Nexus Battlegrounds

Nexus Battlegrounds is a 2025 Third-Person Action Multiplayer Online Battle Arena developed by CCogStudios, Riot Games, PopCap Games and Ubisoft, and published by Electronic Arts. It is a crossover game, spanning various franchises (predominantly video games), and was released for the computer, phone, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Nexus Battlegrounds was commemorated worldwide for its impressive cast of characters, diverse gameplay mechanics, and stellar custom soundtrack remixing and bringing to life music from titles that were brought into this game.

Gameplay
Nexus Battlegrounds is a MOBA where players can take control of champions from one of two different factions, Heroes or Villains. Players can customise each individual champion with new skins, voice lines, emotes, and work together with their team to defeat the opposition before they themselves are defeated.

There are 200 playable champions in Nexus, each one having a basic attack and a set of three abilities, as well as an Ultimate ability which needs time to charge up. Every champion has a variety of different factors that make up the overall toolkit of that character. Basic attacks and damaging abilities can be close range melee attacks or long ranged attacks; and there are two categories of damage types, Physical and Special, which greatly determines how heroes and villains interact with each other.

Ultimate abilities are abilities that charge up over time, whether through passively charging up or through active participation, and when used will affect the battlefield and champions before the percentage drops back down to 0%. Every champion has one each, and is unlocked once champions reach a certain level.

Every champion also has a passive ability, a special ability that is always present and can help characters; these activate as champions fight, move around or complete objectives. For example, Rayman's passive ability is Skill Swap which allows him to swap between being a physical and ranged attacker.

Matches
Matches are team-based, 5v5, with teams fighting in lane-based combat, while also completing objectives such as pushing carts or destroying the enemy forts. Maps are also chopped up into two spaces, the ground space and the air space where players can access higher ground or fly. During matches, players earn credits while dealing damage, healing, blocking attacks or completing objectives. With enough credits, players can upgrade any of their three abilities up to a maximum of two times each whenever they are in the spawn zones or after levelling up. Each ability has two upgrade branches, chosen on their first upgrade which determines what the second ability upgrade will provide. Players earn XP through killing enemy champions or minions, or even through jungle monsters.

NPCs
Non-playable characters spawn in two categories, minions and creatures. Minions spawn from both bases, every 30 seconds, and multiple groups spawn for each lane which they head down and help storm the champions and clash with enemy minions. There are four types of minions: Melee Minions, Ranged Minions, Leader Minions and Catapult Minions. Every 60 seconds, minions grow to the next level and become stronger over time which helps them whittle down their opponents.

The other category is creatures, a wide of assortment of beasts and oddities who hang around in the jungle areas surrounding the lanes, or in the air space, and roam around, attacking any hero or villain who get close. They give out loads of XP when killed and sometimes buffs, and respawn every once in a while.

Champions
Champions are the playable characters of Nexus Battlegrounds. There are two different factions in the game, Heroes and Villains, which divides the characters up. Each champion also belongs to one of classes each, determining their playstyle. Currently, there are 200 champions available to play, with 100 Hero champions and 100 Villain champions.

Classes
There are 6 classes in Nexus, each one helping provide a guideline into how specific champions are played. Each hero and villain belongs to one class each, although it shouldn't serve as strict rules.


 * 1) Assassin: Assassin champions are agile characters that specialise in killing or disabling roaming targets. They focus on infiltration, deception and mobility, finding favourable moments within a fight to pick off targets when the time is right. Their burst damage output is great, but they are very fragile.
 * 2) Fighter: Fighter champions are close-range combatants that possess a mix of offensive and defensive capabilities. Their health and damage are right in the middle, and the abilities provide a unique blend of mobility, damage, disruption and durability. They are very versatile.
 * 3) Mage: Mage champions are ranged attackers who focus heavily on ability-based area of effect and crowd control powers from a safe distance. They do a lot of special damage at range, but are very weak.
 * 4) Ranger: Ranger champions primarily use ranged basic attacks and powerful long-range abilities to take down difficult opponents. They are better when hiding behind their team due to their fragility, and are better at securing objectives.
 * 5) Support: Support champions aid their fellow champions through the use of healing, shielding and buffing them. They're not great at combat, but their crowd control abilities and improvements to survivability and victory are needed.
 * 6) Tank: Tank champions are the most durable characters. These frontline damage-soakers lead the charge, choosing the right times to initiate attacks. Many tanks can protect their teammates by stunning or pushing around dangerous foes and limiting their damage potential.

Game Modes
There are two primary game modes in Nexus, all three of them being available to play across both casual and competitive matches.


 * 1) Siege: Both heroes and villains have a core that they must defend, and the enemy team must break through several defences across the map in order to reach the core and destroy it.
 * 2) Invasion: One team must take over the battlefield over a series of objectives while the other team must prevent them from succeeding.

Punishment System
In all forms types of online games, many people suffer the irritation of people "rage-quitting" or going "AFK", so Nexus Battlegrounds has designed a system that will hopefully prevent people's games from being ruined by toxic behaviours.


 * People who stay in their spawn for at least 1 minute, 30 seconds will have their champion taken over by an AI, who will play the game with that character while the original player can only watch or leave (points will not be given to them)
 * People who remain inactive for at least 1:00 will also have their champion taken over by an AI.
 * The first two systems are put into play so as to not punish the rest of the team for player actions, and also so as to not be too harsh to anyone who would unintentionally be forced out of the game.
 * People who disconnect from the game at any time during the match, whether through purposeful or unwilling disconnection, will have their champions taken over by an AI. Players who leave will suffer a penalty no matter what, however.

Trivia

 * Nexus Battlegrounds was originally a third-person shooter game called Project Atlas, but the creator decided that a MOBA would be better suited for a crossover, much like Heroes of the Storm.
 * The concept of "Heroes vs. Villains" was inspired by the classic 'Superhero vs. Supervillain' trope commonly found in media.