I didn’t know going into E3 2019 that I’d be playing Fallguys. See, I made an appointment to demo whatever I could from the fine folks at Devolver Digital, and this was the mystery game I wound up with. I’m a bit surprised it took me 2 E3’s to get over to Devolver, but I’m glad I finally did. It’s not often you can say you’ve played games in a parking lot. Thankfully, they spruced it up with that candy coated crazy Devolver flair, and had some large vehicles outfitted with AC and great games.
After making my way to the Devolver lot, and checking in, I was greeted and brought to where the demo took place. Outside it looked like a steel RV, inside it looked like a rainbow colored playpen. Everything was buoyant and happy, which was fitting given the nature of Fallguys. Imagine a game show with a bunch of crazed contestants. Think one of those Japanese ones where horrible yet hilarious things happen to the contestants. Now imagine you’re one of those contestants. Basically, the goal of the game is to be the last guy standing, and to do so you will need a little skill and a ton of luck.
Since Fallguys is still pre-Alpha, they only had a handful of minigames to play, but they were all totally different and quite entertaining. When the game starts, you just run for your life and try and reach the finish line fast enough to qualify for the next round. Each of the characters in the game looks like some drunken love child of a Teletubby and Tingle, and they are about as nimble. All you can do is run, jump, dash forward and grab things. Those simple mechanics guide all of the minigames. Thankfully, even at this early state there was sufficient diversity to keep things interesting.
One of the mini games had you run blind through gates that may or may not open. Another has random players spawn with a fluffy tail, and to win you have to be one of those characters. If you don’t have a tail, your goal is to rip it off someone else. If you have one, you need to escape and stay that way until the clock runs out. It’s totally chaotic fun, and I was very bad at keeping my tail. The final game has you running up a mountain full of obstacles trying to smash you back down.
Fallguys has the potential to be a hilarious and crazed party game when it’s complete. It’s being developed by Mediatonic and is currently slated to release for PC and PS4 in 2020. It’s meant to be played with up to 100 people online at a time and will feature tons of customization options to pimp out your TeleTingle. I had fun playing it at Devolver’s lot, and look forward to how the game progresses.
