Avoid this embarassment like the plague
THE EXPLOSIVE proliferation of the Battle Royale genre has begot such a myriad of titles that it almost – from a critic’s perspective – feels cheap to liken new entries to the progenitor of the category PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Unfortunately, in the case of The Culling 2, the likeness is so uncanny that avoiding the comparison is nigh-impossible.
They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but this adage does not ring true in any way with the latest offering from Xaviant Games.
The Culling 2 is such a poor facsimile of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds that it makes the latter look like an actual finished video game – not the disguised early-access botch-job that it currently is.
Besides the absolutely appalling design choices and the laughably bad gameplay mechanics, The Culling 2 falls down at the very first hurdle faced by Battle Royale games – there are no players whatsoever. Time spent in this game will mostly be in the lobby as you wait embarassing lengths of time for the paltry 50-person game to fill up. Eventually, if you are lucky, about quarter of the players will join and the game will simply give up and begin counting down the clock to the match start. In a radical and bold departure from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, The Culling 2 has you start the game in a helicopter instead of a plane – I know, I know – perhaps I’ve been too harsh in the criticisms I’ve leveled against a title that clearly deserves nothing but admiration for its originality.
Of the handful of matches I played in The Culling 2, less than a quarter of them I even encountered more than a single player. The map is absolutely and needlessly gargantuan, suggesting a player count of 100+ and not the 50 it was apparently designed for. Even if you do encounter another player, be prepared for some of the most imprecise, unsatisfying and frustrating gunplay you will ever encounter. Recoil patterns are wholly unpredictably, making any engagement beyond close quarters a tense and unrewarding affair.
Unless you actively seek out games that sap your will to live, The Culling 2 should be avoided like the plague. An embarassing but predictable bandwagon-jumper in the age of Battle Royales.