I was tired of Fall Guys, but Squads mode pulled me back in and I’m hooked again

Even as a solo player matched up with randoms, Squads is the most fun I’ve had in Fall Guys since Season 1

Somehow, Season 4 of Fall Guys has already been out for a month. That whole time, I’ve been meaning to check in — the futuristic low-gravity levels looked fun — but I kept pushing it off. After adoring Season 1, bouncing off of Season 2, and missing most of Season 3, it wasn’t that hard to procrastinate.

On a whim, curiosity got the better of me and I spent a couple of hours with Season 4 today.

_{Challenges? Huh? If you haven’t peeked at Fall Guys in a while, you might have questions.}

You know you’ve been on a real break when a once-familiar main menu suddenly feels overwhelming.

As much as I like the new stages and variations on the original obstacle courses, the biggest surprise to me is just how much I enjoy Squads mode. It has single-handedly renewed my interest in (trying to) keep up with Fall Guys again, which is funny, because it wasn’t even a blip on my radar until now.

I think I had it in my head that Squads would only be good with a full crew of friends to back you up. That’s surely the ideal way to go, but at least for me, as a solo-queue player, I’m having a blast.

_{It hasn’t been around for very long but I expect Squads to become a staple of Fall Guys.}

Originally in Fall Guys, with a team, it still felt weirdly solitary — like you were all doing your own thing at the same. If you were knocked out of the competition, that was kind of it; you got to passively watch your pals play until one of them took the Crown or they were all knocked out. It was more of a novelty.

The thing that makes Squads special — and this is something I hadn’t latched onto before — is that the game is re-tuned for teamwork. You win or lose as a group by scoring points, with the lowest-scoring teams getting culled from the battle-bean competition. For instance, in race levels, the sooner you cross the finish line, the more points you’ll earn for your squad. So if you’re one of the first to reach the end, you’ll contribute a lot; if you have a straggler on your team, they won’t add much to your total.

_{Skyline Stumble is my kind of Fall Guys. There’s so much going on.}

Meanwhile, in survival levels, you and your still-standing crew will earn points as the timer ticks down.

_{This isn’t the same Roll Out I remember…}

Squads might sound frustrating in the same way that team games often can be in Fall Guys, but that hasn’t been my experience. I’ve genuinely enjoyed rolling through levels with my randomly grouped teammates while trying my best to do well individually and as a team player watching their backs.

Even on stages I’ve seen easily hundreds of times before, I feel like I can’t be on auto-pilot like I sometimes am when I play alone. With the Squads mode, the fact that I can bomb one round, have my squad survive, and then rejoin them for the next level has a big impact on my motivation to play my very best every moment. There’s higher-stakes tension — especially during crowded races where I’m trying to go fast but not bump off teammates in the process — and the game feels all-around fresh again.

Yeah, the new-to-me Season 4 content is also helping to freshen up the place. I can’t deny it. But again, even when I’m going through my same old stomping grounds, I feel reinvigorated with my squad.

I haven’t won a finale for my team in Squads yet, but that’s the goal. That’ll keep me coming back. Earning Crown Shards that eventually accumulate to form full Crowns is a nice extra nudge, too.

_{The ever-shifting Squad Position in the HUD can strike fear in your heart.}

A few levels aren’t playable in the Squads show, and I imagine there are other kinks to work out and improvements to make. That said, I love what’s here, and it deserves a permanent place in Fall Guys.

While I promised myself I would never go out of my way to try earning the Infallible trophy (that’s the feat for five back-to-back show wins), Squads might change my tune. If anyone on your team wins the final round in Squads, you all get the W. Is the platinum within my reach after all? That’s my last trophy…

Some of you won’t click with Squads, and that’s fine — but I had to give it a shout-out for other players who might’ve overlooked it. If you’ve felt like you’re “over Fall Guys,” it’s worth revisiting.