Walking into EGX last weekend was a strange feeling. After disappearing for two years, London's biggest gaming convention returned to the Excel Centre once more. While a smaller event than previous years thanks to COVID-19, it still showcased a wide range of indies and AAA games. Standing tall above them? Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.
Partnering with Virgin Media for EGX, developer Mediatonic assembled quite a show. Alongside your playable stands, they'd done their best to bring Fall Mountain to life, one of Fall Guys' famous finales. Sure, you didn't have comically sized hammers to contend with or other obstacles, it was more of a massive Travellator.
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Fall Guys - How Mediatonic Brought Fall Mountain to Life at EGX
Within this challenge, participants had to run up a steep incline that's moving in the opposite direction, claiming a golden paper crown. It stood out nicely across the convention hall and as part of this event, we got to briefly speak with Mediatonic's Joe Walsh, Fall Guys' Franchise Design Lead.
Beginning on Fall Guys success, I asked Walsh how it felt to have such a huge hit on their hands, and Walsh's upbeat response was little surprise. Telling me it's been "special to have such a widely positive reaction, even now after a year," he went on to thank their "large, passionate fanbase" for making this possible.
Taking Fall Guys success into account, I asked Walsh whether they'd considered branching out their now-iconic characters into other genres. Though Walsh joked about the idea of Fall Guys Kart - saying how "every big series needs a karting spin-off" - they've explored ideas and are looking to expand, but so far, had nothing concrete.
However, that expansion doesn't end with the game. Discussing Mediatonic directly, Walsh advised that Fall Guys initially launched last year with a 50 person team, which they've now expanded to about 300 staff members.
Bringing The Blunderdome to Life
Given that success, I queried how Fall Mountain came to life for EGX. Walsh explained that alongside Virgin Media, Mediatonic wanted to celebrate Fall Guys success in-person where they previously couldn't, telling me "we've not even had a launch party yet, but would like to soon." Considering Fall Guys' took inspiration from obstacle courses and Takeshi's Castle, EGX's Fall Mountain idea soon fell into place.
It seemed fitting then to ask about Fall Guys upcoming plans, asking if we could expect news soon regarding Season 6 or further crossovers. After all, Season 5's been going for a while now and we've recently seen Super Monkey Ball, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Disney's The Jungle Book, and various PlayStation characters.
Understandably, Walsh couldn't reveal much, though he did confirm Mediatonic's been working on "a significant amount of content" to release across the next year. As part of this, they're planning to launch Fall Guys on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, so I queried whether there's any progress, and Walsh replied that they can't say more than "it'll be ready when it's ready."
We didn't speak for a significant amount of time, but it's clear there's still plenty to come for Fall Guys next year. Whether Blunderdome returns at EGX 2022 remains to be seen, though it easily offered one of EGX 2021's most memorable experiences last weekend. Until then, I'll be pondering just how Fall Guys Kart could play out.