‘Fall Guys’ released on PlayStation Plus could make it the next ‘Rocket League’ sensation


It feels like everything is coming together for Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Over the weekend, its closed beta took over Twitch, peaking at the top of most viewed and stabbing at the top of the Steam charts, even before its launch. Now, a big announcement seems poised to give this game a genuine shot at success – it will launch for free on PlayStation Plus on August 4, giving millions the chance to get in and see what’s good. And I feel like it will work.

We’ve seen what PlayStation Plus can do for games before, but one example stands out above the rest. Rocket league It struck a similar deal with Sony, using that initial outburst of word-of-mouth marketing and streaming to cement itself as one of the most popular multiplayer arcade games out there. Autumn boys You already have the momentum for a successful beta, and I feel like you’re ready to make the most of this free period once it starts.

For one thing, Autumn boys is incredible. Essentially, you’re a strange squishy pill on a TV show that looks a lot like The most extreme elimination challenge, only with strange little soft pills instead of people. You start with 60 competitors having to compete with each other through extravagant obstacle courses, and people go round by round abandon until a winner is crowned.

The game takes what Battle Royale does best and mixes it into a really new format. There is no loot or shrink circle. And yet we have the same tension, the same disappointment, the same tantalizing idea that you could be on top. Rather than doing it with frenzied constructions or tense sniper battles, he does it with dozens of player madness through a colorful obstacle course.

As we saw this weekend, it’s tailor-made for Twitch, where unpredictability and general madness make it great to see if the streamer wins or loses. It’s low enough that it works perfectly as a board game, and it’s accessible enough that it’s hard to imagine who wouldn’t want to give kids a go. You might even see it as an esport: it is not a serious and highly skilled esport, but something closer to the crazy game that we apparently participate in the game’s fiction.

So check this out when it launches on August 4, paid on most platforms and free on PlayStation. I think this is already on the way to being a real success.