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Fall Guys Is A Terrific (& Surprisingly Relaxing) Battle Royale Game
Battle royale titles are quickly becoming the norm nowadays, but one game, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, aims to revolutionize the brand-new genre by turning the typically stressful experience into a purely enjoyable one. Developed by Mediatonic and published by Devolver Digital, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout contains multiple rounds (currently three), with a certain number of players being eliminated at the end of each round depending on where they placed on the scoreboard. But it's not about killing, so don't worry about your aim being subpar.
Aside from surprising Tetris 99 release, most battle royale games have been shooter based. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, however, isn't one of them. With characters comparable to Minions, players go through each round trying to complete the objective or "stay alive" depending on the situation. While Mediatonic is currently hard at work on more levels, they brought only three to show off to press at E3 2019. The first round was a mad dash through breakable doors, and the difficulty was trying to find the one that wasn't fake. As players progressed through the level, there were fewer doors to go through, until one person ultimately crosses the finish line.
Round two was essentially tag, but with two teams: one team had flags on their back, and the other team didn't. The objective was to finish the round with a flag; if you didn't, you might have been eliminated depending on how well you did in the first round. If you managed to proceed to the final round, then you were in for a treat. The third and final round (in this demo) was a race up a mountain filled with all kinds of obstacles. At the very top was a literal crown that players had to grab, with one person being named the champion. Simply put, it was like trying to scale a pinball machine, but on the inside.
Funny thing is, in our second playthrough against three developers and 66 bots, Screen Rant came out on top as the champion. It's not that the game was easy or difficult, but rather that Fall Guys is a battle royale mode that utilizes basic skills so that anyone can win against even the best players. Sometimes it's luck, as is the case when breaking through the barriers in the first round, whereas other times it's about running away from everyone. You can't just hide around and pick off the last player from a distance; instead, it's like a racing tournament but with varying levels and objectives.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout isn't complicated; there aren't any skins, weapons to tune, equipment to find, or places to land. Instead, it's a rather simple, yet absolutely wacky, game with a basic premise of trying to be the first person either to cross the finish line or complete the objective, whatever it may be. It's an, honestly, relaxing battle royale game, if there ever was one, and it's certainly one of the most surprising things to come out of E3 this year. Hopefully, the full release lives up to its potential.
