PUBG and Fornite may have popularized the trend of Battle Royale games, but Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout gave it a one-of-a-kind, less explosive approach no one ever saw coming.
In fact, the wildly popular 60-player party BR’s collection of exciting minigames, rainbow-colored jelly beans, and a backdrop smattering of every colour under the rainbow makes it a true summertime delight.
Let’s take a closer look and get to know the hype behind Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout— the feel-good game of the summer.
Worldwide hype
The hype around Fall Guys is no joke. It immediately became the top-grossing and top-selling game of Stream within a short amount of time, having 1.5 million players in its first 24 hours. Yes, the high traffic did make the servers crash on its first day.
It’s not your traditional BR game, too. It takes inspiration from some of the biggest shows in Television history: Wipeout, Ninja Warrior, and Takeshi’s Castle.
Currently, it’s the second-highest watched game on Twitch after League of Legends, beating titular games like Fortnite, PUBG, and Dota 2. There are many factors to take into consideration regarding how and why Fall Guys managed to dominate the gaming scene in such a short time. Here are some of them:
Vibrant aesthetics
Fall Guys’ vibrant visuals is probably one of the most easy to recognize gameplay compared to the other games in the market. From the loading screen to every elimination round, there’s just so many colors! It’s so easy to distinguish the game’s vibrant gameplay too, which only makes it iconic.
The bold colors are effective in creating. a pretty unique look. Not to mention, the glossy, tasty-looking color palette fits perfectly for bright jellybean-like characters!
Accessibility
The game not only struck a chord with kids and kids-at-heart, but it’s also suitable for players who suck at FPS games but are fond of the thrill. It also doesn’t matter if you’ve been a gamer since 13 or you just picked up gaming recently, you’ll fit right in Fall Guys!
With its simple controls and format, anyone who watches a clip of Fall Guys can also likely believe “I can play that too.” It seems easy… until you hop on a match and discover the truth for yourself. Do not be deceived by how easy it looks or else you’ll end up comparing your expectations versus reality!
Speaking of accessibility, a mobile version of the wildly popular game is finally revealed— but only in China. At the moment, it is currently available to play on PS4 and PC platforms. It doesn’t entirely erase the possibility of a mobile version coming soon though, so fans should just wait and see!
The luck factor
Perhaps one of the most controversial aspects of the game is how luck plays a major part in winning. Unlike other BR titles where you can secure a chicken dinner with the best gun and loot of choice, you could have an amazing run on Fall Guys yet manage to get last row on fall mountain.
The luck factor on Fall Guys levels the playing field a bit, which then adds more fun to the colorful chaos. This can also be good news especially to players with uncoordinated in-game reflexes, since they can now have an opportunity to be crowned the victor in a Battle Royale.
No skill? No problem!
The game’s randomness only gives a chance for less-skilled players on traditional BR games to make their way into later rounds on Fall Guys. Yup, even the unskilled players can still win occasionally from mere luck!
With a random starting position, what happens in most of the round is completely random. No matter what you do or how hard you try, there are times the random factor goes wild and you just can’t win.
In the long-term basis, however, players are in it fully accepting that certain things in Fall Guys are just beyond their control. They can still make up for it with their persistence and getting into the right situations after countless failed round attempts, though.
Marketing boost
Aside from all the great points raised above, Fall Guys also got a massive marketing boost being a free game for the PlayStation Plus. The tactic proved to be a great way for many players, even those who aren’t into rainbow-colored aesthetics, to at least try the game.
As more people understood the hype behind the title, more influencers talked about it. It generated more multi-platform sales for Fall Guys as a result.
Community-first
The developer team behind Fall Guys are known to frequently deal with community-raised issues such as bugs and review bombing. Initially, the game had to deal with server problems which bombed their Steam reviews with negative feedback.
The devs were quick to admit the server issues and provide a fix to these problems to improve the general gameplay experience.
The price is right
Fall Guys is free to play on the PlayStation Plus and it’s also priced only under $10 on Steam.
With all the other games that’s priced beyond that price tag, it’s only understandable for the hyped BR title to gain traction because the combined fun and visual aesthetics are worth every penny.
Satisfaction level
Given the game’s randomness and luck factor, it’s extremely satisfying to finally get a win. Though of course, it’s on the same level of frustration when you can’t time a jump right or get smacked out by a moving object.
The more games you play, even if you end up failing at the attempt, makes it more fun when you finally secure that win!
Some huge streamers even went out-of-character to play the cutesy, vibrant game such as DrDisRespect. No matter how good the Two-Time is when it comes to other competitive games, he obviously did not have any idea on what was going on as he tried the game for himself.
Initially, he was either eliminated too fast or disqualified over several rounds. It didn’t take him long to get a rhythm though as he got more familiar with the game’s facing. The excitement led him to admit in his stream: “I love this game man, I love it”.
What the pros think about the game
For Shroud, dubbed as one of the best FPS players across the world, he believes Fall Guys might not be dominating the gaming scene for much longer.
In a recent stream, he believes the game might “die real quick” unless the developers introduce new content and maps to the game. The factors will help the hype title be rooted in its party-game genre.
“Fall Guys is going to die real quick for sure. After playing it, there is no way it will be any more exciting for any longer unless they add maps quickly,”
“I don’t care about playing with f**king strangers dude. Customs would be like, okay-ish, but you can already gather that many people together. I just wish it was more of a party game than what it already is.”
If the devs decide to listen to Shroud’s suggestions, it will definitely turn Fall Guys into more of a casual game. New maps will lure new players to check the game, and old ones might also make a comeback.
Custom multiplayer modes will allow a number of friends to play together, instead of queueing as a four-man squad.
Fall Guys Season 2
Thanks to the game’s global success, Fall Guys Season 2 is on the way! At least four new game modes are slated to be introduced to the title: Treasure Hunt, Chicken Chase, 100-player DoorDash, and Wall Guys.
A short teaser trailer was also shown at Gamescom Opening Night Live, presenting a medieval theme for the game’s second season.
Nicolas Pessina, associate lead artist, said Mediatonic (the studio behind Fall Guys) have planned a variety of ideas for season themes during the game’s initial development. They have collectively agreed on a medieval theme for Season 2, particularly because it’s a theme common in bouncy castles.
Lead level designer Megan Ralph told The Washington Post:
“We are hoping to at least get some kind of content out probably monthly… Whether that’s going to be a small drop or new levels, we’re not really sure yet. But that’s the aim at the moment.”
The Gamescom trailer also teased costumes like dragons, sorcerers, knights and a whole lot more. However, the rest of the season’s skins are being kept secret… at least for now.
Given the new additions, the devs might also decide to introduce a number of new features like co-op, couch split-screen, or the ability to let players build their own maps that revolve on the game’s party concept.
Pessina confirmed some of these features are already planned for the game, but still a “little ways off” from the current roadmap.
“It’s just a case of figuring out what’s the best time to think about those features and then start working on them.”
Bottomline
Only time can tell if Fall Guys will end up as a temporary hype or a sustainable success in the gaming scene. However, devs would need to continue developing and adding new twists to the game if they want to achieve the latter!
