Online game "Stumble Guys"

Competition in the field of online games is now more intense than ever before, so each developer is trying to distinguish his creation from the rest. Some of them impress the audience with the beauty of graphics, others carefully think out the history of the world and characters, and some encourage gamers to move their brains in search of the right solutions. In Stumble Guys there is neither of these, nor the third. But the game is so simple that even your grandmother will understand it, and everyone from small to big will be interested in this work. What is so remarkable about the project of Scopely publishing house that for a couple of years of its existence it became a real hit among interactive entertainments?

To explain the phenomenon of Stumble Guys' popularity, we should start with another project with a similar name - Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. This is a clear example of how to achieve decent results with modest means. Mediatonic studio under the auspices of Devolver Digital released a graphically simple, but exciting game, where teams and individuals compete in overcoming various obstacles on elimination. The audience liked both the atmosphere in the style of the TV show "Fort Boyarde" and primitive picture with live beans in colorful outfits running around the screen. But there was also a problem - having paid attention to PC and consoles, the developers somehow forgot about mobile devices. Although it would seem that such entertainments exist exactly for them.

Many studios tried to fix the situation, but the most successful clone for smartphones was made by Finnish developers from Kitka Games. They simplified everything that they could, and at the same time replaced skittish beans with small legs and hands with cartoon people and animals. The set of modes in Stumble Guys was minimized, but the excitement of "battle royal" remained, when everyone competes with gradual elimination of participants at different stages. If the match starts with dozens of characters, then under the final eight compete for the main prize. However, the elementary rules did not cancel the variety of funny situations and puzzles. All this set was appreciated in Scopely company, which was the publisher of the game on PC, including the digital store Steam, where it is now available for free.

In other words, the PC version of Stumble Guys is a port from mobile platforms, which in turn is a simplified copy of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Such projects rarely succeed, but in this case it was just the opposite.

The client from Steam is downloaded in seconds, because it takes less than a gigabyte. And then you can get straight down to business - without any fees or registrations. No one even makes you think up a nickname, you will be automatically assigned a name from a set of letters and numbers. Before your first match you get into the character editor, although at first this option seems superfluous - there is only one appearance option with a choice of skin color, the only running animation and a set of several emotions. As it is easy to guess, the game actually has hundreds of costumes, heroes, effects and animations for all occasions, but to unlock them you need to either pay real money or succeed in virtual competitions.

What immediately catches the eye is the advertisement of offers from the internal store. They offer to buy a summer collection of skins, including the fireman look, or to exchange real dollars for virtual resources, or to expand the list of available emotions in a flash. But you can easily get rid of pop-ups - there is a red cross in the upper right corner. And further - press the big button "Play". There is no usual choice of modes in Stumble Guys, but all competitions are unique due to the random change of cards and victory conditions. Each race consists of three rounds, and if there are 32 characters at the start, then after the first stage 16 characters remain, and only 8 get into the third stage - they fight among themselves for the main prize. At the same time, there is no shooting or other violence. All competitions are purely sporting in nature.

The control is very simple: there is running in different directions and jumping. Repeated pressing of the "Spacebar" on the keyboard will make your man after the jump to travel some distance on his belly. Emotions are also available, allowing you to knock your opponents off their feet for a while. With such a modest set of actions, all the fun is built on the unexpected selection of maps and conditions. For example, in the first location you need to reach the finish line, maneuvering between snow clods, sliding on ice and dodging rotating pounders. Naturally, the hero constantly slips off the platforms and falls under the giant snowballs, returning to the passed stage. And the second map can be a platform, falling from which means elimination. On it move cube shapes like "Tetris", where you have to find passages to stay on the course.

There are also trials with swamps and sands, tracks with rotating logs and rickety bridges, paths over the abyss, where you have to jump on the platforms extending from the walls, choppers with lasers and frantic robot vacuum cleaners that push the heroes off the platform - the developers certainly have a lot of imagination. Considering 17 cards in the roster and the fact that the obstacles on them are shuffled randomly, there is a solid variability. You can never guess what awaits you at the next stage, and it's a great interest booster. And at the same time generates funny situations, which will come in handy if you play in a friendly company. For those who have already reached the finish line, the observer mode opens up - you can cheer up your teammates and see how others are coping with the tasks.

There is no progression, which is common for most MMO games. But there are a thousand and one ways to stand out - at the expense of the character's appearance, animations and emotions. And for this you need to save resources - game bucks, stars, tokens and gems. You can get them for completing weekly tasks, the scale of which is built on the scheme of achieving stages: open a new one - get a prize. Also helps the window "Lucky Wheel", where you can spin the drum in the style of "Field of Wonders" and get a reward - from the same gems to rare and epic costumes. But it is not so often that you can try your luck for free, and you will have to pay for extra spins.

Of course, Stumble Guys is full of temporary activities. Every now and then, events like "Space Showdown" become available, where you can get additional prizes, and on top of that, tournaments are held. What's remarkable about them is that they're created by both developers and casual users. Anyone can make a match from selected cards, specify the conditions of victory and assign a reward to the champion - for example, a decent amount in gems. This will definitely attract the public's interest to your creation. But nothing prevents you from starting a competition in a small circle of friends. To do this, just add someone to your friends (even from social networks - this function is also provided) and invite them to your game. In general, the social part is simple, but it is enough to have fun.

Stumble Guys is a simple but fun game. It does not require a powerful computer or any skills to control your character, but it will allow you to spend an hour or two with your friends or relatives. The absence of violence on the screen is perfect for joint entertainment of parents and children, especially considering the fact that you don't have to pay money for it. There are no claims to the technical part either (with such graphics it would be surprising if the developers broke the wood), but you will still need a stable Internet connection. This is probably the only condition to take part in dynamic and fun competitions.

Zarium. August 2023