Gang Beasts Preview

Local party games seem to be on the rise. With the OUYA, many indie developers have been creating their own little games made specifically for a good laugh with some friends. Double Fine, creators of Psychonauts and Broken Age, bring us Gang Beasts, the next entry to the local multiplayer games, this time it’s on the PC.

The basis of Gang Beasts is pretty simple. You and up to seven other friends (or homeless people you kidnapped and forced to play with you… you never know) are thrust into an arena with one single goal: knock everyone else off, through any means possible. Each player has three lives and the last player standing wins.

How do you do this exactly? By swinging your arms around like a goddamn madman until you happen to whack one of your buddies (or homeless hostages) in the face. That’s not the only thing, but if they are caught off-guard, you can grab them and throw them around, which is the most common way you’ll find yourself knocking people out of the arena, although as I found out, this can backfire if they grab you and spin you round off your feet, flipping you over (this seriously happened several times.)

The physics of the game are what makes it so god damn hilarious. Watching just two players entire bodies awkwardly shuffle around to each other, go to swing at each other and then miss completely, followed by them both flumping to the ground and scuffling to their feet is enough to cause a chuckle from even the most bland person. Now imagine eight people all doing that. At the same time. Probably screaming and/or commentating at the same time. This can only get better.

Overall, at the moment, my only complaint about Gang Beasts is (you guessed it!) that it’s local only. Nonetheless, Gang Beasts is hilarious even to play by yourself (if you lack the friends and homeless people to join you). So it’s worth getting. It’s in Early Access, so it can only get better from here.