When it comes to competitive FPS or hero shooters, I've played them all. FragPunk is the one I enjoy the most.

Excellent gunplay, movement, visuals and sound design. Incredibly polished experience - I have not encountered any bugs/glitches or connection issues. Well optimized - framerate is better than all other fps games I've played and the game looks miles better than all of those.

Huge variety between matches thanks to a unique shard card mechanic. Ranked matchmaking is accompanied by many great game modes, including pure fun modes like zombies in CS, 1v1, Team Deathmatch, Free for All (can also queue with pre-made group unlike other shooters) and more.


Weapon economy is implemented in the best way possible - the punishment for getting repeatedly eliminated is making the player switch to a different primary weapon. If you are doing well with your chosen weapon, the game rewards you by letting you keep it. There are no pistol rounds.

Even the longest matches never feel like a waste of time. The outcome of a Draw is decided by competing in a series of 1v1 battles which is the most interesting, engaging and fun take on resolving a close match.

Character abilities are way more impactful and interesting than a simple smoke or flash. Abilities are also refilled for free at the start of each round which means there is no excessive punishment for wasting abilities. Every character can equip one classic CS2 throwable in the place of a secondary weapon (multiple charges) so you don't have to rely on any team composition. Free swapping of your chosen character and weapon at the start of each round if you want to adjust your strategy. Some characters even have unique weapons which they have access to at all times.

Speaking of weapons - the game has all the weapons you would want, yet there is not an abundance of them. All guns feel satisfying and strong in their own way. The look and feel of all weapons is beyond my expectations thanks to incredible sound design and visuals. There are no complex spray patterns. All guns have their use, no matter what your playstyle is and they all feel well balanced.

Melee combat is the best in any FPS game I have ever played. I have collected more melee kills in FragPunk than I have in CSGO/CS2 (1000+ hours of gameplay), R6:S (almost 2000hrs) and VALORANT (a lot of time) simply because it is just so powerful and satisfying. Your melee weapon allows you to freely execute a charged forward dash and attack simultaneously, creating actual real value of having a knife that can be used strategically, not just for +5% movement speed. There is a character whose main kit revolves around going invisible and getting that knife kill.

The shard system is one of my favorite features of any competitive FPS / hero shooter. In the "main" mode, at the start of each round, both teams are allowed to choose up to three playing cards from a randomized selection. Their impact ranges from something like "-25% movement speed for enemies" to gameplay-altering cards like "your team gets a big katana that can block bullets" or "the enemy can't plant on one of the sites" or "the louder you scream into the mic, the faster you move". And there is a LOT of these cards, with more to come.

An abundance of in-game settings, letting you change everything to your preference, Including FOV, enemy highlight color, crosshair, colorblind options, vast graphics and visual settings including Ray Tracing, color filters and more. I always hated motion blur and turned it off in every game I played. FragPunk made me LOVE motion blur - the game just feels cooler, mostly because of how well it fits with the movement and presentation.
Incredible QoL features such as letting you toggle zoom levels while aiming down sights on most weapons, setting character-specific keybinds, copy + paste codes for crosshairs and so much more.


Monetization, while excessive and overwhelming, is completely optional and doesn't sacrifice competitive integrity. All playable characters can be unlocked for free, although it takes a while. I suggest testing out locked characters in the practice mode before unlocking them.

The skins are excellent, better, cheaper and with less FoMO than VALORANT,

The game just feels too good to be true. Thank you for reading my review.

[h1] A competitive shooter prioritizing fun, where the match outcome is still determined by player skill [/h1] When it comes to competitive FPS or hero shooters, I've played them all. FragPunk is the one I enjoy the most. [h3] General [/h3] Excellent gunplay, movement, visuals and sound design. [b]Incredibly polished[/b] experience - I have not encountered any bugs/glitches or connection issues. [b]Well optimized[/b] - framerate is better than all other fps games I've played and the game looks miles better than all of those. Huge variety between matches thanks to a unique shard card mechanic. Ranked matchmaking is accompanied by many great [b]game modes[/b], including pure fun modes like zombies in CS, 1v1, Team Deathmatch, Free for All (can also queue with pre-made group unlike other shooters) and more. [h3] Gameplay [/h3] Weapon [b]economy[/b] is implemented in the best way possible - the punishment for getting repeatedly eliminated is making the player switch to a different primary weapon. If you are doing well with your chosen weapon, the game rewards you by letting you keep it. There are no pistol rounds. Even the longest matches never feel like a waste of time. The outcome of a Draw is decided by competing in a series of 1v1 battles which is the most interesting, engaging and fun take on resolving a close match. [b]Character abilities[/b] are way more impactful and interesting than a simple smoke or flash. Abilities are also refilled for free at the start of each round which means there is no excessive punishment for wasting abilities. Every character can equip one classic CS2 throwable in the place of a secondary weapon (multiple charges) so you don't have to rely on any team composition. [b]Free swapping[/b] of your chosen character and weapon at the start of each round if you want to adjust your strategy. Some characters even have unique weapons which they have access to at all times. Speaking of [b]weapons[/b] - the game has all the weapons you would want, yet there is not an abundance of them. All guns feel satisfying and strong in their own way. The look and feel of all weapons is beyond my expectations thanks to incredible sound design and visuals. There are no complex spray patterns. All guns have their use, no matter what your playstyle is and they all feel well balanced. [b]Melee combat[/b] is the best in any FPS game I have ever played. I have collected more melee kills in FragPunk than I have in [b]CSGO/CS2 (1000+ hours of gameplay), R6:S (almost 2000hrs) and VALORANT (a lot of time)[/b] simply because it is just so powerful and satisfying. Your melee weapon allows you to freely execute a charged [i]forward dash[/i] and attack simultaneously, creating actual real value of having a knife that can be used strategically, not just for +5% movement speed. There is a character whose main kit revolves around going invisible and getting that knife kill. The [b]shard system[/b] is one of my favorite features of any competitive FPS / hero shooter. In the "main" mode, at the start of each round, both teams are allowed to choose up to three playing cards from a randomized selection. Their impact ranges from something like "-25% movement speed for enemies" to gameplay-altering cards like "your team gets a big katana that can block bullets" or "the enemy can't plant on one of the sites" or "the louder you scream into the mic, the faster you move". And there is a LOT of these cards, with more to come. [h3] Quality of Life [/h3] An abundance of in-game settings, letting you change everything to your preference, Including FOV, enemy highlight color, crosshair, colorblind options, vast graphics and visual settings including Ray Tracing, color filters and more. I always hated motion blur and turned it off in every game I played. FragPunk made me LOVE motion blur - the game just feels cooler, mostly because of how well it fits with the movement and presentation. Incredible QoL features such as letting you toggle zoom levels while aiming down sights on most weapons, setting character-specific keybinds, copy + paste codes for crosshairs and so much more. [h3] Monetization [/h3] Monetization, while excessive and overwhelming, is completely optional and doesn't sacrifice competitive integrity. All playable characters can be unlocked for free, although it takes a while. I suggest testing out locked characters in the practice mode before unlocking them. The skins are excellent, better, cheaper and with less FoMO than VALORANT, [h2] There has not been a release this good within the genre for years. [/h2] The game just feels too good to be true. Thank you for reading my review.