Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout has really flourished over the past year, and it's not hard to see why. Its wacky Wipeout-style obstacle courses offer platforming challenges unlike most other games, especially other battle royales, and the adorable bean-shaped customizable characters have a lot of charisma. Since it first shot to fame, Fall Guys has attracted some major crossovers with other video game franchises, including Doom, Team Fortress 2, Cuphead, Sonic the Hedgehog, and many more. However, Fall Guys hasn't done quite as much to reach out and cross over with other properties. That changed recently when Mediatonic announced a new version of Monopoly based on Fall Guys.
The Fall Guys version of Monopoly definitely looks like a charming take on both games. Instead of real estate, players buy up well-known Fall Guys obstacle courses and the player tokens pay homage to some of the most famous Fall Guys costumes. Still, if Fall Guys was going to get a board game adaptation, something more faithful to the game's platforming and movement would've made more sense. Chutes and Ladders, for instance, seems to have a lot in common with the Fall Guys concept, and could be a pretty fun basis for a Fall Guys board game.
Adapting Fall Guys to Chutes and Ladders
Chutes and Ladders' history goes back hundreds of years, drawing inspiration from an ancient Indian game called gyan chauper, so naturally it's seen a lot of different variations over the years. Nowadays, tons of board game makers have their own version of Chutes and Ladders, so Mediatonic could reach out to just about anyone to make a Fall Guys version. Considering how Chutes and Ladders is all about players constantly sliding up and down the board, it already seems very similar to Fall Guys' frantic platforming, where a single misstep can send a player tumbling off the course.
While Chutes and Ladders is generally pretty simple and based entirely around luck, a Fall Guys version of the game could get a little more elaborate. For instance, the board might feature various Fall Guys obstacles that players need to overcome with a die roll, and overcoming them could let players choose to either move themselves forward or knock another player back. Players might also be able to activate individual Fall Guys obstacles manually once in a while to sabotage each other, all while using Chutes and Ladders' titular tools to race around the board. With those extra movement tools, the game wouldn't be too far off from real Fall Guys platforming.
Fall Guys' Board Game Venture
Monopoly couldn't be more different from Fall Guys; it's a slow, meticulous game of resource management and careful strategy. Still, the Fall Guys version of Monopoly does seem to include some of the hectic platforming that defines Mediatonic's game. The Monopoly board features springboards, swinging hammers, and other obstacles that players can use to launch one another, which ought to add an excellent element of Fall Guys' chaos to Monopoly's traditionally cautious gameplay.
While the Fall Guys Monopoly board may not put an emphasis on platforming, there's still hope that Mediatonic will work on something more platforming-centric in the future. Fall Guys is only getting bigger right now, with major crossovers in recent months like those for Horizon Zero Dawn and The Nightmare Before Christmas proving as much. After the Monopoly game comes out, Mediatonic could certainly look into more physical Fall Guys games, whether that be a Fall Guys version of Chutes and Ladders, Mouse Trap, or any other game heavy on movement and player obstacles. It's great to see Mediatonic seizing the moment for Fall Guys, and with the game's overall growth in mind, the Monopoly board may only be the beginning.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is available now on PC and PS4. Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S versions are in development.
