You see something move in the distance. Is it an enemy, a friend or is the map still rendering? You hear branches snap and boots hit the ground. All around the tension is building. You check your stores; with low ammo and only a frying pan to protect yourself, you lie down and wait. The bushes shield you from other players as they walk past you. Unbeknownst to them you spring from your hiding spot and dash them across the head with the pan, their body disappearing before you, leaving only a crate of loot and a “winner winner chicken dinner!” for you.

This is just an average PUBG experience where real-life management and gunplay create an atmosphere so thick with tension you need a knife to cut it. In contrast, Fortnite is graphically appealing, but that’s all it is: all flash, no substance. Fortnite has continually introduced new gimmicky mechanics such as rocket riding and guided missiles, and while yes, these can be fun, they lessen the skill required to play the game. PUBG on the other hand is what a battle royale game should be. It makes you think and improvise with mechanics so realistic that you feel like a tribute in the “Hunger Games.”

Every move you make in PUBG generates sound, forcing you to pay attention to the slightest footstep or door opening. Tension and apprehension are what make PUBG the true winner of battle royale games over Fortnite. If you’re stuck in a house and you know you’re surrounded by a squad, what do you do? Hole up
inside the house and Home Alone your attackers or risk breaking the window and making a run towards the attackers’ empty vehicles? These decisions root you in the game, while in Fortnite you would just have to build your way out. Where is the strategy in that, the nuance, the tension? Granted, there might be some skill in fort-building mechanics, but it is a gimmicky mechanic that replaces tension with a flashy distraction to real gameplay.

Fortnite exists purely as a cheap knock off of PUBG, replacing the intricacy of PUBG with meaningless emotes and skins while continually adding new features with no regard to keeping the game balanced. Fortnite is justifiably a cultural phenomenon, but its child-like gimmicks and gameplay don’t deserve a direct comparison to PUBG. Nothing compares to the blood-pumping, heart-stopping, sweat-dripping, controller-clenching experience that is PUBG.