SUPERVIVE is a top-down MOBA battle royale that features a sprawling battlefield full of objectives. Read on to learn everything we know, our review of the demo, and more.
Everything We Know About SUPERVIVE
SUPERVIVE Plot
The world is in chaos, with Hunters—powerful fighters—locked in brutal battles against each other. High above a shattered land, survival is uncertain, and as the skies crumble, only the strongest will survive.
Unfortunately, the demo still did not expand on the game’s lore beyond its premise, so not much information is available. The development team is currently focusing on its gameplay elements, so updates to its story might not come within the foreseeable future.
SUPERVIVE Gameplay
SUPERVIVE is a cooperative MOBA Battle Royale with a large, sprawling map, numerous interactable features, creep camps, boss fights, and various character builds and specializations. Players drop with their teams on select areas of a map to fight static enemies and other players until only one team stands.
SUPERVIVE Release Date
No official release date for SUPERVIVE’s full release is yet available. However, the game is holding an open playtest over the course of Steam Next Fest. All interested players can dive into the game by downloading the demo on its Steam Store page.
SUPERVIVE Review [Steam Next Fest Demo]
With Hopes of Great Promise
A few months ago, we had the chance to play SUPERVIVE on its Western servers, and it was a wild experience. I wasn’t exactly used to the WASD controls after spending nearly four thousand hours on Eternal Return, and even now, playing on the new Eastern servers with the players who can casually boast 500-600 APM on a normal Tuesday morning, I still catch myself right-clicking to move. Old habits truly do die hard.
Anyway, back then, the game was already definitely in a playable state. Although it lacked some polish, especially in the audiovisual department, many of its core mechanics were already functional and gave SUPERVIVE a distinct identity compared to other battle royales.
Now, nearly three months later, SUPERVIVE is back, but this time they’re opening the doors to a much bigger audience—everyone. Fortunately, it seems like the developers have come prepared for the larger spotlight, addressing many of the earlier issues and polishing the game for its wider release.
Fights Remain a Source of Joy
While having your basic attacks act like skillshots in SUPERVIVE does pull some of your attention away from the broader fight, the fact that you can team up with up to four heroes allows for a strong sense of teamwork. You can cover for each other's weaknesses, even in the chaos of a melee brawl, ensuring that the burden isn’t entirely on one person to manage everything.
The game's static creep camps are no joke, either. They’re not just there for free farming. Some creeps can deal serious damage, particularly to fragile backline heroes who stray too close for some reason. Plus, creeps actually have skills instead of simply just inflicting emotional damage upon its aggressors. This adds a layer of difficulty to farming for experience, making it a more dangerous task when you consider that this game isn't single player.
The real excitement, of course, comes from battles between two or more teams. The chaos of these encounters is intensified by the fact that almost every skill and even basic attacks are skillshots. That is, you can dodge most attacks. This transforms the game into a sort of bullet hell (Touhou players rise up), where positioning and timing become just as crucial as raw power. The need to constantly move and evade adds a frenetic pace to the game, rewarding players who can stay calm under fire and make the most of every opportunity.
Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s very fun.
Objectives Keep You on Your Toes
Unlike other moba battle royales where your objectives are mostly limited to creeps, items, and cameras, SUPERVIVE offers a much broader range of targets. The game features a variety of goals scattered across the map, such as static creep camps, vaults, and bosses. This creates a richer dynamic where players can engage with the game's various landmarks and features throughout the match.
You and your team are free to pursue these objectives to gain valuable rewards. But, you must tread carefully, as enemy teams are equally able to target the same goals. Tackling objectives that take longer to complete comes with significant risk. Teams can easily be ambushed mid-task, or worse, opponents can swoop in right after you've done all the heavy lifting, picking you off when you're weakened, with health drained and skills on cooldown.
That said, you can’t simply avoid objectives in SUPERVIVE. They’re essential to success, so, like it or not, you’ll have to engage with them if you want to stand a chance. While these decisions are strategic and natural within the gameplay, the risk-reward factor adds a layer of tension to every objective attempt. Just be cautious—the map is dark, and even if you’re the hunter, there’s always someone out there ready to make you their prey.
The Map Might Be Too Big
If there’s one thing I’d want to see changed in SUPERVIVE, it’s the map size. Honestly, it’s just too big (I'm tempted to make a joke here). Player engagements are few and far between, especially when teams land in areas where no one else does. The results are matches that can stretch out over 15-30 minutes, yet only feel like 5-15 minutes of actual gameplay was done because of the long stretches of downtime.
In comparison, Apex Legends and Fortnite, despite their notorious downtime, don't suffer as much from this issue thanks to their vantage points and long-ranged weapons, which help keep players engaged even across large distances. For an even closer comparison, Eternal Return, a MOBA battle royale like SUPERVIVE, manages to maintain a constant state of tension because of its smaller map. With tighter spaces, fewer areas, and various teleportation sites, players are constantly on edge, knowing that a fight could break out at any moment due to the proximity of enemies.
In SUPERVIVE, however, the gigantic size of the map means that even the game’s advertised high-risk objectives, which should theoretically lead to intense fights, are often left uncontested. And when players do want to challenge for these objectives, they’re often too far away to even reach them in time unless they happen to be a hop, skip, and a glide away. This undermines the risk-reward dynamic that’s supposed to make the game exciting and results in a slower, less action-packed experience.
Other Minor Nitpicks
Like most instanced games, SUPERVIVE starts you off at the main menu. Here, you can shop for cosmetics, unlock heroes, customize your profile, edit your loadout, and do various prep work before heading into battle. Since you’ll spend most of your time outside matches navigating this menu, it needs to offer a sense of excitement and engagement. You should enjoy your time there almost just as much as in the game itself. Unfortunately, SUPERVIVE falls short in this regard.
First off, the background music is far from memorable. Even with the volume cranked up to its highest setting, it’s barely noticeable, making the experience feel lifeless. Beyond the figure of your main hero standing on screen, there’s also a severe lack of flavor or energy in the menu design, which dampens the overall experience between matches. Considering that the characters already have limited voice acting, it would be a great addition to the experience if your hero also made idle talk on the menu.
Another frustrating aspect is the game’s map. While there’s a handy minimap in the corner of your screen, there are moments when you’ll need to open the full map to get your bearings. The problem is, opening the full map covers the entire field of view, drastically limiting your ability to respond quickly to changes in the game. A simple fix would be to introduce a semi-translucent version of the map that appears to the side when the map key is pressed, allowing players to maintain situational awareness.
Then there’s the onboarding process, which could definitely use some work. The tutorial is divided into three parts: a short course on basic controls, a set of clips showcasing core mechanics, and a bot match for practice. While the first and third parts are functional and effective, the second part, consisting of those clips, leaves a lot to be desired.
The clips do a poor job of teaching you how to apply what they show. For example, they fail to explain how to use sound cues from objectives to understand what’s happening around you, or how to manage the game’s various resources. They barely scratch the surface, offering only brief glimpses of mechanics without diving into how they function in actual gameplay. As a result, you're left with gaps in your knowledge, needing to figure out key aspects on your own.
SUPERVIVE has a lot of potential, but these design flaws hold back what could be a much more enjoyable experience.
It's Looking Great So Far
Despite my complaints, SUPERVIVE is shaping up to be an exciting and competitive newcomer in the world of MOBA battle royales. However, in its current state, I’d say it’s only halfway to truly standing alongside some of the more established and polished titles. That said, the developers are very active and engaged with the community, which gives me confidence about the game's future, at least for the next few months.
This is definitely a game worth keeping an eye on, so consider adding it to your wishlist on Steam!
Game8 Reviews
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SUPERVIVE Product Information
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|
| Title | SUPERVIVE |
|---|---|
| Release Date | TBA |
| Developer | Theorycraft Games |
| Publisher | Theorycraft Games, NetEase Games, Nexon |
| Supported Platforms | PC |
| Genre | MOBA, Battle Royale |
| Number of Players | 2-4 |
| ESRB Rating | TBA |
| Official Website | SUPERVIVE Website |
