Also, there are some things that I think should have been included in something they wanted to call "Reforged" that are painfully obvious to be missing. This is 2022, and the fact that a relaunch "Reforged" didn't come with a next-gen patch is pretty unfortunate. I am playing on PS5, and it would have been great to have it fully optimized and supported on PS5. This also might be Sony's fault still, in fact I am pretty sure it is, but the fact that the Playstation version STILL doesn't have cross progression is also pretty unfortunate. The Xbox, Switch, and PC versions got that years ago. I get it. Sony hates, but make it happen. My game is trapped on my PS5.

Another item, which is more of a wishlist request than a complaint, but the game has a beautiful world and fun characters with fun cosmetics we players are proud of; it would be great to get a theater mode for picture taking. I want to be able to rewatch my matches and get clips or photos like I can in Fortnite.

All in all, while it still needs work and some important updates; and my Santa list is long; the current state of Reforged is enough to bring me back. It is FUN, and that sometimes trumps all the things that need continued updates. They didn't have to come back, but since they did, I am going to give them my wishlists. I hope enough players return and stay while Hi-Rez upholds their promise to bring back support for this game. I need to see skins, more LTE's, a GOOD battle pass, more powers, classes, and weapons. To keep this at 9/10 and keep this opinion positive, we need the developers to uphold this promise. We are trusting their seriousness in supporting this game again. To keep our trust, I hope they can deliver. I like the game enough to give them their requested second chance.