66 PCWorld SEPTEMBER 2020REVIEWS FALL GUYS
score the most goals in the allotted time, or
playing a fruit memory game where wrong
answers plunge you to your death, or trying
to balance on a rotating log alongside
everyone else while hazards zoom toward
you, or...well, the list goes on and on, with
25 stages available at launch.
The rapid-fire shift in focus keeps Fall Guys
feeling fresh even once you’ve played most of
the available levels. When the stages pop up
can make a huge difference, too. A massive
horde of 60 hooting,
grabbing, leaping Fall
Guys throwing themselves
at walls in Door Dash as a
massive wave plays much
differently than trying to
find the real doors as part
of a smaller, higher-stakes
group later on. Being split
into big teams to sort eggs
or play soccer is purechaos when that level
lands early, but if you
come upon the stage
closer towards the end
of a show, the teams
might not be evenly
split.
That might frustrate
ultra-competitive
gamers, but Fall Guys:
Ultimate Knockout isn’t
really intended for
tryhards, and losing isn’t punishing like it is in
other battle royales. Coming in second in
PUBG hurts you in your soul; in Fall Guys, you
smile, shake it off, and leap right back into a
new show. You can opt to continue watching
other players compete in later stages if you fail
to qualify in a match, but it’s quick and easy to
back out and hop into another game. In the
technical beta, I wasn’t left waiting for players
for longer than a minute. You have to think it’ll
be even faster when people other than