Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (A Parent Review): The ultimate playground

Fall Guys through the play of a four-year-old

Malcolm tried it afterward and was met with a completely different stage, one with spinning platforms. It’s honestly one of the most forgiving stages as it seems like every time you slip the stage finds a way to keep you moving. Surprisingly, at four-years-old, Malcolm qualified for the next stage.

What happened next though, yikes.

The following stage was an elimination. In these stages, instead of racing, you proceed through a challenge with the other players until a certain amount of characters are eliminated. With Malcolm’s new understanding that every player was a real person, this intimidated him, especially when he stood next to a more toxic player that kept grabbing him and attempting to drag him to an early demise. He ended up putting down the controller and hiding behind the couch for a minute because the experience overwhelmed him. I didn’t expect that.

When his turn came up again though he hit it with renewed vigor. He was nervous about other people and was scared they were going to grab him (which, let’s be honest, grabbing other players shouldn’t be a thing) but he fought through it and honestly did well.

As they both played I eventually decided to start skipping out on my turn as I usually make it to the fourth round and occasionally the finals, which makes my turns two or three times as long as theirs. Instead, I just sat and watched them. It was pure excitement and I realized something.

Fall Guys is the best playground on the planet. In a time where all the playgrounds in the real world are surrounded by caution tape and all the indoor play areas are closed, this gave my kids a place where they could hang out with a crowd of people and engage in a group activity.

They didn’t care if the server occasionally crashed. They learned to just make silly comments when aggressive players would grab them. And they learned to just take everything in stride and have fun with it. While I fell in love with Fall Guys the first time I played it, I somehow actually love it more now that they also enjoy.

I can’t thank the people at Devolver enough for this incredible experience I got to share with my kids.