Sony’s newest State of Play has come and gone, giving gamers whole new slew of reasons to be excited for during this year and beyond. One of those reasons was Velan Studio’s upcoming title Knockout City, an awesome-looking futuristic dodgeball-style game that is slated to launch May 21. Despite being shown during a Sony event, the title is also releasing for other platforms, as well as PC. The studio also announced console-only cross-beta test for April 2-4, giving players a chance to try out this unique take on a popular gym competition. The PC closed-beta took place this past weekend.
The State of Play trailer shows just how fast-paced the matches can be. You’ll of course be playing dodgeball, just in an open city landscape and with special abilities to make the game much more interesting. Catching a ball requires good timing, which then powers up the ball giving you the chance to do double the damage when you throw it back at your opponent. You can also avoid the balls being tossed your way, as well as tackle the opponents in order to distract them from their objective. This gives you and your teammates an excellent chance to either take advantage and swing the momentum your way, or continue pummeling the team.
The console beta in April will also introduce a brand new map called Black Alley Brawl, as well as a new weapon to boost your abilities, the Sniper Ball, and a Face-Off playlist for 1 Vs. 1. Velan Studios is known for their work on Mario Kart Live Home Circuit, the augmented reality title for the Nintendo Switch, which was runaway success last year. This will be their first normal video game release, and judging from what we’ve seen thus far, we can’t wait to try it out. As we already said, the console-beta will take place from April 2-4.
Knockout City will officially launch from this beta as a free trial, with the option to own it for $19.99. It will release on May 21 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/Series S, Nintendo Switch, and PC through Steam and EA’s Origin.