The Rise of Fall Guys

Falling onto PS4 and Steam in August 2020, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is proving to be quite the knockout game.

With over 2,000,000 sales on Steam, and some of Twitch’s biggest names, such as xQc, Pokimane and (streaming on YouTube nowadays) Dr Disrespect all logging on to battle it out, the game has hopped onto the mainstream and shows no sign of hopping off.

But just what is Fall Guys? And why has it taken the internet by storm?

Whilst typical ‘battle-royale’ games take to the genre of action, with the likes of Call Of Duty: Warzone or H1Z1, this delightful, vibrant game gives the genre a splash of colour, losing the weapons and instead pits people against each other on various assault courses.

I say ‘people’, but they’re more doll-like, taking their inspiration from vintage pop vinyl. With outfits completely customizable, it’s very common to see Unicorns, Pigeons, Hotdogs or even French Fries running around the place. They’re round, bright, and will do whatever they can to make it to the final assault course, and achieve the title of ‘Fall Guy Champion’.

What kind of assault courses are there?

The assault courses, which vary in content and difficulty, aim to eliminate players in chunks, until only one remains. The first course, which is often a race, is a typical start-to-finish battle to see who’s playful characters can make it to the end. One of my favourites is Door Dash, where players have to knock down doors in a Takeshi’s Castle style mini game.

However, my personal favourite race would be Tip-Toe, which sees players jump from square to square to find a route to the finish line. However, with only one possible path and a number of false-squares, it’s only a matter of time before people start falling to their demise.

Other assault courses available in the game include ‘Survival’ modes, where the objective is to, well, survive! You’ve also got Team Matches, which allow you the opportunity to rely on other people, as opposed to deceiving them.

The final round is always the tensest, where any small mistake can quite literally mean life or death for your character. But hey, with re-spawns and no blood, it’s not as brutal as it sounds.

Fall Guys provides a relaxing change from the typical extremity of battle-royale by providing colour, funny sound-effects and jumpy music, the ideal back-drop for bumbling along an assault course.

Fall Guys is available for purchase now on Steam and Playstation 4.

Words by Thomas Moorcroft

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