CRSED F.O.A.D.

Game overview

CRSED is a grotesque battle royale online shooter that lets you play as one of eight unique hero characters, and each one will offer a different combat style thanks to their skills.

Unlike most generic battle royale games, CRSED has littered its maps with ritual sites offering mythical superpowers and magic abilities (that of course bring advantages to the players who use them), alongside traditional weaponry and... yes, the frying pan.

There's plenty of progression with skill trees for your characters, new seasonal content to keep things fresh, and a cosmetic shop to dress them up when you want to look fancy.

CRSED offers the familiar battle royale gameplay experience with a much-appreciated touch of humour.

➔ Main points:

• Free to play battle royale shooter that feels familiar
• Eight character heroes to choose each with unique skills and progression system
• Plenty of authentic weapons mixed with funny cooking utensils and magic spells
• Decent player base with a steady stream of new content

Full review

CRSED: F.O.A.D. is a free to play battle royale game that was once known as Cuisine Royale. It was born as a "joke" by Gaijin, an April's Fool Day parody of the ultra-serious Enlisted (from the same company).
The problem is, that gamers loved Cuisine Royale, and so it became something serious. Yeah. For real.
The acronym stands for Cuisine Royale Second Edition: Fulfillment of All Desires.

CRSED has undergone some major changes, like the addition of mythical superpowers that go hand in hand with the existing arsenal of familiar weapons. This blend creates a pretty fun and unique battle royale gameplay experience for both veterans and newcomers alike.
CRSED offers plenty of game modes like Solo play, Duo play, Squad play and practice mode.

With servers in four regions spread across the world, the game has seen a rise in player numbers to provide healthy competition across the CRSED's many maps, most of them new inclusions.

Remastering the Mechanics

Bullets and magic is a good mix.

While CRSED is most definitely a battle royale due to its rules of dropping you into a map and fighting to be the last player standing, several major gameplay mechanics has changed.
For starters, you no longer enter games as a nobody. CRSED gives you a choice of eight pre-made characters, each with unique backstories, combat skills and their own progression trees that reward new skills the more headway you make.
These characters offer plenty of customization in terms of how you approach each match, and they can be dressed up with new outfits and skins from the shop.

As for the actual matches, veteran players wouldn't skip a beat here. Your character still drops into maps and is given a short grace period, after which it's time to loot gear and hunt your opponents, all the while minding the timer that notifies you when it's time for the map to get smaller.
CRSED honors this familiarity, but has added its own unique spin by introducing magic.
Your characters can seek out blood rituals and other forms of superpowers in matches to give players an edge in battle and they do enhance the combat gameplay experience.
These mystic powers are also arguably more powerful than any traditional weapon or utensil in-game, so that's something to keep in mind.

From Parody to Real Deal

Hero characters adds flavor and more progression than before.

Before CRSED, what made Cuisine Royale incredibly unique was how it parodied the battle royale genre, and unfortunately most of that care-free attitude is now gone.
Today, the game keeps some of the funnier elements like kitchen utensils for weapons, but there's a serious tone to it which does add to the competitiveness in matches.

Needless to say, you'll be kept quite busy in CRSED because there's a ton of work to do if you want to level up each character casually. Playing matches and winning them does reward you with currency that can be spent to rank up your heroes and obtain new skills.
Moreover, CRSED keeps things fresh by introducing new seasonal content and battle passes, which offers more skins and other benefits by ranking up your experience points.

Free versus Premium

Players can absolutely play CRSED for free without spending any money. At the very beginning, you are given a coupe of characters for free.
The rest can be unlocked over time by accruing match currency, or you can spend real money to unlock all of them if you'd rather not grind.
The more premium side of the game does give you plenty in return for splashing the cash. These benefits include instant character rank unlocks, increased XP gains from battles and more cosmetics.

Final Thoughts

Is CRSED worth playing? While many will undoubtedly miss Cuisine Royale, CRSED is essentially the same game at its core but with more layers of gameplay on offer thanks to new mystical powers in battle and the ever growing arsenal of realistic weapons to complement superpowers.
It's still free to play with an optional premium, and now players have long term goals to achieve as the characters you play as will have to undergo lengthy progression unlocks in order to receive their full skills in battle.

Overall, CRSED is a solid battle royale game that's good fun to jump into be it for some competitive gameplay or just for laughs.