We originally featured Crab Studios' Fatal Knockout on Board's Eye View back in March 2023 just ahead of its Kickstarter launch. It's a two-player arena-style combat game where players use their character's unique deck of cards to fight their opponent. Cards are played for their individual effect - to move, reposition or attack - or they can be chained together for greater impact. Niall Crabtree's design for Fatal Knockout was clearly inspired by video combat games like Capcom's Street Fighter with cards replacing the sequence of controller key presses needed to trigger fighters' special powers and effects. As we commented in our original review, it all works surprisingly well!
The Oddities expansion added four additional fighters. Dr Viverra fights by spawning and directing robot combatants. Surge has to build up kinetic energy to enhance the range and power of their attacks. Sly starts off weak but powers up by using actions to collect scrap. Neptune & Calico are a 'duo fighter': each of these two persona has their particular strengths, so there's an extra hand management challenge for the player using the duo fighter.
Now the game is coming back with more. A new High Rollers expansion introduces another four new fighters into the mix and, as you can always pair any two fighters, every new added fighter gives an exponential increase to the game's variety and replayability. And the new fighters in High Rollers certainly aren't mere reskins of what's gone before with new art from Fodsley, each has its own unique capabilities that gives it a distinctive playing style.
High Rollers introduces us to Bossman, Gambler, Dancer and Magician. Fatal Knockout already requires canny hand management but the Bossman fighter has a new mechanic for adding combos. Gambler's cards have no pre-set initiative number; instead, Gambler rolls three 12-sided dice each round and assigns them as the initiative number for each of their cards. Dancer is able to throw a pole to inflict damage and to accelerate their movement. Magician generates an illusion of themselves to misdirect their opponent's attacks...
The new fighters each bring their own unique presence to the arena but we've been pleasantly surprised to find that they seem remarkably well balanced: each has their particular strengths and limitations, and our plays at Board's Eye View have so far yet to flag any of the fighters as obviously overpowered or underpowered.
Tho' all the new fighters in High Rollers further spice up the game, Fatal Knockout remains a fast and furious contest whichever fighters you pit against each other. Even with the new fighters who can feel initially more complex, you can expect to finish a game (ie: finish off an opponent) in around 10 minutes. The game remains then a fun filler, but it's even more fun when you play it as a knockout tournament...
Crab Studios are bringing the Fatal Knockout High Rollers expansion to Kickstarter on 29 October. Click here to check it out.