Escape Dead Island vs TIO: Battlegrounds Royale
Escape Dead Island
Escape Dead Island is a Telltale-inspired, story-driven survival-mystery spin-off for the Dead Island franchise where the game's fans will be able to uncover the story behind the zombie outbreak through the eyes of documentary journalist Cliff Calo and fill in the gap between the first Dead Island game and the upcoming Dead Island sequel. Unlike the open world game that the franchise was defined by, this spin-off uses a comic-like style to bring the story to life. The virtual environment is also reactive to your every decision and as such, you might want to sometimes opt for a stealthier option rather than diving straight into combat, especially when the combat system - since it's not the main focus of the game and all - can be a bit boring.Escape Dead Island is very different from what you might be used to in Dead Island or Dead Island Riptide, and despite the heavy use of backtracking, the story and animation made everything worthwhile, especially if you're into this kind of stuff.
TIO: Battlegrounds Royale
TIO: Battlegrounds Royale is the standalone battle royale game mode for the mobile survival game, Thrive Island. Set in a pretty huge open world where you can craft a large variety of items and build shelters or even big buildings as a base of sorts at night. This game has a lot more "survival" gameplay rather than the somewhat intense "battle royale" fights since you are expected to gather resources and scavenge loot just so you can have the best gear to prepare you for the final fight for the title of victor royale!Unlike other battle royale games that have the iconic map-shrinking feature, this game did away with that. Instead, you need to hunt the land for your opponents, which may take awhile, but can be fun when you catch someone by surprise. Interestingly, the game even has a zombie mode where you can turn your slain foes into zombies. Not sure how this fit into the battle royale gameplay though.
All in all, TIO: Battlegrounds Royale feels a lot like a hardcore survival game rather than a battle royale mainly because it places emphasis on building a good shelter, gathering raw resources (as opposed to finding ready-made items) and well, crafting. The game is also a work-in-progress so you can expect a less-polished game that could use your feedback to improve.