Fall Guys fans are heartbroken over the game’s elusive crowns

Fall Guys is all about that race to get a giant, golden crown in the final level. Most of us know by now that you can’t win them all, and there’s no sense in being a sore loser. But some players wish they could just win one, especially with the first season of the game coming to a close.

Amir is a fan who has been playing Fall Guys since beta, and while he has noticed an improvement, he still has yet to win. “I have more fun in the early rounds,” Alan told Polygon over Discord. “And then as soon as we hit Hexagone or Fall Mountain, I either get really intense because I want to win once so bad, or I just check out.”

Losing is a common experience in battle royale games, and Fall Guys is technically a battle royale. But unlike Apex Legends or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, you can’t get carried by a teammate. (In fact, the team games can sink an otherwise great player if they go badly.) There’s a luck element to the game, and a rogue banana or unfortunate game of Slime Climb means anyone can advance… but it doesn’t feel like the underdog has a good shot of winning.

It’s not purely about winning, of course. Crowns mean having the ability to purchase skins. Fall Guys often rotates its premium skins; some can be bought with Kudos, which come free with every game, while others can be purchased with cash. The most visually distinctive and desired skins come from winning crowns.

“[Losing] wouldn’t bother me if it wasn’t for the cosmetics,” said Lauren, another player who spoke to Polygon. “When I see a guy dressed as a Portal turret or a robot cat on the middle slippery tube in Slimb Climb, my blood boils. You have 10 crowns at least. Why are you trying to stop me from getting one? I know that’s not the point of the game; the point of the game is to win. But the winners are so obvious and I admit, I get really jealous. I want a jellyfish butt too.”

Some players want Fall Guys to iron out the randomized parts of its gameplay to become more of an esport, albeit an unusually pastel and soft-textured version of one. Other players love the random elements, whether they come in the form of Big Yeetus or a slew of strawberries being tossed down the playing field. These players are fundamentally at odds, and the crowns (and the skins they reward) become a way for those differences to become clear and calcify into resentment.

Many players have been suggesting changes. On Reddit, the user heyitsm4tty suggested a “silver crown”, which would work as a consolation prize for people who make it to the finals, but don’t win. That post received over 10,000 upvotes, and has since been shared in Fall Guys fan Discords and communities. “Damm [sic] if this was a thing, I would have at least one 10 crown costume by now,” said the top comment. Another top commenter shared in the frustration. “[It’s unrewarding] when you do so well, only to come up against fall fucking mountain.”

Image: /u/heyitsm4tty via reddit

Not everyone agrees with the sentiment. A follow-up post by the user RocketCarPlayer said that silver crowns would “Ruin the point of Fall Guys.” Lead game designer Joe Walsh replied to the thread, and acknowledged that while the game needs to reward skilled players for their achievements, it also needs to find a way “for more casual players to feel rewarded and progress towards the more exclusive rewards without having to win a full 60 player free for all.”

While there were no specific promises, Walsh noted that finding that balance was something the development team had plans to address soon. For now, it looks like season one will end with some players not winning a single crown, even if they put in the effort.

“I love Fall Guys so much,” Lauren said. “It’s not like I want to be salty. But I worry that when games are all about skill, even if they’re fun, eventually I get left behind because I’m not watching YouTube tutorials or practicing all day. I feel like I fell out of Overwatch because that game slowly became more about pleasing the best players. I worry the same thing will happen to Fall Guys.”