Knockout City hands-on preview

Knockout City Free for First 10 Days in Block Party Launch Event

The multiplayer dodgebrawler Knockout City is getting a free 10 day event to kick off the launch of the game later this month. Starting May 21 at 5am PT/8am ET and running to May 30 at 5am PT/8am ET, the Knockout City Block Party will be 10 days of tournaments, a free trial of the game for everyone, and plenty to earn and win with the community.

The Block Party is the free launch trial that Velan Studios hinted at when Knockout City was announced. At the time, they hadn’t specified a duration, but we now know the game will be free for everyone on every platform for the first ten days before players will have to pay to continue playing. The free period is an unlimited trial featuring everything in the game, and any progress made during that time will carry over should you choose to buy it.

But that’s not all that’s happening at launch. The Knockout City Block Party acts as a kind of “pre-season” to get players ready for season one of unlocks and content. Unique Block Party contracts will task players with assorted challenges to unlock unique cosmetics and Seasonal XP boosts. You’ll be able to jump into four playlists while completing contracts: Team KO, Diamond Dash, Party Team KO, and Face-Off, and if you make the full purchase of the game during the Block Party free trial, you’ll get even more bonuses on top of the stuff you earn. Those exclusive early rewards from the Block Party bundle include:

  • Epic Outfit: Cyber Spike
  • Epic Hairstyle: Locked Horns
  • Epic Glasses: LED the Way
  • Epic Glider: Mach 1
  • Epic Intro Pose: Calling In Reinforcements
  • Epic KO Effect: By the Horns
  • THREE Player Icons: Bomb Ball, Pixel-Dillo, and Noodles Gone Bad
  • 500 Holobux!

These are all exclusive to the Block Party and will vanish when the event ends.

Four days after the May 21st launch, Season 1 takes off on May 25th with the theme “Welcome to Knockout City.” It will bring a brand new map (seen briefly in the trailer above), more Crew Contracts, and eight new playlists over the course of the Season. Best of all, it’s still during the Block Party, so it’s still free to play at this point. More details will be revealed about Season 1 at its launch.

Here’s the full Knockout City Block Party calendar of events:

  • May 20th — The Night Before Knockout City Twitch stream, featuring gameplay content and live chats with the developers
  • May 21st — Launch Day!
  • May 22nd — Community Crew Up kicks off with your favorite streamers inviting their communities to help them reach in-game goals to unlock prizes for their audience
  • May 23rd — Start rocking custom Crew Logos, Crew Banners, and Player Icons from content creators like JonSandman, Ohmwrecker, H2ODelirious, AyChristine, Gorillaphent, and NorthernLion
  • May 24th — Join the Velan Hideout: join our Discord to play rounds of Knockout City with the dev team, chat, and hang out
  • May 25th — Season 1 Kickoff: Welcome to Knockout City drops with the new map, new Playlist, League Play, Season Contracts, Weekly Crew Contracts, and more!
  • May 26th — Watch as community members take on the current world’s best dodgebrawl players in Round 1 of Dodge the Devs. Can they beat the best? Or will they go home crying to their mammas?
  • May 27th — Once wasn’t enough—we’re coming back for Dodge the Devs: Round 2!
  • May 28th — Community Tournament Day 1: We’re hosting two tournaments—one for North America, one for Europe. For both, 64 teams will enter, but only one will emerge victorious. Will it be your team?
  • May 29th — On the last full day of Block Party, don’t miss Day 2 of the Community Tournament, where we’ll take the top 8 teams in both regions and whittle them down to a single winner. With a $10k prize pool for North America and a $5k prize pool for Europe, this tournament is sure to have nonstop, high-stakes dodgebrawl action.
  • May 30th — Block Party ends at 12 p.m. UTC
  • June 1st — Week 2 of Crew Contracts, plus the brand-new playlist KO Chaos. Each week of Season 1 brings a new Playlist, new Crew Contracts, and new items in the Brawl Shop!

If you’re on the fence about Knockout City, the Block Party is the perfect opportunity to check it out for yourself entirely free. After the trial period, the game is just $19.99. It’s also launching as part of EA Play. You can also read our hands-on preview of the multiplayer dodge brawler for more on what makes this title so unique. Do you plan on coming to the party later this month?

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