FragPunk review: Weird, unbalanced, but (usually) still fun

FragPunk is the video game equivalent of a picture you put on the wall that looks nice at a glance, but never quite seems to balance right. The latest multiplayer game from NetEase following Marvel Rivals' launch in December 2024 works hard to give itself a strong identity, with a punk attitude it pulls off more effectively than Ubisoft's XDefiant ever did, a striking visual direction, and a unique card-based power-up system that adds a welcome layer of strategy to each match. Or, it would do, if FragPunk didn't undermine itself.

Pick a card

FragPunk is NetEase's take on Valorant, or its flagship mode is, at least. Teams of five heroes, called Lancers in FragPunk lore, face off in a bid to plant or remove a bomb, depending on whether you're on the attacking or defending team. You repeat this process up to five times before the match ends, which sounds arduous, except each round goes so quickly that it's hard to even get your bearings before everything's over. 

That blink-and-you-miss-it nature comes from FragPunk's rules, which are also derived from Valorant. The main objective is planting or defending the bomb, yes, but the secondary objective that can also decide the match is wiping out the opposing team. Like in Valorant, a downed player cannot respawn until the next round starts. If this were Valorant, that'd be fine.

But it's FragPunk, and the big thing NetEase included to differentiate FragPunk from Valorant is a roguelite card deck feature. At the start of every round, FragPunk presents you with a selection of cards with useful buffs and other match-altering effects. You might get one that lets you inflate the opposing team's head size, making it easier to land critical shots, or one that heals your team slowly over time. Each ally has a set number of points they can spend to vote on a card, but never enough to get more than one, maybe two cards per round. Even outside of voice chat, picking a card creates a strong sense of team planning and strategizing. 

It's a fantastic idea, and it absolutely doesn't work in FragPunk's main mode. Rounds are over far too quickly for any of your attempts at deep planning to make much difference. The existing maps are small and feature a handful of tight corridors, and low time-to-kill favors an aggressive playstyle. A coordinated team can pick off defenders in less than a minute, making all those cards pointless. To be fair, they also make your Lancer's abilities a bit pointless. Who needs a fancy drone or a rocket launcher when you've got a hatchet that can eliminate someone in a single hit or a high-powered assault rifle, after all? I played FragPunk every day since it launched on March 6, 2025, and no match lasted longer than five minutes. That's roughly 80 seconds per round.

The brief nature of matches in the made mode is a shame, as FragPunk's Lancers are designed quite well, visually and from a combat perspective. They're an eclectic bunch. One is a grizzled mercenary whose abilities combine deception via smokescreens with a giant rocket launcher. Another creates barriers and can send a drone out to attack for her, and there's a healing specialist and a trap artist as well, among several others. Some of them follow similar role and ability types you'll find in Valorant, though the imitation is less egregious compared to Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2.

Time marches on

Their versatility really becomes apparent in FragPunk's other modes, and the big highlight for me is Team Deathmatch. The basic rules are the same as any other Team Deathmatch mode, where the first team that reaches a certain number of eliminations wins. However, FragPunk throws a few surprise twists in. Cards show up here, like in the main mode, but your hero's abilities are also cards. You can swap them out at certain points, replacing an ability you aren't using or think might not be suited to the current situation, with a random buff or other helpful effect. It's bizarre that a side mode is where the card feature is at its most useful and interesting, but it's no less fun for that. The map designs are brilliant as well. They're small enough to learn quickly, but created in a way that encourages team planning and good strategy.

FragPunk's free-for-all matches are elevated by the Lancer designs and skill sets, but if you've seen one of these modes in any other multiplayer game, you know what to expect. Everyone tries to steamroll everyone else, until one person gets enough points to win. The only main difference aside from character skills is the map, which is huge and has a few interactive elements that can, in theory, give you an advantage, such as removing a bridge and cutting off access. It's literally the only time you see a feature like this in FragPunk's launch maps, but hopefully, that'll change as NetEase continues adding to the game.

These two modes are the highlights, but they have a downside as well. Team Deathmatch and the free-for-all mode last slightly too long. They're fun, to be sure, but by the time a match ended, I was fine not to play again for a while. I recorded several rounds, and they tend to be about seven or 10 minutes long, which is average for this kind of game. What makes FragPunk's seem to drag is the lack of change throughout that seven to 10 minutes. There's no special drop of weapons or items, the maps stay the same, and nothing alters the flow of combat.

Then there's Outbreak, which is FragPunk's zombies-like mode. A group of humans face down a small number of zombies, who can infect humans and force them into the zombie ranks by landing a single hit. These inevitably devolve into a scenario where a few human players hole up in a tower and mow down all the zombies repeatedly until the timer ends. Like the other two side modes, Outbreak lasts far too long. A single match includes multiple rounds, and without any variation in how rounds play out and no other maps, it gets old very quickly.

The menu game

Finally, it's worth touching on progression, which is inscrutable. FragPunk throws far too many currencies at you without explaining what they do or why you might want them. Some are only for unlocking event-specific skins, but navigating the absolute disaster of a menu feels impossible. FragPunk's UI is a tangle of tabs and sub-menus, with events, unlockables, and even a gremlin that auto-collects more currency for you while you're not playing. It's overwhelming and it really doesn't need to be that way.

FragPunk is launching in a strange, unbalanced state where it actively undermines its best features and doesn't quite know how to build on its own strong foundation. It's still fun, a more casual alternative to something like Valorant, but there's a definite sense that FragPunk isn't living up to its full potential. Hopefully, NetEase can work out a way to sharpen its focus in future updates and clean up the awful menus.

FragPunk is available as a free download on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Josh Broadwell

Contributing Editor

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or VG 24/7 or on Twitter, shouting about Trails. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or curled up with an RPG of some description.