Degen Royale is an exhilarating third-person shooter that allows players to customize their avatars according to the NFTs they hold. The game shares many similarities with popular shooters like Fortnite and PUBG, with players on a single island, weapons scattered around for players to equip and use against their enemies. The game carries little lore, but Magic Beans have been revealed as an important element, with potential bonuses and access to new levels, airdrops of gear, and gadgets. There is even a rumor of pooling Magic Beans to create a player's own Degen Royale Island.
The team behind Degen Royale has plenty of experience, with one of the co-founders being the founder of Interverse, a company with extensive background in AI solutions. Chimera Capital backs the Degen Royale team, providing them with plentiful financial resources. The team has over 40 years of experience in digital products. The game can be accessed through Steam, offering an additional layer of security compared to downloading the game directly from their website. Degen Royale is free to play, and different skins can be accessed through the ownership of corresponding NFTs.
Gameplay
There are two game modes to choose from: team battles and free-for-all rumbles. Team battles place players in either the red or blue team, with a maximum of four members per team. These teams battle it out until one team reaches 30 kills in total. Free-for-all Rumbles, on the other hand, can have up to 100 participants fighting to be the first with 25 kills. Players can join ongoing rumbles or create new ones.
Upon joining, players receive a standard Degenerate Ape Academy skin with a large hitbox and a standard-issue weapon called a 'Hand Gun'. Degen Royale also has a set of four NFTs that can be equipped as weapons, known as Banana Blaster, Drop Bazooka, Candy Gun, and Cash Gun. Players can find and equip other weapons around the map, ranging from submachine guns to sniper rifles. These weapons feature different firing rates and damage that are not shown when looking at the weapon, requiring players to try them out and find their preferred play style.
Jump pads are an important feature of Degen Royale Island, allowing players to leap high into the air and decelerate as they reach the peak of their jump. These pads can be used to get up from the beach to the main part of the island and to reach the tops of buildings. The island has various environments, such as a cave with a lava-style environment and a beachfront with a pier building. There is also a tall building in the center of the map with four main windows, useful for asserting control over the area.
An integral part of the gameplay is the player skins, which change depending on the NFTs the player owns. This allows for a unique game experience for each player, as their hitbox and visibility differ. The game supports not just Solana NFTs but also Ethereum, with Aptos and Cardano coming soon. A full list of supported NFTs is available, so choose your skin wisely!
Review
When evaluating Degen Royale, it draws comparisons to other popular shooters like Fortnite and PUBG. The user interface is very intuitive for finding matches and connecting accounts to enable players to use different skins. The controls are similar to other shooters, making the game easy and fun to play while offering the originality of using player-owned NFTs. Currently, the game has no mobile functionality, but it allows lower-spec machines to run the game, as the graphics are not too intense.
The graphics are industry standard, but improvements could be made to hitbox issues and weapon handling. The audio in the menu section matches the game well, but in-match music and sound cues could be improved. Overall, I would rate this game 6.5 out of 10, as it is fun and easy to learn for beginners. Although there is little to prevent new players from entering a match, the game lacks a tutorial for teaching the basics.
Despite the need for improvements in audio and hitbox issues, it still proves to be a very good game with the potential to reach the levels of beloved shooters. For players familiar with multiplayer shooters, the game will feel quite similar and serve as a nice introduction to the benefits of web3 functionality within the game. However, as skins have different hitboxes, some more expensive NFTs may have an unfair advantage, such as the SMB skin being extremely difficult to hit due to its thin and small hitbox.
