FragPunk needs to ditch this feature from Fortnite and Marvel Rivals ASAP

FragPunk is off to a great start, with the free-to-play hero shooter smashing its launch day player count on Steam. However, while it does a lot to distinguish itself from competitors like Valorant and Overwatch 2, one glaring issue is holding it back. 

FragPunk isn’t the first F2P game to feature bot lobbies — both Fortnite and Marvel Rivals include these computer-controlled competitors. In fact, Marvel Rivals famously made headlines last year when players quickly realized that the hero shooter would throw them into bot games following a losing streak. 

The idea of easing human players into a controlled environment where they can obliterate AI-controlled opponents sounds like a good idea on paper, but this clean and overly sanitized environment is rarely indicative of real PvP experiences. 

FragPunk bots need to go

Sure, you may lose a bunch of games, and yes, you’ll get steamrolled by that pro Kismet kid who is roided up on a concoction of Monster Energy and Red Bull, but that’s ultimately what competitive multiplayer games are all about. 

PvP matches are chaotic, frustrating, messy, and, well, they’re just great fun. There’s something incredibly humbling about melting people in casual matches, thinking you’re the next FaZe clan star, only to get absolutely bodied in ranked and left to ponder whether you were just a little too quick to sign up for that local esports tournament. 

Jokes aside, like all PvP shooters, FragPunk rewards those who put in the effort to learn its cast of colorful characters and use the best Shard Cards. Spend some time walking around each map, take note of the major choke points, and spend a little time honing your aim (the only good thing bots are for). 

Netease

FragPunk bot lobbies are the worst part of the game.

If you do this, you’ll quite literally level up your FPS skills. Playing against real players will also help prepare you for those adrenaline-fueled matches and, hopefully, get you achieving those high kill-count lobbies. 

Running back-to-back matches against bots that appear to have had one too many at their local bar is comical but not exactly fun. Hell, some FragPunk players have even reported that bots are getting stuck in corners of the map – maybe they haven’t updated Google Maps for Blackmarket yet? 

As you can imagine, blasting bots may help inflate your online ego, but it’s hardly going to prepare you for future PvP games.

With FragPunk’s community skyrocketing to 100k+ players on Steam since its March 6 release and a subsequent Xbox/PS5 release scheduled for later in the year, I’m sure the hero shooter has more than enough real-world Lancers to fill its lobbies. Ditch the bots, FragPunk, you’re better without them.