I would like to offer a sincere apology to my Fall Guys platoon. I fell in the mud. I thought we were out. So I stopped. I didn’t realize how much it screwed you (fall) guys! It won’t happen again, I promise.
Yesterday, as part of the platformer royale’s fourth season update, Fall Guys received a squad mode. Instead of traditional individual matches – where you qualify for new rounds depending on your personal ranking – you pair up to three other team members. At the end of the races, you will earn points based on how quickly you finish. Survival rounds, however, give you more points the longer you survive. The total score for all four members determines whether or not your team advances to the next round.
Better yet, if your team reaches the final round, only one member needs to win in order for the entire team to claim victory. This will yield each of you 20 crown fragments. Win 60 of these and you win a crown.
On paper, it all looks divine, especially for those of us involved in an eternal struggle to really win the final round. And when it works, the squad mode is really amazing. Not only is the sense of camaraderie a lovely addition to this notoriously cruel game, but playing with a team also significantly lowers the barrier to winning those sweet and sweet Crowns. Well, sometimes. There is a disturbing trend in which players give up when they fail in person, effectively condemning their teammates to disqualification.
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Let’s say you are playing a Block Party game and somehow get thrown in the mud in the first few seconds. Muscle memory would say that you are done, that it is time to give up and try again, because there is no way you are on the qualifying block. In selection mode, though, you still have a chance. Yes, by falling early, you made things difficult for your teammates, but there is still a chance that they (and, by extension, you) can take it. Maybe they play same We will. Or maybe all the other teams will play same bad. The point is, there is a chance.
What is almost certain, however, is that your team will fail in the next round if you give up. Think about it. Your score is determined in full. Placing a team of three beans against several teams of four puts the team of three at an immediate and virtually insurmountable disadvantage. I played several hours of Fall Guys‘squad mode last night. I didn’t see a team of three people qualify after a round.
After the fourth season of the game aired yesterday, players took to the Fall Guys subreddit and quickly pointed the problems with players who throw in the towel prematurely. You can attribute this to a bad attitude or muscle memory. You could say that it is even the result of a lack of attention, but the elimination screen is very clear that you should stay in the round until the end to see if you qualified. (See above.) These people – and, yes, I say this as someone who is guilty of such sin and totally repentant for it – deserve a single blow.
In terms of criminal Fall Guys behavior, I would put early dropouts above those grabbers so hated that they prevent you from winning at the last moment. In solo mode, Fall Guys it’s a dog-eat-dog glove. The bad sportsmanship is not to be praised, of course, but it is expected and arguably defensible. When you play teams, there is an implicit level of trust. You are a team. You are in this together. Betraying that trust – whether maliciously or carelessly – is indefensible.
The logical change would be to change the squad’s score from a linear total to a calculated average. That way, teams of three or even two could compete against entire groups. (Kotaku contacted Mediatonic, the game developer, about any potential plans to implement this, but received no response in time for publication.)
This is not the only problem with the teams at the moment. Kind of like a flashback to the game server woes on launch day, loading into a squad game is a mess. A match will start when 40 players join the queue. But, according for Mediatonic, once a match is full, seats cannot be reloaded if someone leaves. This prevents the game from starting, so if you see the player count decrease instead of increase, exit the title instead of waiting.
But squad mode is a great addition to Fall Guys, and I’m loving the fourth season overall. I walked away from Fall Guys for seasons two and three, so there are many new levels to enjoy, including the seven added this season. The brand new Big Shots stage – where you balance yourself on a seesaw and dodge huge projectiles launched from cannons – is a real highlight.
There is a delicious intensity to the team’s game. Yes, there is pressure to do the best, as other people depend on you. But the spectator mode will also drive you crazy. When you finish a race before your teammates, the camera will focus on the stragglers, setting aside your partners. You can watch with your breath suspended as they travel the course. In the solo game, the spectator mode, for me, has historically been a moment of inactivity, where I checked my phone or grabbed a drink or whatever. In teams, I can’t look away. I’m so focused on rooting for my bean friends. It is not a strange sensation, but it is new. I don’t know how long this will last, but Fall Guys once again has its hooks on me.
I’m just sorry I ruined that game.