H1Z1: Battle Royale is something of an oddity. Arguably the first game to fully capitalise on the idea of battle royale, it had a dedicated but increasingly frustrated following on PC who jumped ship to the far smoother sailing ship of PUBG.
With dwindling player numbers and a lack of relevancy to deal with, Daybreak decided to repackage it as a free-to-play title with cosmetic microtransactions in abundance. It’s still not as relevant as it once was with the conversation now almost always being about Fortnite and PUBG, but H1Z1 still has something to offer, which is why it’s recently landed on PS4 in the most confusing manner possible.
H1Z1 is currently in an open beta for the indefinite future until it launches fully at an unannounced date. In essence, H1Z1 is an Early Access game in all but name; they’ve likely fiddled with some of Sony’s rules to get around releasing an unfinished game. It’s strange, but not really strange considering how many questionable builds of games that are still in Early Access on PC can be found on the PlayStation Store.
The strangest thing about all this, however, is that H1Z1 doesn’t feel like an Early Access game. It runs surprisingly smoothly on a base PS4, so much so that it’s almost the antithesis to the incompetent Game Preview launch of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on Xbox One.
H1Z1 isn’t a beautiful game by any means, its generally edgy and arcade-y aesthetic designed to add some visual flair to the game. It’s lucky, as its map is several shades of grey without much in the way to please the eyes. Likewise, everything is a little flat, but nowhere near porridge levels. If you’re coming off the colourful and bombastic Fortnite, you may be in for a surprise.
That being said, if Fortnite’s building mechanics and endless shotgun battles are wearing you down, H1Z1 could be a pretty reliable alternative. While its first couple of hours after launch were rocky to say the least with nobody able to play because of a server overload, H1Z1 has composed itself well — I don’t think it will be struggling for a playerbase on PS4.
Gameplay-wise, apart from your character running like they’ve dropped the nastiest of dookies in their pants, H1Z1 seems serious enough to keep players coming back for more. It will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s ever played a game of PUBG before: you parachute down, land, loot up, and outlast 99 other combatants. There’s more of a military vibe to the game when compared to Fortnite, but it also lacks the “realness” of PUBG thanks to vehicles having boosts and the absurd skins that look like they came out of an angsty teen’s sketchbook. H1Z1 is like a weird lovechild of the two of them, and I quite like it.
It might seem reductive to make comparison between the console versions of PUBG and H1Z1 as they’re completely different games, but H1Z1 already seems to have PUBG’s number in terms of stability and even its controls. While innovative, PUBG’s controls on Xbox One were as if the developers were desperate to fill every single button input with an action. H1Z1, meanwhile, is lean and easy to pick up if you’ve ever played any other shooter ever in your life.
I have only played a handful of games of H1Z1 on PS4 (and embarrassed myself in each one), but the signs are good so far. I can’t see myself sinking dozens of hours into it and it’s unlikely to again climb the hill it was once the king of, but with enough support from its developers and a far better relationship with its players than the one shared on PC, H1Z1 should do just fine.
UPDATE: an earlier version of this article suggested that H1Z1 would come out fully in September. A date has yet to be announced.
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