When footage of Radical Heights' wacky gameplay started doing the rounds a few weeks ago, many praised developer Boss Key's interesting iteration on the Battle Royale genre. But now, only two weeks since releasing in Early Access on Steam, the game's player base has dropped by 82%.

It doesn't take an industry expert to notice that Battle Royale games are dominating video game culture right now, so it's perhaps unsurprising to see developers attempting to carve out their own space in the extremely lucrative market. Such an opportunity is perhaps needed by no company more than Boss Key, who decided to move on from their shooter LawBreakers in order to try their hand at creating a retro-themed Battle Royale.

It seems that it's precisely this rush to capitalize on the games industry's current obsession (Boss Key created Radical Heights in only 5 months) that has lead to some frustrations; many players have reported glitches and a general feeling of the game being unfinished, which may go some way to explaining how the game fell from a peak of 12,500 players on its second day to just 2,200 a few days ago.

The initial figures for Radical Heights were promising; 12,500 players was enough to eclipse LawBreakers' underwhelming performance and shoot the game up to #21 on Steam. Unfortunately, it now seems that this initial success was little more than the novelty of a new Battle Royale game for fans of the genre to try out.

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Along with the aforementioned issues with glitches, a lot of players also report feeling that Radical Heights does little to distinguish itself in an oversaturated genre. Many have attributed Fortnite's success in dethroning PUBG as the most popular Battle Royale game to its unique building mechanic and its quirky art style, offering players a distinctly different experience. Aside from an interesting economy whereby money can be banked during games to spend later on cosmetics or for better loot in subsequent games, Radical Heights is sadly lacking in any such defining feature.

However, things aren't all bad for Radical Heights. Last night, Ninja - Twitch's #1 streamer who continues to break viewership records - attracted over 108,000 viewers while playing the game. Meanwhile, fellow Twitch personality DrDisrespect hosted a popular Radical Heights stream just a few days ago. While the latest player figures certainly aren't promising, it's possible that with the continued attention from streamers, and maybe a few substantial updates, the game can grow its audience.

Radical Heights is available now for PC.

Source: githyp.com