As of yesterday morning, this game has now shut down and is no longer playable.
This game was really special to me, so to say that I'm sad to see it go would be a strong contender for understatement of the century. In an age where multiplayer games are dominated by practically indistinguishable gritty war shooters and dime-a-dozen annual sports games, this chaotic, over-the-top take on 3v3 dodgeball was a refreshing standout.
I remember how I was convinced to give the game a go; my mom was watching EA Play that year and saw this game get featured (since it was still an EA Originals game at the time), recommending it to me because she thought I'd like it. Her observation was more than a little bit astute - in case the post-mortem essay you're reading right now wasn't a dead giveaway. I ended up giving the free trial a shot and I was instantly hooked. The gameplay was challenging, competitive and a ton of fun. It was the first time in ages that a multiplayer game resonated with me in such a way. I kept playing whenever I could for quite a while, and while I did end up taking a few breaks, I always ended up coming back around to it sooner or later thanks to the abundance of fresh new content that was getting added on a regular basis.
This game was something special. A truly unique game, and one that I will always look back on very fondly. From helping my team claim victory, to getting stomped by the enemy team thanks to their ability to actually - perish the thought - catch the ball, to laughing a bit harder than I'd like to admit at the announcement of the Among Us collab, this game brought great times all around to me and many others.
It wasn't meant to last, unfortunately. According to the developers, the game's death knell was its inability to retain a consistent playerbase. I always thought this game was underrated as hell, so knowing that said underratedness ended up doing it in feels like a bad kick to the gut. So here we stand; Knockout City is no more. This game I spent so much time on and loved enough to write this many words about is just... gone. Of course, there is a private server version on PC, which is cool since there is technically a playable version still, but it's not exactly ideal for someone like me who can barely play PC games at all. I'm very glad it exists, but as far as someone like me is concerned, there is no such thing as Knockout City anymore.
I've been through this kind of thing before - Dragalia Lost was a pretty recent one that I still miss a lot, and Sonic Runners' shutdown will always remain a very sad day of my gaming career (although Revival thankfully has taken up the original's mantle and also rules), but very few shutdowns like this have hit quite as hard as this one. This silly little dodgeball game was genuinely one of my favorites from recent years, and I will miss it very, very much.
I'm going to miss the refreshingly colorful, Saturday-morning cartoon esque vibes of the game and its visuals. I'm gonna miss the competitive, easy-to-learn-yet-hard-to-master gameplay. I'm gonna miss the feeling of logging in that day to see some new content or events. I am really going to miss Knockout City. Wether I was slinging dodgeballs around the court, teaming up with my allies to crush the competition, or getting smoked so hard that one of the guys from the enemy team sent me "LMFAO, get rekt, GG EZ" on PSN, I had an absolute blast with this game from the time I first picked up that dodgeball all the way until I threw my final one.
According to my Exophase statistics, I played Knockout City for 136.6 hours. It was my go-to multiplayer game for a long time. It ranked #2 for playtime on my 2021 PlayStation Wrap-Up just behind Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, and was my most played game of the year in my 2022 PS Wrap-Up. And every single one of those 136 hours was filled with fun, competition, and smiles. I'm very sad to see it go, yet I'm very grateful that I got the chance to experience this.
If you told me in 2021 that my longest Backloggd review would end up being for the silly little dodgeball game, I would have laughed my ass off. Because it's just that; a silly little dodgeball game. But it was my favorite silly little dodgeball game. So much so that I'm here writing more words about, as my sister called it once, "Volleyball Town", than some people have wrote for their favorite games of all time. Guess having a game you absolutely love vanish into the sunset will do that to you.
Goodbye, Knockout City. Gone far, far too soon, but gave me lasting, happy memories all the same. It may not have managed to find its place in the overall gaming community, but it sure meant a lot to one guy in particular.
This game was really special to me, so to say that I'm sad to see it go would be a strong contender for understatement of the century. In an age where multiplayer games are dominated by practically indistinguishable gritty war shooters and dime-a-dozen annual sports games, this chaotic, over-the-top take on 3v3 dodgeball was a refreshing standout.
I remember how I was convinced to give the game a go; my mom was watching EA Play that year and saw this game get featured (since it was still an EA Originals game at the time), recommending it to me because she thought I'd like it. Her observation was more than a little bit astute - in case the post-mortem essay you're reading right now wasn't a dead giveaway. I ended up giving the free trial a shot and I was instantly hooked. The gameplay was challenging, competitive and a ton of fun. It was the first time in ages that a multiplayer game resonated with me in such a way. I kept playing whenever I could for quite a while, and while I did end up taking a few breaks, I always ended up coming back around to it sooner or later thanks to the abundance of fresh new content that was getting added on a regular basis.
This game was something special. A truly unique game, and one that I will always look back on very fondly. From helping my team claim victory, to getting stomped by the enemy team thanks to their ability to actually - perish the thought - catch the ball, to laughing a bit harder than I'd like to admit at the announcement of the Among Us collab, this game brought great times all around to me and many others.
It wasn't meant to last, unfortunately. According to the developers, the game's death knell was its inability to retain a consistent playerbase. I always thought this game was underrated as hell, so knowing that said underratedness ended up doing it in feels like a bad kick to the gut. So here we stand; Knockout City is no more. This game I spent so much time on and loved enough to write this many words about is just... gone. Of course, there is a private server version on PC, which is cool since there is technically a playable version still, but it's not exactly ideal for someone like me who can barely play PC games at all. I'm very glad it exists, but as far as someone like me is concerned, there is no such thing as Knockout City anymore.
I've been through this kind of thing before - Dragalia Lost was a pretty recent one that I still miss a lot, and Sonic Runners' shutdown will always remain a very sad day of my gaming career (although Revival thankfully has taken up the original's mantle and also rules), but very few shutdowns like this have hit quite as hard as this one. This silly little dodgeball game was genuinely one of my favorites from recent years, and I will miss it very, very much.
I'm going to miss the refreshingly colorful, Saturday-morning cartoon esque vibes of the game and its visuals. I'm gonna miss the competitive, easy-to-learn-yet-hard-to-master gameplay. I'm gonna miss the feeling of logging in that day to see some new content or events. I am really going to miss Knockout City. Wether I was slinging dodgeballs around the court, teaming up with my allies to crush the competition, or getting smoked so hard that one of the guys from the enemy team sent me "LMFAO, get rekt, GG EZ" on PSN, I had an absolute blast with this game from the time I first picked up that dodgeball all the way until I threw my final one.
According to my Exophase statistics, I played Knockout City for 136.6 hours. It was my go-to multiplayer game for a long time. It ranked #2 for playtime on my 2021 PlayStation Wrap-Up just behind Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, and was my most played game of the year in my 2022 PS Wrap-Up. And every single one of those 136 hours was filled with fun, competition, and smiles. I'm very sad to see it go, yet I'm very grateful that I got the chance to experience this.
If you told me in 2021 that my longest Backloggd review would end up being for the silly little dodgeball game, I would have laughed my ass off. Because it's just that; a silly little dodgeball game. But it was my favorite silly little dodgeball game. So much so that I'm here writing more words about, as my sister called it once, "Volleyball Town", than some people have wrote for their favorite games of all time. Guess having a game you absolutely love vanish into the sunset will do that to you.
Goodbye, Knockout City. Gone far, far too soon, but gave me lasting, happy memories all the same. It may not have managed to find its place in the overall gaming community, but it sure meant a lot to one guy in particular.
3 Comments
Great review. I adored the game as well and I'm sad it never caught on.
Me and my friend group we're obsessed with this game for a couple months. it will always hold a special place in my heart!
This comment was deleted
ZettaZeptogram
11 months ago