Fall Guys (originally called Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout) is a free-to-play video game where players compete on different platforms. It was created by Mediatonic and first released by Devolver Digital for PlayStation 4 and Windows. In 2022, Epic Games bought the game and made it free to play on June 21. It was later released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with support for players to compete across all these platforms. The game uses a paid battle pass system to earn money. On August 16, 2024, the game was released on mobile devices through the Epic Games Store, available worldwide on Android and only in the European Union on iOS.

The main game allows up to 32 players to control bean-shaped characters. They compete in randomly chosen mini-games, such as obstacle courses and survival challenges. As the game progresses, players are eliminated until one remains as the winner. Other game modes, like Explore, have different rules and numbers of players. The game is inspired by shows like Takeshi's Castle, It's a Knockout, and Total Wipeout, as well as games like tag and British Bulldog.

Fall Guys received mostly positive reviews for its fun and fast-paced gameplay and colorful visuals. The game was very successful, selling over 10 million copies and attracting more than 50 million players after becoming free to play.

Gameplay

In the "Classic" and "Knockout" game modes, up to 32 players compete in matches that use battle royale style gameplay. Players are shown as jellybean-like figures and move in a three-dimensional playing field. They can jump, dive, slide, piggyback, and grab. In some levels, players can use power-ups, which give them special abilities for a short time or until the round ends. The goal is to advance to later rounds by completing randomly chosen mini-games, which often have different variations. Fall Guys currently has seven types of levels: Course, Survival, Points, Team, Logic, Invisibeans, and Final.

The winner of the Final level usually wins the match, except in Squad-based modes, where the winning player earns a victory for their entire team.

In the "Explore" and "Creator Spotlight" modes, up to 20 players can play creative levels continuously until they decide to stop. Players can skip levels and move to the next one once they qualify, earning 5 crown shards for each completed level.

Players can use in-game currency called "Kudos" to buy items like cosmetics, nameplates, nicknames, patterns, faceplates, and colors for their character. Kudos are earned by playing the game or progressing in the Fame Pass. Players receive crowns by winning matches. Crowns were once a premium currency but now contribute to Crown Rank.

Season 1: Free for All introduced a new in-game currency called "Show-Bucks," used to buy full costumes, premium colors, patterns, faceplates, emotes, celebrations, and a "supercharged" Fame Pass. Show-Bucks can only be obtained through the Fame Pass or by purchasing them with real money.

New costumes are regularly added to the game store. Some costumes feature characters from other video games and media, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Doom, Ratchet & Clank, Among Us, Astro's Playroom, Hatsune Miku, SpongeBob SquarePants, Hello Kitty, Tomb Raider, Pixar, Marvel, Disney, Final Fantasy, and others.

Season 4: Creative Construction added a level editor called Fall Guys Creative. This tool lets players create custom rounds with obstacles and objects. Players can design Course, Survival, or Points-based rounds within a budget of 2500 points, which limits the number of objects in a round. Players can submit their rounds and share them with others using share codes. Custom rounds may appear in the Discovery tab or in the Explore mode.

Game updates

New content is added to the game through updates. These updates can include new tools, game modes, bug fixes, and Fame Passes. This practice began on 16 August 2023, when Mediatonic announced they would stop using Seasons and instead provide more frequent updates.

Season 2 introduced banners, nicknames, and the ability to select different shows using the Game Selector.

Season 3 added the Crown Rank system. It also introduced Prime Gaming exclusive rewards, which are only available to users with an Amazon Prime subscription.

Season 4 included a basic daily challenge system and the "Crown Shards" currency. A mid-season update added the ability to host custom shows.

Season 5 introduced limited-time events and Duos/Trios shows. Later in the season, the main lobby was redesigned.

Season 6 added cross-progression, cross-play, and a game mode called Sweet Thieves. In this mode, one team (the Thieves) is invisible except when moving quickly, while the other team (the Guardians) tries to stop them. The Thieves must deliver sweets to goals, and the Guardians can use a grabbing mechanic to capture the Thieves and place them in jail. A button can be pressed every 30 seconds to remove the jail barrier.

Season 1: Free for All introduced Show-Bucks and added Bean Hill Zone, the first collaboration level with Sonic the Hedgehog. On 5 March 2024, Bean Hill Zone and 'The Vault' show were removed from the game for unknown reasons.

Season 2: Satellite Scramble added a Halloween-exclusive game mode called Treat Thieves, a themed version of Sweet Thieves with unique features like wormholes.

Season 3: Sunken Secrets added dive sliding and a Time Attack show. The maximum lobby size was reduced from 60 to 40 players to improve queue times. The same season also introduced 'The Vault,' a show that includes all levels regardless of their vaulted status, but it is only available in Custom Games.

Season 4: Creative Construction added Fall Guys Creative and updated the Fame Pass system to replace the previous Season Pass.

The Power Party Update introduced power-ups and added the Discovery tab in the Show Selector, which displays new Creative levels every few hours.

The Survival Update allowed players to create Survival-type levels in Creative.

The Fall Forever Update added the 'Piggyback' mechanic and introduced Explore and Knockout modes.

The Scrapyard Stumble Update enabled players to create Points-type levels in Creative, along with items that help score points, such as the Rubber Chicken power-up, which can break or move destructible objects.

The November Update added the Creator Spotlight mode, which refreshes every two weeks and features creator-made levels approved by Mediatonic.

The Ranked Knockout Update introduced the Ranked Knockout mode. Players must perform well in Knockout games to achieve the Superstar rank and earn the highest rewards in each eight-week cycle.

The Yeetropolis Update restored the ability to earn Kudos at the end of games, a feature that had not been available since Season 1: Free for All.

As of November 2025, all Classic levels (except Bean Hill Zone and Sweet/Treat Thieves) have been unvaulted and are now playable in core shows.

Fame Pass

The Fame Pass is an optional purchase that gives players extra cosmetics and in-game currencies. Before Season 1: Free for All, the Fame Pass (called the Fame Path) had 40 tiers and was free to use. Season 4 increased the number of tiers to 50.

Starting in Season 1: Free for All, the Fame Pass was renamed the Season Pass and expanded to 100 tiers. Half of the rewards were free, and the other half required players to earn them. Season 2: Satellite Scramble added 100 extra tiers to the Season Pass. Most of the new rewards were crown shards, and three bonus costumes were included.

Season 4: Creative Construction changed the game’s system, offering multiple Fame Passes during the season. Each Fame Pass had 40 main tiers, and the remaining 60 tiers included bonus costumes and crown shards. This season also introduced the first and only collaboration Fame Pass with the game Final Fantasy XIV. Rewards from this pass were themed around the Warriors of Light.

After seasons ended, Fame Passes remained available but were adjusted. The number of tiers increased from 100 to 160. The March 2024 Fame Pass had 300 tiers, but only 70 of these tiers offered meaningful rewards. The May 2024 Fame Pass and later versions were reduced to 70 tiers.

Until August 16, 2023, Fall Guys used a seasonal content cycle. Each season had a unique theme and added new game content, such as rounds, costumes, obstacles, mechanics, and music. Seasons lasted several months and included a new Season Pass (originally called the Fame Path in earlier seasons). Players could level up the Season Pass by playing shows and completing challenges to earn customization options and currencies like Kudos and Crowns. On June 21, 2022, the seasonal cycle reset for the game’s free-for-all release. Starting August 16, 2023, the game shifted to smaller, more frequent updates instead of seasonal content.

Development

The idea for Fall Guys started when Mediatonic was working on another project in January 2018. Lead designer Joe Walsh said the project reminded him of game shows like Takeshi's Castle and Total Wipeout. He used this inspiration to create a plan for what would become Fall Guys. The game was first called Fools' Gauntlet and later named "Stumble Chums" during development. Walsh's plan included 100 players competing in a battle royale with physical challenges. Creative director Jeff Tanton was at first doubtful about making another battle royale game but later saw its potential and shared Walsh's plan with Mediatonic's founders.

Tanton and Walsh worked on a presentation, and principal concept artist Dan Hoang made images of colorful, bean-shaped characters racing on an obstacle course in the sky. Tanton said Hoang's character designs helped focus attention on the characters instead of the obstacles. After finishing the presentation, Tanton shared the game idea with 10 publishers at the 2018 Game Developers Conference. Six months later, when Devolver Digital agreed to publish the game, development began.

Fall Guys started with a small team, growing to 30 people during development. Early progress on individual minigames was slow, causing the team to worry there would not be enough content for the game's launch. A key moment came when the team created guidelines to help make decisions faster. These guidelines included rules like ensuring minigames had equal parts chaos and skill and that levels changed each time. Inspired by game shows and different from first-person shooter battle royale games, Mediatonic focused on variety in gameplay. By offering random game modes, the team aimed to recreate the experience of being on a game show. To keep the "spirit of playground games and game shows," Mediatonic created a rule that game modes must be described in three words. Over time, the game changed. The number of players was reduced from 100 to 60 because too many players made the game hard to follow and less fun. Testing showed players thought there were more players than there actually were, so the team realized they did not need as many players as they had planned.

The game show It's a Knockout, which features contestants wearing oversized costumes, inspired the idea that characters should look "completely uniquely, badly designed for the tasks they faced." The use of ragdoll physics was intentional to avoid making characters look too athletic, like in Ninja Warrior, and because falling over is funny. Walsh said balancing humor and game performance was important because losing the ragdoll effect would reduce the comedy. Character designs were inspired by the look of vinyl toys.

Mediatonic started working on Season 2 before the game's release with level designer Joseph Juson. They described Season 2 as an "expansion" compared to Season 3, where the team aimed to introduce new ideas.

Release

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout was announced at E3 in June 2019 and came out on August 4, 2020, for PlayStation 4 and Windows. Updates were added for the first season, and on October 8, 2020, a second season with a medieval theme was released. The game's popularity led to more hiring at the company.

In August 2020, the Chinese company Bilibili said it would create a mobile version for Android and iOS devices, available only in China. This deal ended in 2022, and Fall Guys announced that Bilibili’s exclusive content and accounts would now be managed by Epic Games.

In February 2021, Fall Guys was announced for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, with a planned release in Summer 2021. However, in April 2021, the release was delayed to late 2021 because the team focused on making all versions of the game work together across platforms. On November 30, 2021, the release was delayed again to 2022.

In March 2021, Mediatonic and its parent company, Tonic Games Group, were bought by Epic Games. Epic Games later said it would focus on making all versions of Fall Guys compatible across platforms, using resources from games like Fortnite that became available after the acquisition.

On November 18, 2021, Mediatonic announced that Epic Games accounts would be needed for Season 6, allowing players to progress across PlayStation 4 and Steam and use custom names on Steam. On February 22, 2022, an update added Lobbies and Friends lists, using the Epic Overlay system, similar to games like Fortnite or Rocket League.

On March 15, 2022, Mediatonic said that starting April 5, 2022, all PlayStation players would need to download a new launcher to continue playing the game. On May 9, 2022, the old PlayStation launcher stopped working. Both launchers were the same, except the new one was published by Epic Games instead of Devolver Digital. Players who downloaded the new launcher could claim a free DLC Pink Shark costume until the end of Season 6.

After Mediatonic and Epic Games transitioned Fall Guys to a free-to-play system, the game was released on June 21, 2022, for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. A PlayStation 5 version also came out, with improved visuals and DualSense effects. The game was renamed Fall Guys, removing the "Ultimate Knockout" subtitle. The free-to-play version no longer required console subscription services like PlayStation Plus. To support this model, the game added a new season pass system with free and premium rewards. For Windows, the game was taken off Steam and moved to the Epic Games Store, though the Steam version would still be updated. Free-to-play versions also added cross-platform play. Players who bought the game before this change received a "Legacy Pack" with costumes and a free Season 1: Free for All premium Season Pass.

On February 21, 2023, Mediatonic announced that future seasons would last longer than 2–3 months to give more time for development. They also introduced a level editor called "Creative," which launched on May 10, 2023.

Starting with Season 3: Sunken Secrets, Jukio Kallio no longer composed the game’s music.

On July 17, 2023, Fall Guys increased the price of Show-Bucks in the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Canada due to inflation. On September 17, 2023, prices also rose in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Eurozone countries, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States for similar reasons.

On August 16, 2023, it was announced that Seasons would be replaced with more frequent updates, though Fame Passes would remain.

Tim Sweeney said that Fall Guys and Rocket League would not be discontinued despite mass layoffs, and that Epic Games would continue to invest in them.

On August 16, 2024, Fall Guys was released on Android worldwide and iOS devices in the EU through the Epic Games Store’s mobile relaunch.

The Fall and Fantasy Update announced that a Ranked mode called "Ranked Knockout" would be released with the next update, which came on April 1, 2025.

On January 23, 2026, a limited-time mode called "Crown Jam" was released in Fortnite.

Reception

Fall Guys received mostly positive reviews, according to the website Metacritic. A similar game called Stumble Guys was released for mobile devices on September 23, 2020, and became popular.

Tom Wiggins from Stuff magazine praised the game, calling it "Super Monkey Ball for the Fortnite generation." Mercury News praised the "controlled chaos" gameplay of Fall Guys, noting that it combines elements from the battle royale game Fortnite and the party game Mario Party in a way that fits the coronavirus age. Ollie Toms from Rock, Paper, Shotgun praised Fall Guys for its creative approach as a battle royale game that includes family-friendly content instead of violent themes. He highlighted the game's simple design and the variety of new content added with each season. He also mentioned that the ragdoll physics, which make characters move and fall unpredictably, can be both exciting and challenging to play.

Before its official release, during a closed beta weekend, Fall Guys briefly became the most-watched game on Twitch and the sixth-best-selling Steam game available for pre-order.

Fall Guys has often been compared to Among Us, as both are online games that gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both games also have similar characters, often called "Beans" by players.

The addition of Squad Mode in Season 4 was well-received. Kotaku said it introduced a new way to play, showing how teamwork affects gameplay. The addition of Sweet Thieves was also praised. Destructoid said, "This is the most fun I've had with Fall Guys in forever." They also noted that Sweet Thieves is worth playing for trophies and is enjoyable on its own.

On October 11, 2022, the hashtag #savefallguys became popular on Twitter. This was to ask Mediatonic, the game's developers, to address player concerns, such as a lack of variety in game rounds, bugs, poor events, high prices in the in-game shop, and the introduction of skill-based matchmaking. On November 15, 2022, the Fall Guys Twitter account announced that some rounds would be "vaulted" and rotated in and out of the vault to improve game stability. This meant some rounds would be temporarily removed. Players criticized this decision, saying it reduced the game's replay value. Starting with the Fall Forever Update, the "vault" was officially stopped, and by November 2025, all previously vaulted levels (except Bean Hill Zone) were returned to the game.

After the Slime Factory Update, players worried that no new content would be added beyond cosmetics and events until January 2027. This led some to believe Mediatonic had stopped updating the game or planned to shut it down soon. As of 2026, the game had not received a major update.

Within 24 hours of its release, Fall Guys had more than 1.5 million active players. On August 10, 2020, Devolver Digital announced that 2 million copies had been sold on Steam. On the first day of release, the game's servers were overwhelmed by the number of players.

The game's popularity led to several brand collaborations for custom content. Shortly after release, Mediatonic announced a fundraiser where the brand that donated the most money to the charity SpecialEffect would have its custom skin added to the game.

By August 26, 2020, more than 7 million copies of Fall Guys had been sold on Steam, making it the most downloaded monthly PS Plus game of all time. By November 2020, the game had sold over 10 million copies on Steam. According to Superdata, the game earned $185 million in online revenue from 8.2 million players in its first month on PC, making it the biggest launch on that platform since Overwatch. Multiple outlets described the game's popularity as a "phenomenon." In December 2020, Mediatonic confirmed that more than 11 million copies had been sold on PC.

In June 2022, after becoming free-to-play and being released on multiple consoles, Fall Guys' player count reached over 50 million.