Last Man Standing vs Rend
Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing is a battle royale game that is similar to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) in many ways, including graphically and gameplay-wise, but you often have to remind yourself that being a free-to-play version, this game does have its own set of flaws. For starters, although the map in this game is as vast as PUBG's, there are no vehicles in Last Man Standing, forcing you to travel large distances on foot. There isn't any bullet tracers or obvious muzzle flashes in this game either so it can be quite difficult for you to pin-point from where you are being shot at.Some players also report having frame rate drops which may indicate poor game optimization and well, since there isn't any anti-cheat in the game, you will have to content with having some cheaters in the game (still less than 50% of the time though). Matchmaking takes quite some time as well since the player base in this game is obviously a lot less than PUBG or even Fortnite Battle Royale.
That said, the game has some redeeming qualities aside from being free-to-play, such as having a fun and sometimes intense and competitive gameplay; insanely in-depth character customizations where you can earn more outfits and clothes by playing; a nice arsenal of weapons that you can find and use, including the very useful riot shield-like barriers; multiple game modes (solo, duo and team-based), and more.
So, Last Man Standing is a pretty decent alternative - the free-to-play sort - if you're looking to play a game that's more similar to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds rather than the more cartoonish-looking Fortnite Battle Royale. Granted that this game isn't at all perfect and that apparently the devs won't be patching this game up anytime soon, this is the best you'll probably get!
Rend
Rend is an up-and-coming, Nordic-themed, team-based survival game that is set in a wild and ruthless, fantasy world filled with fantastic creatures, where only the strongest are able to ascend to the realms of the gods. In this game, players are separated into their respective factions at the beginning. They are then given the freedom to explore the many biomes and harvest resources from the environment whether solo or co-operatively. The resources obtained can then be used to craft better weapons and tools or can be reinvested into the faction stronghold to fortify it from potential attacks from players from a rival faction and to advance your base just so you can unlock new technologies. Players have their own skill systems and talent trees as well, and these are the main ways for a player to customize and tweak their characters to their liking.The ultimate goal of the game, however, is to reap as many warrior spirits as you can by battling and defeating rival players and deposit the souls at the Divinity Stone in the middle of your faction base, that is if you're not slain while carrying such precious loot. Somewhat similar to grand strategy games, Rend is more of a continual game. It has game cycles of 2 to 3 months, in which the winning faction of each cycle will get a nice pile of rewards at the end of a cycle.
Rend has a really unique take on the survival genre and this might just give the game the fuel it needs to rise to the top. The game is currently in Alpha and its release date is still TBD.