At the time of publication of this article on May 2, the positive review rate on Steam was only 55%. Scavengers, a battle royale just released in Early Access, seems to have been the subject of controversy regarding almost everything about the game, including gameplay, cheaters, and bugs.

Scavengers combines the battle royale genres of player versus player and player versus environment, with players taking on character-based roles to survive hostile environments in order to defeat hordes of enemies or teams of three. For more on this third-person shooter genre fusion, check out our preview just before launch. There's lots of looting, lots of shooting, and lots of crafting, leveling up, point spending, and talent picking progression.

Criticism of Scavengers within the community seems to be widely directed at the sheer number of cheats, which is shocking for a game that is less than 48 hours old. In addition, the game's linear progression seems to be the main target of criticism, with players who have spent a lot of time working on better equipment overwhelming those just starting out, creating a vicious cycle in which new players are roasted by veterans. (The endgame of each match seems to be particularly damning, as players camping escape shuttles have a clear advantage over those who want to escape. In the words of one negative reviewer, "Every match is decided within the last five minutes.

Scavengers can be found on Steam and the Epic Games Store and is free to play in both Early Access and Release. If you are a prospective player, you can read our Scavengers gameplay guide and our Scavengers crafting guide.