There are times when a number of unrelated factors collide at exactly the right moment and you get lightning in a bottle. In the games industry, we have seen this many times before, when an already promising game just happens to be in the right place at exactly the right time and boom. I think Fall Guys was always going to be a success but maybe after such a thoroughly awful year, the yearning for some wholesome fun was that X-factor which has catapulted this humble game into the stratosphere.
There Can be Only One!
The idea for Fall Guys is as simple one, you and fifty-nine other players join a multi-stage match in which only one can be king. The game will randomly choose a level that fits the number of players currently remaining and you must then compete to stay in the race. Sometimes you will be thrown in a team situation or other times it will be every man for him or herself. Most of the stages will adapt to the number of players remaining and once there have been enough unfortunates whittled out of the running the final match will commence.
In terms of how you interact with the game world you can run, jump, dive, grab and of course, fall over. There is a fairly decent physics simulation running in the background which is the workhorse behind some of the more hilarious mishaps that will befall participants. Just by the sheer number of players you will sometimes be trodden on, knocked over and occasionally yeeted into oblivion (often through no fault of your own). Sometimes you will have some beastly creatine trying to pull you off a platform to your death, only to trip and catapult themselves off instead. There are many other low tricks that your fellow competitors will try such as blocking the finish line or pressing grab just as you leap across a straight drop. This, of course, is all part of the game and will either leave you either in hysterics or foaming with rage. I do think that in games like Fortnight this ‘last man standing’ approach works better because it is based purely on the skill of the player. Unfortunately many times you will be unceremoniously booted due to reasons beyond your control and this can feel very disheartening. I would love to see some kind of granular rewards system, where 2nd and 3rd place gets tokens that build toward a full crown.
Your avatar is basically a pill-shaped creature with legs and arms, think Minions crossed with Teletubies and you won’t be far off. This might seem a little low effort at first but when you see the chaos being unleashed on the screen you realise it was probably a good design choice to keep things simple. That is not to say you can’t add a degree of customisation because you can. From simple patterns and colour changes to more elaborate costumes; Fall Guys has you covered.
The Currency of Joy
Speaking of costumes, there are already some really funky get-ups to chuck on and these can be acquired in a number of ways. The further you get on each run the more XP you pick up and this will progress you in a Fortnight Style ‘season’ system. As I type there is a rather nice set of Portal Themed clothes up for grabs but unfortunately you need ten crowns (one crown per win). If you have been somewhat lacking in the wins department don’t fret because you also gather an in-game currency as you play, which can also be traded for various cosmetics. I have no issue at all with games using shiny things to encourage people to win more rounds, as they don’t offer any kind of gameplay advantage.
As you might expect, you can also drop some real-world cash in the meat grinder to get yourself some themed skins and I actually love the chance to support indie developers who are clearly seeing their dreams come true. I guess this helps grease the wheels, as long as these are cosmetic outfits only then why the hell not. My only wish is that they still allow players who don’t want to spend real cash the chance to earn their threads and so far this seems to be the case.
A Level of Survival
Crystal Maze, It’s a Knockout, Gladiators and Fun House to name a few; the formula for this kind of competition has been going for decades. While we have seen many attempts to bring the same idea to the gaming space these have been limited in their success. Sometimes you can create the most elaborate games imaginable but if they are not fun you won’t get folks coming back. This is the first hurdle that Fall Guys leaps over with its easy to understand design that leaves plenty of room for player fuelled shenanigans. After being out for a few weeks now you can start to see people learning how to cheese certain obstacles but this is where the developers need to pay attention and makes changes where appropriate. The bigger challenge for them is how to keep the game loop fresh as I am already starting to grow a little weary of some stages. If they can start adding new stages, holiday themes or even clever variations on the current ones, this may keep players coming back for more.
One thing popular game shows usually have is a lively host to keep the action going. This unfortunately is where Fall Guys is currently lacking, especially if you are playing solo. I do think that if the developers could have some over the top commentator highlighting the best action of that round, it would add a bit of much-needed glue to the experience. In addition, I think a clever instant replay camera that fed small clips to social media could get more people wanting to try the title for themselves. If you are fortunate enough to have a few good sports willing to form a team and jump in Discord all the better. I do believe that delighting at your friend’s successes and failures is half of the fun in Fall Guys. There is no better feeling than reaching that final run for the crown and hearing your pals cheers you on.
Is it PC?
For once I can sit back and take it easy on this section because in terms of performance there is very little to worry about here. All the versions of Fall Guys run really well and you honestly don’t need a monster rig to get high framerates. The games biggest issue to date has been one stemming from its monumental success because for the first few days the servers were getting hammered. This led to people just not being able to play and even when they did would get booted out. There was also a bout of review bombing which I feel shows the gamers at their very worst. If a developer has been dishonest then sure, but these guys were just trying to get their game off the ground and had clearly not expected the interest they had attracted. As of this week, the server problems seem to have corrected themselves and now we only get the occasional dropout or server lag.
The bigger issue on the PC version is that hackers and cheats have appeared, because of course they have. So far there have been a whole number of hacks used from people knowing the route through the leap of faith round to the more obvious speed hack where people race off at four times the normal running speed. This is something that Mediatonic need to get a handle on as soon as possible because if players feel they can’t win that could sound the early death knell for the game. You can play Fall Guys with either a mouse & keyboard or as you might expect a controller. I have actually found the latter my preferred method for this game to the disgust of my fellow PC gamers. Hey, sometimes I like to surprise people.
Conclusion
Fall Guys is the game to beat right now and with so many excellent titles coming out recently that is some achievement in of itself. After the initial few days of logging on every night, I see this as a game to meet friends in once a week for a few laughs. Whether this turns into once every few months depends on the developers. Mediatonic cannot sit back and relax yet, not if they want to capitalise on the huge interest across the gaming world and other companies wanting to get their IP featured as a player skin.
As we now leave Gamescom (digital) behind we have already seen that there are new round types and of course cosmetics on the way in the second season. This really is a Brewster Million’s situation, they have already made a tonne of cheddar and will be sitting pretty for the foreseeable future. However, if they decide to go all-in and develop this IP properly they could be sitting on a veritable gold mine.
Thank you for reading my review of Fall Guys on PC. If you enjoy my content please add the site to your favorites and follow us on Twitter @riggedforepic