Death of a Game: Knockout City

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Go to tryfum.com/NERDSLAYER or scan the QR code and use code NERDSLAYER to get your free FÜM Topper when you order your Journey Pack today. Thanks for your continued support, and if you had a chance to play Knockout City before its official shutdown...let me know what you thought of the game below, in the comments!

[@fentanylfrog8403]

I gotta say, having an offline mode to play after the servers shut down really sweetens the pot for me, I really respect the KC devs for that. I feel like that should be standard protocol for every live service game, but I guess companies would rather let years of hard work be erased forever 🤷

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Same, it makes the video a bit bitter sweet to me

[@jonathanc1260]

Maybe one day a offline mode for Godfall Destiny The Division games deserved to be played without connection You can clearly see a one player campaign in these game

[@Valkbg]

@@jonathanc1260 I would probably play the Division if it was single-player

[@fentanylfrog8403]

@@Valkbg That’s actually what my dad did, played both Divisions and barely interacted with the multiplayer lmao

[@lonewolffang]

Yes. Let the game at least stay alive in some way.

[@naru3849]

Knockout city was free for the first 10 days of release, and then it went behind the 20 dollar paywall. Most people weren’t willing to pay up when the game was taken away from them, and it never recovered. Also the ranked system was terrible

[@FlibbleBeck]

This. Loved the game, friends loved the game, but couldn't convince four people to all pay £20 when Overwatch and LoL exists (even if you pay more overall for those).

[@BADC0FFEE]

Literally this, I think this video misunderstood the game and the community, it was never aimed specifically at kids for example, it just had a colorful art style that fits well with the gameplay

[@Dillan96]

How was ranked? I forget how it functioned and haven’t watched the video yet.

[@naru3849]

@@Dillan96 he doesn’t talk about it, but it was one of those “grind from rank 0” systems where there is no elo but just a concrete number of wins to rank up, think hearthstone pre-legend. Indie companies are always trying to reinvent the wheel with ranked systems, they need to stop.

[@_Paul_N]

That’s scummy and I had no idea why this game never caught on or had any traction. They paywalled the damn thing out of thin air 😄

[@AlexVidalD]

I had the pleasure to work on the development of the game and me and my coworkers had so much fun doing so. I was never expecting the game go full mainstream but it was gone sooner than I thought 😔

[@Dillan96]

You guys did great. I can’t wait to one day see Knockout City again ❤️

[@novexiumdazzler4290]

Thanks for the memories

[@AvaValComedy]

The game was so fun! It was a pandemic relief for me ❤ Thank you 🫡

[@dsweetestkitty1527]

I miss this game soo much you did a great job

[@destroyertv7974]

I'm from Brazil and Knockout city was my favorite game!!!! I really miss this game. 🥺🥺🥺

[@Mickeyds11]

this and rumbleverse being canned so fast is wild to me man, both games were very fun!

[@marlowencna]

The epic exclusivity killed it faster

[@JasonNZ42]

Both games had a lot of potential. A shame when a lot of pay to win games still thrive to this day

[@SoggyHotDoggy]

Rumbleverse actually hurt. The only battle royale game I genuinely enjoyed lmfao

[@mymantony7612]

💯💯💯

[@graysonwells21]

Ngl, I was just thinking about how I mixed those two together while watching this

[@nairocamilo]

I only remember this game because I distinctly wanted the reveal trailer to be the real game. A bunch of characters from made-up games, each from some genre, being interviewed; like a 2D sprite princess, a MMORPG orc, a FPS soldier

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

a cool idea, that Sony has done before...but without the actual universes to collab with yet, and the identity displayed being vastly different than what the game became

[@B00mt00b]

No seriously, the generic characters from other games could've been their gimmick. The cartoony appearance of the Turtles gave me the impression that jumping between cartoonish depictions of your everyday video game character would make for a nice, colorful cast after several patches.

[@jmaster4941]

@@B00mt00b Wreck-It Ralph was also what it reminded me of. A neat genre mashup game like that akin to Project X Zone would've been fantastic. It would've been more creative than what we got honestly.

[@AugustBurnsRed181]

We don’t tolerate knockout city slander.

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

When a game dies, it's better to talk about why it did, on top of why people enjoyed the game. If nobody had issues, the game wouldn't have died, and not in the fashion it did sry. Endlessly glossing just isn't my style

[@AugustBurnsRed181]

@ it was a joke lol

[@KyubiRonso]

One of the best games i ever played, the community was very friendly and the devs were always aware of the fans ❤

[@theone01299-z]

Thank you for covering this. I had so much memories with this

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Glad to hear it

[@jesperveltried9772]

My boyfriend and I couldn't meet up much during COVID. We'd play KC every night on voice chat and always aim to get the number one reward animation. For that, the game will always have a special place in my heart. Like most of these games though - the matches are super fun, but people get burnt out. There was sadly too little staying power.

[@COOMmanderInChief]

this game was so fun man, simple enough to get my entire friend group to play but also there was enough to the gameplay to have those hours long sessions. Visually the maps were very charming but I agree with the characters being kinda hard on the eyes, I remember my friends scrolling through the character customization and not knowing what to pick because nothing was appealing to them

[@towelsdontpanic9143]

As a console player, that had made to emerald and ruby League multiple times, and one short lived time in diamond league, this video made me feel things. Im happy i got the time. But im upset that it didn't get to last long. Thank you for the in depth dissection, and nostalgia filled clips.

[@Sundji]

I genuinely loved this game. It had just enough complexity to be challenging without being too complicated. It was great psychological competition at times.

[@Duffers]

It was a great game but it got sweaty and unfun pretty quickly. Not sure how that could have been avoided.

[@izzyjoshuadavis]

This. It was fun until it wasn't fun because people were beyond casual at a certain point. 😂

[@ThatChadWithTheAnchorArms]

This still hurts.....

[@blurmarsh2265]

This might just be one of the most refreshing coverages of the game on youtube just by virtue of actually acknowledging it's a dodgeball game and not a battle royale 💀 Very good video!

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Glad you liked it!

[@JYMBO]

This game was legitimately so fun! Very sad to see it go

[@JuanaldDuck]

I..miss..this…game

[@mrmeaty5619]

this game was so dam good. played it all the time. mechanics were in depth and had a big skill ceiling. very very fun game. its crazy that it got shutdown

[@t-rexngatokorua8733]

Ngl, I've always been meaning to play this game but due to personal reasons, I never got around to it. After watching this video, I can see I would have had quite a bit of fun with friends on it, so it's good to know they did give it an offline mode and we're able to play with friends...alll for free. I will download this and force my friends to as well just to honour the devs hard work.

[@nsimmons8620]

I liked this game quite a bit when I played it. Moved on to one of a hundred other temporarily engaging games at the time. I've found myself doing that so much these days. Really cool mechanics and ideas at the forefront, but no staying power. ALSO, love your channel! Always click on it right away when I get the notification.

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Glad you liked it, thanks for the support!

[@deathbot3602]

I genuinely miss this game😢

[@apollyon4535]

I adored Knockout City. I dropped off around the TMNT crossover, but it still felt sad to see it go down.

[@stephenvp]

xdefiant is shutting down, maybe next?

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

hint hint

[@BurchDaDon]

I played this game all the way until the end :( BRING IT BACK

[@Dillan96]

Remember this being a game me, my brother and Dad all hopped on after getting codes from the dev’s on discord. It was incredible. I still miss grinding the game together and playing around in the lobby while waiting for a match. The devs are interested in revisiting the game in the future after there new game is out.

[@onjaimusic]

"Death of a game: Knockout City"... it still hurts to hear this 😞

[@BlazeAndHisTwoGirls]

LittleBigPlanet and Simpsons: Tapped Out are gone

[@Leet_Juice]

Aw man. This was such a good romp, should have been free to play from the start, clearly there were some interest. Looking forward to what you have to say about this one, Nerd ❤️

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

[@Leet_Juice]

@ Such a bro. Awesome video, congrats and thank you 🙏🏼

[@LeonidasGGG]

This was another of those I went like: "Looks fun, I'll try it later... Oh wait, it's dead." 😅

[@kingkilla777]

Samei had it in game library for a while never downloaded it but planned to now severs are down rip

[@amemura]

this game had so much heart... the visual style and the music were sooo good ❤😭

[@franz888]

Kinda gives me Foamstars vibes, a Splatoon looking game that struggled to find it's own niche but eventually people just got bored of it. But Foamstars had Square Enix on their side, but even that didn't help them avoid irelevancy

[@Kl4tch]

i was top 100 in usa, i LOVED knockout city, i had the best time ever in that game.

[@matiasgrande6041]

I LOVED this game, reached ruby on 1v1, truly one of my favorites multiplayer games ever and truly broke my heart when it died 😢

[@corykershaw5843]

I have a few series I would love to hear the story on, first Resistance: Fall of Man and it's sequels, it was such a fun game and I liked the others too. Next there is a franchise that I wish would come back Drakan, it released Drakan: Order of the Flame for the PC in 1999 and Drakan: The Ancients' Gates for the PS2 in 2002. I know you seem to focus on live service games but it could be interesting to find out more about franchises that died out.

[@Shellnanigans]

Thank you for making this premiere within a hour. Most channels will post a video a day or more early .. I want remember to watch lol. Very smart if you !

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Thanks, I have been doing it for about a half dozen episodes and I love how organic it feels. Including the ability to watch with viewers, and talk about parts I maybe didn't get to cover in the video!

[@DoTheThingTheater]

As someone who paid full price for the game AND both TMNT character bundles, I was sad to see the game proper shut down. I will say my biggest issue was the SBMM. I most enjoyed playing casually with friends but if we played too well we’d get stuck in lobbies where we could barely move before being eliminated

[@snazzydrew]

I REALLY LIKED THIS GAME! Like legit it was something right up my alley. Kinda wish it wasn't designed as a live service. Reminded me of Dodgeball Advance on GBA

[@AstralPandaBoi]

Not a Death of a Game. Rather than a "Retirement of a game" game is not dead if community play's it even after official support has ended

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

According to your definition... which is cool but I disagree and I don't feel the same way... And uh... it's my series.

[@PettyCrow-n9c]

They should've just went to Nintendo and tried to make a Nintendo themed dodgeball game. That would've made them so much money.

[@supermac8619]

Back flip knock outs always felt so damn cool

[@levelup-zay]

This was favorite game of all time I got so hooked up to it if the game would've stayed online then they would've put the game free to play from the beginning but it was definitely worth the 20$ R.I.P Knockout City you will always be my favorite city 😔

[@slipperysteve6188]

God I loved this game so much, so much that I didn't, until hearing you say it right now, even think of outs by catching not being in the game.

[@jarongriffin8514]

I miss this game so much. This was the peak of the ps4 era imo

[@TheAlison1456]

Quite interesting. A live-service game whose studio survived, and the game also had an offline mode. I think I caught wind of this, which was very unusual. 21:40 one word: Toy Horror

[@jonnyunitusgaming]

We still play on the private server almost every night

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Shout out to velan for doing an offline mode

[@AdmiralMairO]

This game was so much fun to play, i wish they did more to advertise the game

[@yourmaninlondoncollecting5749]

Always looking forward to your analysis of games gone by.... Good entertainment with watching or just listening 🙂👍

[@CrokeyHigati]

Im not sure I get the Splatoon comparison. Aside from vaguely urban and punk aesthetic in both games, they don't really play or feel similar. Knockout City was a bit more all over the place with its visuals and costume design. I remember not really having an outfit I particularly liked in that game. Splatoon definitely has pretty specific mood and aesthetic its going for. And saying Splatoon is not a game about aiming is an odd comment to make. Its very much a comment from someone whos only played like 30 minutes of turf wars and hasn't experienced the anguish of being sniped from a charger from the other side of the map. RIP Knockout City you will be missed, hopefully it will come back a little more fully baked in the future.

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

The auto-locking is literally the exact same, but ok, it's fine if you don't agree about that point

[@CrokeyHigati]

@nerdSlayerstudioss Auto locking in Splatoon? There isn't any auto locking, or aim assist in Splatoon. Not in the multi-player PvP, PvE or base game single player.

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

There's a literal button that resets the camera to about face/forward on your target. And the camera itself, is situated in nearly the exact same way generally already. Even the character models, for example, share similar dimensions. Multiple weapons are able to lock on to your enemies...Base weapons even. It's not a full lock on because the point is to not attack your enemies, but spray paint... Now it feels less like your opinion, and more like you just don't agree with people making comparisons you don't like lel

[@CrokeyHigati]

@nerdSlayerstudioss I respectfully disagree. The Y button is to recenter the gyro and camera position to the direction your character is moving. If you are moving backwards and press Y it will spin the camera 180. It has nothing to do with the location of enemies. Plus, Enemies can be at other elevations so resetting your aim angle eye level isn't even helpful most of the time especially when players jump or climb up wall to reach high up places. There isn't any Auto-lock or aim assist in Splatoon. Not in any of the games in the series. I've played over 2000 hours in each game in the splatoon series. I promise there isn't any help with an aim assist. The gyro or motion aiming is the only thing that makes the stick controls work comparable to the standard mouse and keyboard. The only thing that comes close to that, is weapons that cover a wide area with their explosions/projectiles. Which is pretty standard is many shooters. Other than that, There are 2 bombs you can used to locate towards enemies if they are thrown near them. I no issue with the video or even the final deduction. Just this strange tangent on game it doesn't seem like you played so the opinion you shared on the game and thus the comparison you made to the subject of this video doesn't make much sense. So less 'opinion I don't like is bad lel' and more 'opinion and reasoning is based on incorrect information so doesn't make sense.'

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

You ignored the rest of the points I made though, which didn't really feel like an equal exchange...And feels oddly delusional, when my argument wasn't just based on the camera. Also there's 2 Splatoon weapons with targeting on them, but maybe you just forgot that in your 2k hours you know?

[@DeadxReckon]

Knockout City needs a holiday release like the Xmas Outlaws golf game. Knockout City: Snowball Fight or something. A small tweak for a spot of holiday fun on the cheap.

[@Sleaz04]

I wish this game stay alive. Was one of my fav chill games to play after some crazy cod. Spent good money on the battle passes they had, content was decent.

[@Jamal-wk6fy]

Me and my friends put so many hours into the game

[@ilyatepeyolotich6459]

Hopefully private servers would become industry standart

[@toddvogel8887]

I remember playing one match and going "Nope, hate this."

[@blockyoxwinkle5829]

Is it just me or are there some odd editing errors in the audio?

[@Ath3naExe]

I really miss this game man - it was so fun bro

[@Gabex42]

the whiplash i got from the reveal trailer wouldn't be repated until the gameplay reveal trailer of Concord

[@spahghettiboi4150]

24:23 Well at least xdefiant lasted longer than concord 🤣

[@profiscus]

The man out here doing the lords work preserving media

[@Marinealver]

Future Death of a Game: X Defiant Possibly followed by Perfect Dark

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Did you watch the hint?

[@danipatac7210]

Perfect Dark got recently shown, it's not getting canned, Microsoft can't afford another cancelled game lol

[@NotMeButAnother]

@@nerdSlayerstudioss Hint looked like Killing Floor 2 maybe?

[@pessoinha5529]

okay, this one hurt to watch, me and the boys miss this game so much, If it was f2p from the start maybe it would be different, also less ugly characters would help

[@javonyounger5107]

The idea behind the trailer for this game was so much more interesting than the game.

[@terrain3905]

my favorite part of the game is that they deleted all the stuff i paid for

[@micah459]

This game was actually fun but had connection issues and not even content to keep it fresh. It was so hard to get friends to play because of the artstyle and concept which is sad

[@FidoArtz]

suggestion for a dead game: Gridiron. a free to play 7v7 competitive sci-fi football multiplayer game. came out on steam early access on Jul 23, 2020. it was getting updates, buildings communitiys and leagues, and was going to get a new version with a closed beta and promising new features. then the game ran to the Epic Games Store. and judging by the response and lack of news updates on the new version of gridiron. people are not happy and the games social media has been radio silences sense 2023.

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

I had no idea it existed, but I will check it out

[@hassanalhobail8084]

6:01 noo not 2012 😅

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Fuuuuuu

[@mono.kaiser]

Do one for Dauntless! The last update (that took A LOT of time) they changed everything, for worse. Everything is behind a paywall now, it’s abusive to the player, and i doubt the players (which were already few) will continue playing that game. RIP dauntless

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Def will

[@owenvanvenrooy]

This was easily my favorite game for the Time it was out as a plubic server game, i played almost every single day during its life cycle on missing 3 days due to multiday trips. Havent touched it since the private servers tho

[@everythingmakessense86]

Just getting ready for XDefiant 😢

[@keenfuture]

I miss this game so much

[@Rintastic-w2k]

Indie or not. Going F2P means you NEED to HAVE a 10 year game PLAN at the minimum. You are also gonna have to make kids shell out 500 universal credits at the minimum during that timespan which is a lot. Gamers always think 60 whatever equals 60 whatever to the developer. But in most cases half of it goes to some form of "tax" and then the publisher (if they have any) eats another 10-25% leaving you with 25% whatever at best. Selling a game here in EU for 60€ as a solo dev leaves me with about 27€~ because tax (VAT) is 25%, and then Valve eats another 30%. And if I say use Unity or UE then another 5% is taken away assuming I make 1M+ €. So even a banger that goes for 60€ will only net me 24€ per copy sold. Now imagine I have to cater to banana republics because people decided that tanking their economy was a good idea. Selling 1M copies for 1€ each will only net me 200K €. Now sure that can keep me afloat for many years to come, but that's an if.

[@LeonidasGGG]

Cover Spacelords! (aka Raiders of the Lost Planet)

[@Thewhiteknigth7]

You should make a video about Deceive Inc. Yesterday the devs said that they are not going to support the game anymore. In my opinion that game had a lot of potential

[@alcmadnessgaming]

Miss this game 😢

[@anfumu]

One I'm surprised Ihaven't seen on here was Earth and Beyond. came out around the same time as Motor City online, by westwood, published by EA. it was a really fun game, back around 2002-2003 or so,had was killed before it's time because it wasn't EA's baby The Sims Onlne. Pity too, it was one of my favorite space Based MMORPGs, to this day.

[@ibreathedojacat]

This game was hella fun i js forgot about it for a while

[@AccelDie]

I will only remember Princess Charm and the whole gang from the trailer from this blunder.

[@Dillan96]

I’m interested in you covering another game called, “Rocket Arena” it came out at the same time as this and shared similar art style gripes like KC and Rumbleverse did. It died so quick and originally a $40 price tag.

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Another EA failure too, I'll def cover it

[@TheRealRuddRants]

The next death of the game is where I have a serious beef with the big U. Because I'm not done ripping on Pepe Le Poopoo over here.

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

😆

[@ziadrrr_]

man i miss it along side rumble verse, i still have the ko city servers build that let's host a game with friends Really fun game

[@ranchman693]

I got Mario Kart Live used for 40 dollars. It's so much fun if you have cats! Little Boy the Cat loves to play hide and seek with it lol

[@AlexanTheMan]

Seeing this I immediately thought about the Dodgeball part of Rerez' Worst Console 2 video, in which a quote goes: “[Kid]Wouldn't that be fun if they made a game about dodgeb- [Rerez] WELL IT'S NOT FUN!” I kid you not I have not heard about this game until this video. All the buzz in 2021 was squarely focused on Halo Infinite, RE Village and even Forza Horizon 5. In my own circles we were fangirling over Metroid Dread and Psychobauts 2. I guess some dodgeball game would have naturally gone over my mind given I was absolutely over hearing about anything Fortnite-like that any game that even does a basic taste of featuring pseudo cartoony humanoids would just get a mental block by me. Which may explain why I did not bother learning about Knockout City.

[@LilJuiceBx]

This one is a different kind of hurt, you are missed KC

[@VIPandalicious]

Dang, I actually liked the style and that the direction was more family friendly lol

[@05374]

I paid full price for it at launch. Never buying an EA game ever again.

[@zyphon551]

It feels like deceive Inc is currently going through a very similar thing

[@EvilMag123]

Kinda hoping you do a dotg for phantasy star universe one of these days. The amount of shit that happened in that game was crazy

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

I will, it's honestly my favorite PS game

[@Antymollin]

Knockout city could be huge if an IP like nintendo would back it up

[@Scallywag96]

Future DOAG: Terra Battle. It was a fun game that tried to move on to a sequel that ended up crashing and burning both games

[@danipatac7210]

I love the studio behind it, they're a very creative bunch, I just wish they'd make more offline, single player games😅 their next 2 games are a VR game and a multiplayer shooting game in a dark mansion... Both have interesting concepts, but I'd like em to do something with more mass appeal at 1st, because I don't want to see them go under :(

[@izzyjoshuadavis]

The game was fun when it initially came out for me. But there were several reasons I stopped playing it eventually. Some were game reasons and some were just personal life stuff like moving around a lot and not always having stable internet to play it on.

[@PixelCaffienated]

ah, darn. Should have participated in this investigation. played this and it was fun but, man did it had some issues

[@estavel117]

man still miss the game…

[@teh1archon]

Too bad I didn't play it more. It overwhekmed me and didn't find the time to come back and give it the time I needed to properly enjoy it.

[@AlexMartinez-gv7hy]

I do hipe for a return someday. Heck, i go for a revamp. Honestly, a more in-depth combat system would be good. I never actually played dodgeball, so i can't say much but yeah it was super fun.

[@abillionfollowersbutnovide3234]

Remember this being free and didnt even look at it

[@zedmiasma7304]

The reason this game failed, and something you did not mention whatsoever is the fact that the you could only choose between 2 game modes at a time that changes every 10+ hours and 2 of those gamemodes were 2v2. I bought this game with 2 other friends and we had fun for hours. Until the game mode rotated and forced us to either drop 1 or go onto a different game. We stopped playing after that, went back on the next day only to see once again that we couldn’t play together. Imagine you boot up Fortnite to do trios in br but then the game says “nope you’re playing solo lego story mode”. Then the next day you try to play br duo and the game says “yea you can do duo. In fortnite save the world” You had zero control over the mode you played and most of the modes had annoying gimmicks that just weren’t enjoyable.

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

This was mentioned btw. I even added that I thought only the events should be limited time.

[@stanneary6748]

one game i would love to see on your channel is "Star wars the clone wars adventure" (yes it's a mouthfull) that game was my childhood

[@nerdSlayerstudioss]

Def on the list

[@aldybandojo]

well at least the game isn't dead dead

[@doggermelon]

This game was so fun sad to see it go.