Points of Interest.

Barely Functional Bots.

I believe incorporating bots into battle royale games helps to encourage new and casual players while ensuring near-instant matchmaking times for less popular regions; however, bots must be challenging for this to work, and Super People 2’s bots don’t pass muster.

Just today, I played several matches during off-peak times and was placed in lobbies where it appeared I was the only human player (in a 40-player lobby), and I had never been more bored, having killed 20 bots while solo queuing squads and around 17 bots in a solo match.

To make matters worse, in both of these matches, the AI only managed to hit me twice, and both times it was a low-powered glancing hit that barely dented my health bar (around 5%) before the bot disengaged and waited for me to return fire.

While I wish I could say that was the only example of bad programming, bots continued to act in strange and erratic ways the more I played, including but not limited to:

• Emptying an entire clip and missed every shot, even as I stood perfectly still in front of them.
• Refused to engage me, even when we were stood metres apart and well within the range of even short-range weapons.
• Engaging in a firefight with invisible foes, including emptying multiple clips and using superpowers.
• Turning their back to me after firing a single shot and then proceeding not to move/fight back until I kill them.
• Making no effort to avoid a speeding vehicle and firing only one or two rounds at my car as I approached them.
• Engaging in mock battles with other bots that last several minutes, with neither side landing a killing blow.
• Bots deliberately run into the storm and despawn.

Rebranding.

Super People was relaunched and rebranded as Super People 2 less than 2.5 months after its launch in October 2022.

While this was done to show the developer’s commitment to listening to user feedback, there are other ways of doing it than rebranding a game due to a minor seasonal update.

Unskilled Playerbase.

I mean this as no insult, but due to the low level of skill required to beat bots, very few skilled players stick around for long, and what real players remain are rarely given a chance to improve, as a result, with very little practice I was able to massacre multiple human players with little effort (due to my experience with third person shooters) which is not rewarding for anyone involved.

Eastern Influences.

Eastern and Western monetization systems have vastly different approaches to pay-2-win elements in that while western titles try to hide just how egregious any pay-2-win elements are, many eastern titles are very open about exactly how much of an edge you can get by purchasing items from the store.

In the past eastern publishers attempted to launch games in the west with a  similar monetization model to the one used back home; however, a string of disastrous launches and pushback from western gamers has resulted in a strange phenonium where pay-2-win mechanics are still in-game, only the currency that was once premium is now either freely made available or is purchased with in-game currency, a strange combination of pay-2-win mechanics and lack of any way to pay for them, that does little but confuse new and casual players.

Super People at launch was a prime example of this, with players being given a generous amount of vouchers each day for things that most games would offer for free, such as the ability to choose a class or open an airdrop.

Cosmetic Unlock System.

I must begin by saying providing a way for players to unlock cosmetic items for free is a good thing; however, the way that Super People have gone about this is not only confusing but is needlessly time-consuming, requiring around 200 mouse clicks to claim a full outfit via the exploration interface.

Other Games.

• Players purchase Items using in-game or premium currency.

Super People.

• Players purchase exploration tickets with gold.
• Players consume tickets by clicking 1 square for each token (max of 100 squares).
• Each square clicked awards a timed cosmetic item that lasts between 1 and 30 days (with 3 and 7 being the most common).
• Upon accruing items worth 100 days in total, players can pick one permanent item in exchange for consuming 100 days’ worth of limited-time cosmetics.

While this system is not “terrible”, it is needlessly complicated, and it appears to be left over from what was originally going to be a form of monetization in which players purchase tickets with real-world/premium currency and then attempt to unlock cosmetic items more cheaply than purchasing directly from the store.

Character Customization.

I must give credit where credit is due, Super People has one of the best character creators in any battle royale, and the wide selection of skin tones is a welcome change in an eastern title, in which dark skin tones are seldom an option or fall back on offensive racial stereotypes.

Racial diversity aside, the character creator allows both male and female characters to wear the same clothing, which can lead to some interesting combinations, such as when my male character put on a pair of yoga pants, and let me tell you, he was packing some cake.

Losing Momentum.

Super People saw a whopping 4.3 million players download and play the beta; however, when launch day came around, Super People capped out at a much more moderate 47k online users, indicating a user base of no more than 2.2 million users, before dropping to less than 300 players worldwide by June 2023.

Unbalanced Gameplay.

I must preface this by saying that Super People is a lot of fun. Still, its one of the most unbalanced games I have ever played, with even short-range weapons able to obliterate players at medium and even long-range; as a result using any weapon other than a rapid-fire SMG is pointless in most encounters, especially when facing off with bots, which are not able to hit the broadside of a barn under most circumstances.

Certain classes can launch literal nuclear warheads at opponents, which is both cool and unbalanced. 

No Region Lock.

Like many free-2-play games of eastern origin, Super People does not utilize region-locked servers, meaning that EU and NA servers have a disproportionate amount of Chinese players, many of whom unfortunately employ third-party cheat software to take advantage of their high ping and gain an unfair advantage.

Super People 2 FAQ

Is Super People  2 Dead?

Super People 2 is almost entirely dead and will soon vanish entirely, with the developers confirming that it will be closing for good in August 2023.

How Many People Play Super People 2?

Super People 2 currently peaks at around 87 players online each day, which is deathly low for the genre, which sees titles such as Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone II, and Fortnite rarely (if ever) dropping below 1 million concurrent players due to their massive install base and robust cross-platform support.

Is There Group Finding/ Matchmaking Support?

Super People 2 supports:

• ☑ Region-Based Matchmaking.
• ☑ Solo Matchmaking.
• ☑ Group Matchmaking.

Are There In-Game Microtransactions?

The Super People 2 in-game store sells:

• ☑ Cosmetic Items.
• ☑ Cosmetic Item Bundles.
• ☑ Premium Currency Bundles.
• ☑ Premium Battlepass.
• ☑ Starter Packs.

What Peripherals Are Supported?

• ☑ PC – Controller.
• ☑ PC – Mouse and Keyboard.

Is There Any Mature Content?

Super People 2 is currently unrated and contains the following:

• ☑ Partial Nudity.
• ☑ Violence.

Final Verdict.

Super People 2 is a fantastic-looking game with fairly decent gameplay; however, it was unable to attract a sustainable community, leading to its closure less than a year after its highly anticipated launch.