CRSED: F.O.A.D.

Lore & Background

CRSED: F.O.A.D. began in 2018 as an April Fools' joke using the engine of Enlisted, a shooter developed by Gaijin Entertainment. In June 2018, the publisher decided to release it as a standalone title, and an open beta test followed soon after. The game was officially launched on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in December 2019. In January 2020, it became the third most downloaded free-to-play title on the PlayStation store. Originally promoted as a parody of PUBG and other free-to-play shooters, it was known for allowing players to fight using kitchenware as weapons and armor. However, by 2019 the developers gradually removed most kitchen-related items and jokes, replacing comical shopping plastic bags with tactical bags. In December 2020, the name was changed to CRSED: F.O.A.D., and all kitchenware screenshots were removed from the official website.

Reader's Guide

CRSED: F.O.A.D. is significant as a battle royale game that evolved from a parody into a more conventional shooter while retaining supernatural elements. Its gameplay puts several dozen players on a map with a shrinking ring of death, but unlike other battle royales, there is no parachuting phase—players are spawned randomly across the map after matchmaking. The game offers first-person and third-person modes, with the latter using flying camera drones that can reveal players peeking around corners. Players can use real-world weapons (half from Enlisted) alongside supernatural items like lunar gravity boots and skills such as zombie summoning or temporary invisibility. Most skills are unlocked through grinding, but some are unique to one of seven Champions. The game features four maps: summer and winter Normandy, Island of Siberia, and Mexico. Its legacy includes a PS4 Metacritic score of 73/100, with critics noting its humor and lack of waiting time, though some found microtransactions irritating. The PC version supports DLSS and AMD FSR, and a native Linux version uses Vulkan. An Android version released in September 2022.

Did You Know?

• The game originally began as an April Fools' joke in 2018 based on the engine of Enlisted, which is developed by Gaijin Entertainment.
• Half of the weapons in the game came directly from Enlisted.