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Knockout City

Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Genre: Online Multiplayer
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Velan Studios
Release Date: May 21, 2021

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'Knockout City' Season 4 Begins Next Week, Adds Map, Vehicles, Events And More - Trailer

by Rainier on Nov. 30, 2021 @ 2:57 p.m. PST

Knockout City is an action-packed team-based multiplayer game that brings skill, depth and style to the game of dodgeball, and transforms it into dodgeBRAWL.

In Knockout City, intense battles are a way of life and players will need to master the art of throwing, catching, passing and dodging in a joyful, yet highly competitive experience that will smack them in the face with surprises.

Whether it's 3v3, 4v4 or free-for-all quick matches in Street Play, competitively ranked games in League Play or a hosted experience in a Private Match, the fight to take down rival Crews takes many forms. In Knockout City, players start every match on a level playing field and need to rely on skill to dominate the competition. A solid Crew is also the difference between dishing out punishment and taking it. The game is easy to pick up and play, but practice is key to mastering positioning, timing and teamwork for dodgeBRAWL dominance.

And of course once players master the moves, they’ll want to be seen with their own unique look. Knockout City's robust customization options – from appearance, gear, attitude, body type and hairstyle to a custom glider, KO effects and taunts – will have players brawling in style. It’s not just about the player but also their Crew, and with up to 32 friends across platforms, players can customize their Crew name, logo, banner and even pick a custom Crew vehicle to ride into battle.

At launch, Knockout City will deliver a full multiplayer package with five multiplayer maps, one interactive environment where players and their Crew can practice, six ball types, full character customization, cross-play, cross-progression, Street Play with five starting playlists, League Play, Private Match, and the complete Street Rank Progression with hundreds of cosmetic items. Beyond this huge value at launch, Knockout City will also bring a ton of new content through seasons at no additional charge, where each season can include new maps, modes, balls, limited time events and more.


Watch out, dodgebrawlers! Unknown creatures are landing in Knockout City on December 7, kicking off Season 4: Alien Invaders and guaranteeing players who try to save their city out of this world will face obstacles.

The city’s Police Commissioner has mobilized the Knockout City Defense Force to combat these intergalactic intruders, and the DJ has teamed up with a mysterious caller in an attempt to contact these cosmic creatures to learn more.

Knockout City’s newest season is bringing a plethora of new content, including a map, vehicles, events and more!

New gameplay content coming in Knockout City Season 4 includes:

  • A New Map: Alien Smash Site - Players will find themselves on a floating farm that is the crash site for a number of UFOs, introducing a unique mechanic where dodgebrawlers can jump onto floating saucers and hover across open pits below, moving at high speeds without losing the charge on a ball.
  • New Events and Playlists - With nearly back-to-back events and new playlist action, players can jump into Season 4 ready for anything. Over the coming months, Knockout City will feature four new two-week events with entirely new game modes, each with their own exclusive rewards.
  • Brand New Brawl Pass - With Season 4, all players will start again at Level 1, making their way through 100 new levels each stacked with new exclusive alien-themed rewards. There will be five weekly contracts, new Holobux offerings and more. Players will also keep all rewards earned in any previous Brawl Pass, so stock up on those unlockables while you can!
  • But Wait, There’s More - Players will have access to Alien UFOs as Crew Vehicles, a new Energy Drink: Pom, new bundles and daily store items.

One of the benefits of developing a live service game like Knockout City is that you can constantly try new things. If these things work for players, you build on them. If not, you try something else. The cycles can be really rapid. We want to constantly update game content and keep each experience fresh; we packed Season 3 with events, and you can expect more where that came from in Season 4. We have four two-week events planned for a twelve-week season which starts with our Conflict Escalation Playlist on December 7 and ends, as always, with a week of Midnight Madness at the end of February. The start of Season 4 will also feature our new map: Alien Smash Site.

The level design process on Knockout City gives us the flexibility to focus on centering each level around a specific unique mechanic. For instance, at the Holowood Drive-In, we have movie vignettes that change every minute, significantly changing the level geometry throughout the match. In last season’s Lockdown Throwdown, we added menacing-looking turrets that shoot cage balls at you if you get caught in a Security Drone’s spotlight.

This Season, we’re taking brawlers to Alien Smash Site, located on a peaceful farm hovering high above the ground on the outskirts of town. It was a peaceful place in Knockout City until recently, when the Knockout City Defense Force shot down UFOs directly on top of it. It has a full range of combat spaces: tightly enclosed barns, big open gaps (more on that in a bit), and places to flank and drop into an ongoing battle. 

This is Knockout City’s biggest level so far, so it needs something to help with traversal. Luckily, the aliens have left around a bunch of little saucers that you can hover around on and zip from place to place, even using its tractor beam to suck up balls (or players in Ballform, before you chuck `em into the nearest pit). For me, using the saucers is the most fun in our Basketbrawl mode as you can ride the saucers to dunk opponent balls through the hoops.

Hovering is a great benefit because there are a bunch of pits in the level that are difficult to traverse otherwise. Of course, getting hit with a dodgeball above a pit might knock you off your ride, so you have to be careful. As always, we try to pair benefits with drawbacks so that every choice is situational. Riding a saucer makes you faster and gives you more traversal options, but you become a more visible and vulnerable target. There’s a lot of verticality on this map to deal with.

Alien Smash Site is a lot of fun, but nowhere near all we have going on. We have a new 100-level Brawl Pass filled with all kinds of rewards, a new Season of Deep Space Dispatches (our ongoing audio transmissions revealing the story behind the season), and of course, a suite of alien-themed cosmetics (which you now have more time to complete, including those shiny Diamond contracts at the end). As always, you earn enough Holobux in each Brawl Pass to buy the next season’s Brawl Pass, so you never miss out on those exclusive cosmetics. And, to top it all off, we now have a native next-gen versions (with a free upgrade for last-gen owners) for even better graphics  and an option for 120fps.

We’ve brought back Team KO in League Play by popular demand and we have a lot more great stuff in the works that I can’t tell you about yet. The aliens won’t let me mention… *painful scream* I mean, uh, I’m limited by my development contract. Yeah, that’s it. Heh.

Zack Hiwiller - Lead Designer / Velan Studios

When the game launches, players will also have access to a free trial for a limited time across PC via Origin and Steam, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, during which time the full game will be playable.

Players who choose to purchase the full game during the free trial will be able to transfer all their progress, plus receive additional cosmetic rewards, as they continue to brawl in Knockout City. For those who purchase after the free trial, they’ll still be able to transfer all their progress over.

With cross-play and cross-progression, up to 32 friends can team up across platforms to form Crews, and even switch between platforms with progress intact, to take down rival Crews in the name of dodgeball dominance.

Knockout City is available for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC (Origin and Steam), as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S through forward compatibility with graphical and performance enhancements for $19.99.


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