

As of August 2018, the game was the 18th most popular game on Steam, with over 27,000 players. However, it was noted that matchmaking times for games were slow due to its smaller player population in comparison to Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Rock Paper Shotgun noted that despite "wacky physics" being a "tired joke", the game did provide several unique features over other games in the genre, including dual-wielding of guns, a rapidly-constructing wall to serve as the barrier for the safe area rather than an encroaching "storm", as well as not depending on microtransactions to obtain cosmetic player skins. Kotaku felt that Totally Accurate Battlegrounds was both a parody of and homage to the genre, describing the average match as beginning with "madcap rushes of wacky, wavy-arm-flailing players who scramble for weapons or just flat-out slapfight each other to death", and that its "haphazard" combat "manages to make each new encounter feel surprising and high-stakes". On April 1st 2021, the game was made free to play. Landfall stated that the game would be available for free for 100 hours after its release on Steam, after which it would cost $5.

However, its release was delayed to June 5, 2018, in order to address server problems with the game. Totally Accurate Battlegrounds was originally intended to be released as an April Fool's Day joke, serving as a spin-off of its previous game Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. However, the game is differentiated by a physics engine which produces exaggerated character motions when moving or using weapons (including stretching limbs and exaggerated knockback when using guns), as well as the ability to dual-wield weapons, and platforms with flowing lava which emerge from the ground in the final fighting circle.

The game plays similarly to other games in the battle royale genre, in which players must traverse a shrinking safe area, collecting equipment such as weapons to fight and eliminate opponents, and aim to be the last remaining player.
