Among the Fallen

By Chloe BarrettThe two games that took the summer of 2020 by storm were played by millions across the globe. There were very few who had not heard the names Fall Guys or Among Us at least once, and they both dominated the YouTube and Twitch world with ease. However, one did not have as much longevity as the other and is rarely mentioned now.Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout was released in August of 2020 and was developed by Mediatonic. The game pretty much functioned as its name implies, guys fall! It is a battle royal game filled with bright colours where you play as a cute, little squishy jelly-bean like avatar. Your objection is to reach the end of a course as fast as possible and depending on the randomly assigned map that you are placed in, this can be difficult. With up to sixty players fighting against you for that first place spot, the possibility of falling off the map, getting knocked into slime and even being pushed backwards by other players is quite high. As the match progresses, fewer players qualify and only a few are left at the end to grab that victory crown. With a battle pass that allows you to unlock awesome new outfits for your bean character, it functions, in theory, like a normal battle royal. However, it was seen as a breath of fresh air in the gaming world. While it was competitive and frustrating at times, you did not need a lot of previous skill going into a round. In 2021 however, not nearly as many are playing the game. It went from having millions of players to far less. Why?There are a few reasons that stick out in my mind. First off, the platforms that you could play the game on were quite limited. If you did not own a PlayStation 4 or a Windows computer that could smoothly run the game, then you could not play it. While there have been promises of bringing the game to Xbox and Switch, over a year and a half after the games initial release, many gamers feel they have waited too long and the anticipation of playing the game has faded. The first major update was quite delayed. With only a handful of maps to play on for a few months, people started expressing that the repetitive nature was growing old after each game. But, after the first season of the battle pass was added, many faithful players did come back to give the game a further shot. Another issue was the lack of in-game communication, resulting in a major disadvantage for players. Unless you were playing with a friend on an app like Discord there was no way to communicate with anyone. Even some games have taken advantage of pre-written bubbles that players can select, such as phrases like “This Way!” “Over Here!” along with many others. With no way to feel like you were playing with actual people, the game lost some of its charm. Usernames were also removed from the game shortly afterwards, as some had found ways to manipulate the wording in inappropriate ways. Each person’s name was simply stated as FallGuy with a random assortment of numbers for a time.Among Us is still being played to date by a large audience, and many content creators stream it regularly. Even though its release dates back to 2018, the game itself reached insane popularity in 2020. You play as a crewmate exploring a spaceship while an imposter is roaming around within your ranks. By cooperating with other crewmates, you must complete tasks or accurately vote off the imposter before they murder you and your teammates. The roles can also be reversed, you could randomly be selected as the imposter. It can be stressful, you have to act like a regular, innocent crewmate who just wishes to complete their tasks while having the objective to kill people. One of the highlights that the game showcases are the multiplayer aspect. You are always playing with people, the game would not be possible without it. By entering a random online lobby, you can open the chat and update your fellow crewmates on your status. It is super easy to create your room and invite friends to join you. A fun time is guaranteed!The game has multiple maps to choose from and there is also the ability to mod the game, such as adding proximity chat, the floor is lava and plenty more. With so many ways to play, you will rarely get bored. Accessibility is something Among Us succeeds in. It is available on most major platforms, from console to mobile. The best thing? It is affordable. It happens to be free on some platforms, with frequent sales on others, meaning you can affordably be playing Among Us whenever you’d like.It will undoubtedly be interesting to see which direction both of these games will head in. With Fall Guys coming to more platforms soon, it could be a promise of great future success.