No. 04 of 12 · Party obstacle course · checked September 2026
Fall Guys
FreeA game show where the contestants are jelly beans and the last one standing is whoever fell over least. Nobody needs to be good at it, which is why it works.
Fall Guys is a knockout game show: sixty players start a round of obstacle courses, team games and survival rounds, and the field is cut each time until one bean is crowned. The controls are run, jump, dive and grab. Your friend who last played a game on a Nintendo Wii can be competitive in the first five minutes, and that is the whole reason it is on this list.
The group modes are where it becomes an evening. Squads puts four of you on one team whose combined results decide who goes through, so a strong player carries and a weak player is never eliminated alone. Better still are the private Custom Shows: invite up to forty people from the group chat, pick the rounds yourself and turn a birthday or a works social into a tournament. Creative mode adds player-built courses, some of them very good.
Mediatonic, based in London, made the game free in 2022 and moved it onto the Epic account system, which means one identity across PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC, with full cross-play and everything you own following you. A show is over in twenty minutes; if someone has to leave, the rest of the squad carries on. There is no built-in voice chat, so the group brings its own call.
The shop is the weak point. Show-Bucks come in bundles that never quite match costume prices, and the Fame Pass runs on a seasonal clock, which is the design we like least. Everything sold is cosmetic and a group can happily spend nothing for years, but children and completists will feel the pull. Set the platform spending limits and enjoy the rest.
What works
- Playable by anyone within five minutes
- Private shows for the whole group chat
- Full cross-play and one account everywhere
- Free, with twenty-minute sessions
What to know first
- Fame Pass runs on a clock; currency bundles are awkward
- No built-in voice chat
- Public shows fill with strangers if your squad is short
The first evening: four things to do
- Play Squads, not Solo
The squad modes score the team together, so nobody is knocked out alone in round one and the newcomer is never the reason the evening ended.
- Learn to dive at the finish line
Diving is faster than running for the last metre, and it is the difference between qualifying and watching.
- Try a Custom Show once you are eight or more
Private shows let you choose the rounds and skip the ones the group hates. It turns a public scramble into a tournament with a leaderboard of friends.
- Ignore the shop for a season
Everything sold is a costume. Play a month, see if the group sticks with it, and only then decide whether a pass is worth anything to you.
In play
Screenshots and artwork © Epic Games, shown for review.
Verdict
The game to send to the group chat when nobody can agree. Free, instant and genuinely funny, with a shop you can ignore and should.
Best for: Mixed-ability groups and anyone organising a big, silly evening.
Ready to try it?
The official site has the current price, platforms and download links. We do not sell games or take a cut.
Go to fallguys.com (opens fallguys.com in a new tab)