RumbleVerse season 1: Tips for the brand-new player

Adam Boyes was just being javelin-tackled at the skyscraper’s top floors when I found him on Zoom. “I’m starting my Monday right,” the Iron Galaxy co-founder said.

“Do you know who tackled you?” I asked. RumbleVerse, Iron Galaxy’s Aug. 12 launch was a melee-based battle royale. This means that there is no way for new players to be confused by headshots taken from all over the map. But it’s still a pro wrestling-themed brawler, which makes for plenty of did-someone-get-his-license-plate powerbombs and blindside hits.

“I don’t, but sometimes I do take note of people’s names, just to make they’re not a co-worker,” Boyes said, “who I have to give a talking-to.”

RumbleVerse’s first season got underway on Thursday, when everyone in the free-to-play game got started on its initial battle pass of cosmetics and other content offerings. But, since everyone in the game is new to the game, I figured it’d be good to get a to-do list of what to do first in RumbleVerseFrom the boss. Here’s what Boyes told me:

Image: Iron Galaxy/Epic Games

Playground Mode

“And turn off combat,” Boyes reminds, so folks aren’t suplexing you while you explore the map and maybe get the hang of the move set. Playground Mode also has several tutorial boxes for players to (easily) discover, which provide tips for how the game’s combat systems, builds, and power-ups work.

Boyes explained that playground mode is an essential part of onboarding. Indirectly, this was why Iron Galaxy pulled out from plans to have an early-access launch. “There was a lot of feedback that we were seeing as we were thinking about [a delay],” Boyes said, even though the studio was “pretty confident that we could launch the solo mode” in early access.

“But I think a lot of players just want more than that,” he said, and the feedback Iron Galaxy was getting this winter confirmed it. Many players wanted a sandbox to play the game after a December test.

“We felt pretty strongly that the Playground Mode, the Duos mode would come at launch, and those will hopefully make people happy to try out new things there,” Boyes said.

Image: Iron Galaxy/Epic Games

Find out where the POIs can be found

It’s like a battle royale RumbleVerse’s combatants fling themselves into Grapital City and descend to a landing spot from above. “The taller the area, usually the sweatier it is,” Boyes said, meaning more players and more action.

RumbleVerse Skyscrapers provide a natural honeypot for lootables and verticality, which is something that Battle Royale prides itself in. “If you’re dropping in, and you want your match time to be very short, go to a tall area where all the gold crates are, and please enjoy,” Boyes chortled. “What I recommend for newer players is: Go watch where people are jumping in and dropping in.”

Always Be Looting

RumbleVerseThere is good news as well as bad news. Stat Pods can be used to rebuild your build. This includes power, health and stamina. This is similar to how players would hunt down and use weapons in traditional battle royale.

It also means players can’t lean on a particular playing style too hard, because they may smash open Stat Pods that don’t necessarily match it. Boyes advised that players should be familiar with the locations of loot in Playground Mode so they can make a run for it in real life. Don’t forget to look for Special Moves, too. They’re lootables, like Stat Pods, and equip extra attacks on the bumper buttons, like the Javelin Tackle that bagged Boyes earlier this week.

Grab some Chicken

Squatch Chicken is the Home of Slow-Squatted Chicken. Healthy chicken is good for you RumbleVerse, A large chicken can be used for 2 heals and a regular drumstick for 1. Players can put chicken in their inventory and use it when they’re in trouble; it isn’t consumed as soon as they pick it up.

Image: Iron Galaxy/Epic Games

Later, you can make weapons and throwables.

RumbleVerseIt is possible to turn almost any object into a weapon. Boyes advised that beginners get used to the basics of melee before they start to improvise attacks using folding chairs or throwing objects. This brings in an aiming system.

“I think I saw through [last] weekend, as it progresses, more and more people were using weapons,” Boyes said, indicating new players are working up to that tactic after getting other basics down first.

“We’ve had to do a hot fix to fix a combat exploit where people take a street sign, and it does quadruple damage, and they were destroying five people,” Boyes said. “I would see piles of KOs and I was thinking ‘I think that may be bug-related.’” So weapons might be the most volatile component of RumbleVerse’s early ecosystem.

Finally, “just have fun,” Boyes said. “I mean, enjoy the world. You’re gonna get beat a lot, you’re gonna get hit a lot. We’ve tried to build something where, sometimes, it’s as fun to get defeated as it is to knock someone off the building.”

RumbleVerse Available now as a Free-to-Play Game on PlayStation 4 and 5, Windows PCs, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One.