Battle Pass

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

When four students are hired to beta test a unique game, they discover they are in for much more than expected. The game looks real, feels real, and soon they find that even death in this game is real. The more they explore, the more they discover a hidden motive for the game. But, to collect a decade's worth of pay and escape, they must play it to the bitter end.

Through April I'll only be able to add a chapter a week of about 1500 words. Will pick up volume and frequency in May.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: ReyBatty

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 48
Views: 20,487

Chapters(54 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(3)

Brian BloseRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I can't believe I'm the first reviewer of Battle Pass. This story is very good and deserves a lot more attention than it has received so far.
Style
This is a quintessential LitRPG about entering a game. If you are one of the many people who enjoy that genre, this is the story for you. It is reasonably fast paced and has a good balance of action, reflection, and strategy.
Story
The team takes a government contract to beta test a game for a few months in exchange for half a million dollars on completion. If that deal sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. The stakes are high -- death in there is game over for real. They need to figure out the game mechanics as fast as possible if they want to survive.
They are getting classes, selecting skills, and trying their best to do some meta-gaming of the system. They also have different perspectives on game play styles owing to their particular gaming backgrounds (first person shooters, MMORPG's, and so on). It's an open question why the game exists or who actually made it.
Grammar
The writing is professional quality.
Character
Our main character is still coming to terms with the fact that death in the game is real, so she tends to hesitate a lot (understandably so) and occasionally freezes. This is contrasted with one of the guys in her party who charges into danger with ridiculous levels of confidence. I'm not sure how long that guy is going to last, honestly. The two other players no the team haven't been fleshed out very much yet. And everyone else in the game is a stereotypical NPC.
I don't feel like any of these characters are particularly deep, but this story is very much about the action and the plot. Spending too much time on character arcs would detract from the things the story does best. So while I didn't give a full five stars in this category, I think the overall story is ultimately better served by not putting more focus on this aspect.
Camadt (Alex Hancock)Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall 5/5
This is a great mashup of multiple types of games into a LitRPG system. The characters all have very distinct personalities and goals that don’t always align with the rest of the group. The story progresses at an easy pace to follow, making for a very binge-able read!
Character 5/5
Victoria, the MC, is a college student who predominantly plays MMO type games. She’s joined with Slade, the typical (or maybe not?) jock who prefers looter-shooters. Emma, the quiet girl, who plays mystery and clue type games and Max, the sword-carrying expert of the builder-type genre, round out their team. This four-man group has a background in multiple types of games and they each bring their own experiences with the games to bear in their quest for survival.
Grammar 5/5
No complaints here.
Story 5/5
Four college student walk into a death-game. Sounds like the start of a joke, but none of them are laughing. This is a high-stakes game where death is a very real possibility. The typical LitRPG blue-boxes and loot are present as are skills and monsters.
Style 5/5
One thing that ReyBatty does an amazing job of is conveying the danger that the group is in. This is a game type world, or so the characters have been told, but ReyBatty continues to drop hints with how things are described and shown that constantly having me questioning if that is the truth. This ability to have the reader wonder about the truth of the environment like it’s a mystery to unfold was a great selling point that sucked me in.
Snow.PixieRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story has a promise of something unusual to come - more than just walking around playing a game. Can't wait to find out! The language of the author caught my attention - dynamic as suited for the type of the story, yet complex enough to give off the vibe of a story of a higher intellectual plane.