Review: Fall Guys – Falling has never been so fun

Wipeout but battle royale with the walking physics of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding. That is the best comparison besides Takeshi’s Castle that I can make to Mediatonic’s Fall Guys, which just released on August 4th. Since release, the game has taken over the world by a storm, pulling in over 2,000,000 Steam players and 8,000,000 PS4 Players (Hugely thanks to the game being available for free for all PS+ users). The game’s official Twitter account is also increasingly popular spreading memes, artwork, and all sorts of things within this community they’ve built, helping the game thrive incredibly quick. It has reminded quite a few of Rocket League‘s launch back in 2015, coming out of nowhere and taking over the gaming community. With that being said, it’s time to tumble on down Fall Mountain!

Fall Guys is a colorful 60 player take on the battle royale genre, bursting with creativity and imagination. The game has so much charm, and offers an amazing time for friends or even solo players alike. Visually the game is absolutely beautiful, offering players a very charming and bouncy art style that is popping with color everywhere. Each and every stage for all of the game are jam packed with little details and it all fits into the art direction Mediatonic was going for. Fall Guys is chaotic. Real chaotic. This chaos however is really what sets this game apart, almost making it seem like it’s fully based on luck at times. Players will be swarming into the tiniest door at times, or holding each other back from finishing the course. Stuff like this is what you’ll come to expect in the game, however most of the time it’s quite lighthearted and humorous. Fall Guys has over 25 minigames, all keeping the general direction of the lighthearted experience while offering their own fun spin on things. These minigames are similar to those you’d find in titles like Mario Party to name one, short and simple yet incredibly fun and colorful. You can find yourself grabbing other people’s tails, jumping across giant seesaws, or even racing to the top of a platform to avoid the slime (in a floor is lava type fashion). There are so many possibilities and the imagination is just wonderful to see.

Team games are truly a whole other level of the Fall Guys chaos we all know and love. The game divides the remaining lobby up into 2, 3, or 4 teams set against each other. Instead of relying on your abilities in the game, if your team performs poorly you are out as a result. This really can be quite frustrating at times, especially when you’re one round away from the final round. There have been plenty of times in team games such as the infamous Egg Scramble where I have gotten 10 or so eggs for my team, however we still lost as overall we had the least amount of them when the clock hit 0:00. At the end of the day though, the team games really match the energy the game was going for, and any Fall Guys is fun Fall Guys. I hope to see some more unique team modes in the future.

I’m very interested to see what gets added next for the game, as the possibilities really are endless. The popular beta minigame Jump Showdown is getting added in on August 13th, so it will be intruiging to see if they release minigames one by one or in big bulks at the beginning of new seasons. Whatever the case may be, these new games are sure to be a blast, and I cannot even imagine what kind of mechanics the development team could decide to implement.

I truly think Fall Guys isn’t just some popular hit that will fade out of the spotlight in an few months, I believe it’s here to stay. The way things are, this could be the next massive battle royale to take over the gaming world. To start, the progression system. Fall Guys has a “battle pass” model as the progression system, however unlike most games making the BP a paid option, this one is free. By being free, this gives all players the chance to unlock dozens of cosmetic items for free, no purchase required. As of now, Season 1 ends in around 55 days, which gives everyone two months to get to Tier or level 40. Personally, I’m at Tier 25 already, with over 20 hours clocked in the game already. Retention should absolutely not be an issue for Fall Guys if they keep the current model they have now.

Some were skeptical when it was found out that Fall Guys would offer micro-transactions, but honestly they don’t bother me at all. Purchase wise, Mediatonic has given players the option to buy “Kudos”, an in-game currency used to buy various cosmetic items appearing in the item shop. There’s also one skin pack available right now, giving players 3 unique skins for $4.99 USD. With the battle pass being free, players can unlock skins and not be “defaults” as it is called in other battle royale games, which really makes microtransactions obsolete, or for only the extremely invested.

Another key reason while Fall Guys could stand the test of time is the accessibility it contains. It’s the time of game anyone can pick up. You don’t need to be skilled, you don’t need to have experience playing it at all, all of the games are self explanatory and super easy to complete. The game itself and all of the minigames are really quite easy, however once other players and the physics engine come into the picture, it starts to spell out a challenge. With the game being so accessible, it’s really easy to picture it lasting quite a while for its massive fanbase.

Fall Guys really makes you appreciate what it is at the end of the day though, a simple and laughable battle royale experience. Sure, you might get mad if you get thrown off by someone just before crossing the finish line, however it’s on to the next game before you can even think about it. It’s not like Warzone, Apex, or Fortnite, where sometimes you’ll truly feel outplayed and extremely frustrated constantly, it’s just a good time anyone can find enjoyment in. The game is truly just pure fun. It’s a type of fun you don’t experience in this industry often, but when you do, it’s truly something special. Falling has never felt so good, and I’m incredibly excited to see what the future holds for this charming title.