Why it matters: Battle royale is arguably the trendiest gameplay mode around with several established franchises including Battlefield and Call of Duty set to implement it in upcoming releases. It stands to reason that if new games can benefit from the mode, why can't older favorites as well?
That's the thinking behind a new mod for Doom II called Doom Royale (with Cheese).
In its current state, the mod is more of a proof of concept than a final product, developer Retrodex Gaming admits. So far, they've managed to stitch together three levels from E1 and create a shrinking play area complete with random weapon and item spawns. They've hit a hiccup in trying to get more than 32 bots into the map but that may be a RAM limitation, we're told.
This, of course, got me thinking. With a little time and effort, what other classics could be made to fit the mold of battle royale?
GoldenEye 007 was a favorite of mine as a teen and seems like a perfect candidate for battle royale mayhem but why limit it to traditional first-person shooters? Imagine a 64-player Twisted Metal, Destruction Derby or Mario Kart battle match on a massive map. What would a sports game - say football or hockey - look like if every character was controlled by a human? Chaos, probably, but if you could organize people who knew how to play each position effectively, it could be immensely fun. How about something like Left 4 Dead with loads of player-controlled zombies?
With the prevalence of online play, the possibilities for large-scale gameplay in older titles are truly endless. What games would you like to see adopt modern last man standing modes?