The Question

The early-access premiere of BattleBit took us all by surprise. Three independent developers took the gauntlet and threw it down to DICE. Its low requirements, massive scale and most importantly AAA-worth gameplay hooked more than 85 thousand concurrent players on Steam back in June of 2023. What is the state of the game now, over a year later, and is it worth playing it right now - in the fall of 2024?

BattleWhat?

If you have already played the game you can probably skip this section.

What comes out if you mix minecraftish graphics with Battlefields gameplay and scale? That's BattleBit Remastered. This online shooter involves almost anything the big war series would have, even more in some cases. A lot of weapons? Check. Enormous battlefields? Check. Infantry? Check. Land, water and air vehicles? Check. When talking about the latter, BattleBit lacks only jets compared to Battlefield, but I guess that for some - like myself - it's not a huge disadvantage. Let's focus on those things one by one.

Who, where and when?

The game is set in modern times and revolves around a fictional conflict between the United States and Russia. From 64 up to even 254 players can participate in battles on 22 maps, ranging from 0.5x0.5km to 2x2 km. These maps are diverse, including deserts, forests, urban, industrial, and tropical environments. Some have huge spaces, some are more narrow and claustrophobic. Players can enter buildings, bunkers, and sometimes even underground parts like subway tunnels.

Gameplay

BattleBit is class-based. There are five of them: Assault, Medic, Engineer, Support and Recon. Each class is played a bit differently and has its own responsibilities on the battlefield. Assault class will be best if you like being at the front, storming opponents' positions, and eliminating enemy forces. If you rather help your teammates then Support or Medic are roles for you. With Support, you will circle between your friend's positions providing them with ammunition, suppressing fire or constructing covers. Medics will also be running around, healing their colleagues, reviving the fallen ones and distributing Medic Kits. Last but not least, the Recon class. This one's role is to take enemies from afar using sniper rifles and, as the name suggests, to do reconnaissance. For that, Recon can use a drone to find enemies and where they are going.

Weapons and other equipment

BattleBit consists of around 50 different weapons. Players can shoot with various pistols, carbines, rifles and machine guns. All of them have their feeling, stats and can be customized with a set of modifications i.e. different grips, magazines, rail attachments, and sights. Besides weapons, there are other stuff like grenades, mines, hammers, and binoculars. There is even a drone and a lure device that imitates the glint of a sniper rifle. Uniforms can also be customized, to either blend with the environment or the opposite - to stand out. Players unlock weapons and other equipment by gaining levels and getting kills with particular weapons.

Vehicles

As the old saying from Vvardenfell says, "Why walk, when you can ride?". In BattleBit Remastered you can ride, fly or swim. There are tanks, armoured transporters, quads, helicopters and boats. Some have seats with weapons, some are used only for transporting others.

Game modes

The game has 17 different game modes, with six major ones. The main game mode is Conquest, where players are taking control of a bunch of flag points. There is another mode with only transport vehicles, another with none at all. BattleBit has also TDM, FFA, Sandbox and a few others. Average time of a single game is around 30 minutes.

Communication

Still in all of them, we are fighting with and against other players. Doing so, the player can use all of the equipment described above, but there is one more, crucial thing. Communication. The player can try playing alone, but to get the best results and win, one should coordinate actions with the squad. There are 3 different built-in voice chats for communication to make the cooperation easier. Local – radius based, allows everyone around the player, including enemies, to hear. Squad chat allows to talk to your squad mates, basically it works like radio. Only members of your squad can hear you. Last one is reserved only for squad leaders, allowing them to easier command his troops.

And others

In a fight, the player can use all of the equipment mentioned above. Besides that, one can also use the environment to own advantage. Many walls and other elements are destructible, some buildings can collapse. Players can also construct covers, which also can be destroyed. While shooting, the player can lean sideways, crouch and lay down. Guns have multiple sights, that you can easily toggle to adjust to the situation and distance. Large maps are conducive to flanking.

Why should I play?

Finally, the most important. You can put a lot into your game, but everything has to work fine together, it has to be done well, without cutting corners (Starfield, I am looking at you). Fortunately, BattleBit happens to do that. The tempo, the feeling of weapons, scale, destruction, gadgets... it all works really well. If you have played any Battlefield before you will feel just at home. Walls are crumbling, and tanks are shooting over your heads. If CoD is your game, I guess the smaller, more narrow maps will suit you and you will find shooting very joyful. What adds to the experience is the voice chat. You can use the local voice chat to speak (or shout) to any player, both friendly and not, in a radius of a few meters. This can lead to very climatic situations like shouts boosting the morale of brothers in arms, crying for help or cursing the opponent, when a soldier is shot down. It does not matter if you play Assault class or Recon, or simply revive fellow soldiers, you will have fun. Highly useful on larger maps or more islands-centric. And of course, you can hunt helicopters with tanks! Shortly and simply, it is just a good and fun game.

Another argument is the requirements. BattleBit has them really low, so you will be able to play it on older devices, even ones with integrated graphics, with stable FPS. New installments of AAA series like Battlefield or Call of Duty of course have better graphics but this is also what limits those games.

Because of how the game looks, BattleBit can utilize computer resources to allow more people in a single match. E.g. Battlefield had a maximum of 128 players in a single match with the newest "Battlefield 2042" and it is already confirmed that the next BF game will go back to only 64. Call of Duty's highest player count in a single game was at Warzone with 150. That's still a hundred less than what BattleBit allows. ARMA 3 also has a max of 150 players. Other titles like Hell Let Loose, Squad 44 or Enlisted maxes with 100. Compared to those, BattleBit's number of 254 players is quite unique.

The game is still in early access. It still has its issues, and some things to improve. But it is also cheaper to buy now than other, fully released titles and cheaper than it will be after the main release. For some time now developers have been working on a bigger update, but at the expanse of smaller updates so it seems like the game is a bit stagnating currently. Huge updates may attract many new players, so it may be a good time to join now, to have the experience and equipment advantage.

Summary

Answering the question asked in the title, I think yes, it is worth playing BattleBit Remastered in 2024. The game has been already out for some time, it has its player base and community. Its scale is unique, seeing so many players at once fighting, hearing their shouts and cries is an amazing experience. The game is still in development, so there is more to come and it already feels like a complete product. Because it is playable on less performant devices, it is also open to more people. Moreover, what I think is most important, BattleBit is simply a good and fun game. 15$ ain't much for a game that one can spend hundreds of hours in.

See you on the battlefield!