Velan Studios has announced Knockout City free to play starts today.
Knockout City Free to Play Has Begun
Knockout City was first launched way back in May 2021 and published by EA under EA Originals label. Later this year, Velan announced that it will be taking over the publishing duties and will now go for the free-to-play model when the sixth season begins, which begins today.
New Stuff to Uncover
The free version of the game and now in its sixth season, City of Tomorrow, will introduce new content for players who have stayed around. There will be a new Boomerang Ball across all playlists, the Starfruit Special energy drink, sci-flyer crew vehicle, a permanent new career contract, expanded hideout area, and many more.
Free and Premium Battle Pass Stuff
Aside from that mentioned above, there will be new cosmetics themed on “Super Science”, and the introduction of the new free and premium tier battle pass. Getting the latter offers new outfits, poses, trophies, and Holoblux to get the next season’s Brawl Pass. The free version offers a special Among Us crossover, Note 2 Self Legendary Glasses, Mini Crewmate Legendnary Hairstyle, and more.
Full Patch Notes
Check out the full patch notes below:
NEW AND IMPROVED FEATURES
FREE TO PLAY!
- Knockout City is now FREE to download and play without limitations!
- Knockout City also no longer requires players to have a PlayStation Plus, Xbox Live Gold, or Nintendo Switch Online Membership to play!
- For players that purchased the game and logged in at least once prior to June 1, 2022 (or that got the full version through the various subscription services we partnered with and logged in), you will receive the exclusive Loyalty Royalty Bundle the first time you log into the game after June 1st.
- There’s no better time than RIGHT NOW to start playing Knockout City and to get your friends to join you, form a Crew, and get to dodgebrawling!
SEASON 6: CITY OF TOMORROW
- The Super Science Symposium has come to Knockout City, along with a massive haul of super-science themed cosmetics to earn and buy!
- The Brawl Pass is BACK, baby! The City of Tomorrow Brawl Pass Premium Edition features 100 levels of rewards, including Outfits, Poses, Trophies, and enough Holobux to buy next Season’s Brawl Pass!
- Among Us has infiltrated Knockout City! Earn exclusive Among Us themed cosmetics in the Free Edition of the Brawl Pass! Legendary Glasses “Note 2 Self,” Legendary Hairstyle “Mini Crewmate,” Legendary Defeat Pose “In Electrical!,” and Legendary Taunt “Emergency Meeting!”
- Deep Space Dispatches are also back and available in the Free Edition of the Brawl Pass! Unlock all 10 to uncover this completely new City of Tomorrow storyline!
- Season 6 League Play has begun! Climb the ranks to earn new rewards to show off your accomplishments at the end of the Season, and check out the new Loss Forgiveness & Bonus Point feature below that will make doing so smoother than ever!
- Season 6 Crew Contracts are coming every week, with new challenges, rebalanced requirements, and brand new Crew Cosmetics! The game is FREE now, so build up your Crew with ALL your friends and work together to boost your XP and unlock the coolest gear before it disappears each week!
- New Daily Contracts and Daily Login Bonus rewards added to the randomized mix you get each day!
NEW SPECIAL BALL: BOOMERANG BALL
- The new Boomerang Ball has been added to all playlists in Street Play, League Play, and Private Match, as well as the Hideout.
- For some dedicated playtime with the Boomerang Ball, head into the Boomerang Barrage playlist in Street Play during the first two weeks of the Season, or all Season long in Private Match.
- Your initial throw of a Boomerang Ball behaves just like a Basic Ball, it can be Charged, Passed, Straight Thrown, Curve Thrown, or Lob Thrown, and it deals one heart of damage.
- If you throw the Boomerang Ball and it hits a player, another ball, or level geometry, it will BOUNCE BACK to you using the same Throw Type you used in your initial throw.
- You can Catch a returning Boomerang Ball to maintain it’s current charge level, or you can Perfect Catch it to add a Tier of Overcharge.
- Every time a Boomerang Ball hits a player, ball, or geometry, it loses a Tier of Overcharge. So like Passing or Self-Passing, you cannot infinitely charge a Boomerang Ball by repeatedly Perfect Catching.
- If you are hit by a returning Boomerang Ball, you will NOT take damage, but you will take a non-damaging hit like you do from Tackles or the cars in Knockout Roundabout.
- When a Boomerang Ball is returning to you, you will see a light blue border warning, indicating that the Boomerang Ball is homing in on you but will not do damage. (If there is also an incoming ball that WILL do damage, then the red border takes priority.)
- A thrown Boomerang Ball can bounce back up to three times before going neutral. Each new throw resets this limit. This means that if you throw a Boomerang Ball at an opponent and neither of you successfully Catch it, it will first bounce off of the opponent and damage them, then bounce off of you without damage, then hit the opponent again without damage and drop at their feet.
HIDEOUT: NEW AREAS & ACTIVITIES
MASSIVE new updates to the Hideout! Whether on your own or grouped up with your Crew, your Hideout is now the best place to hang out and play around while waiting for friends, practicing your moves, or just to unwind for a bit after a particularly intense match. Here are all the cool new permanent additions and activities in the Hideout:
- New Rooftop – A new building is being 3D-printed with Perennial Labs’ building fabrication technology right next to the Hideout and at just the right height for brawlers to claim for themselves. This is a more open space to play around in, with easy access to many of the other new Hideout additions below, mainly…
- Soccer Ball & Goals* – A Soccer Ball spawns in the middle of the new rooftop. It can’t be picked up and won’t appear in matches, but it is a purely physics-based ball that players can kick around just by running, rolling, or dodging into it. The new rooftop also sports two Goals on either end of the court. Kicking the Soccer Ball into the Goal triggers a celebration, and features a “First to 3 Points” score tracker at the top of the net. Reaching 3 points triggers a major celebration and both Goals are reset. *No, Knockout City is NOT located in America, but for some reason they still call it soccer anyway.
- Basketball Hoops – Five Basketball Hoops have been placed in various locations around the Hideout. Throwing any type of ball (or ballform player!) into the top of the Hoop triggers a celebration and turns the Hoop green. Just missing the Hoop triggers a failure effect. Successfully make a basket on all five Hoops for a major celebration and all Hoops are reset. How fast can you get all five?
- New Parkour – In addition to the new rooftop, more parkour elements have been added throughout the Hideout. Air conditioner units, billboards, signage, and a repurposed UFO have been added around and behind the existing buildings. Some elements like street signs have been updated to allow brawlers to stand on.
- Crew Banner – Your currently equipped Crew Banner now appears in your Hideout! The Crew Banner appears on the wall by the “Woohoo!” shipping container overlooking the city. Like the Crew Vehicle and Trophy Case, the Crew Banner that is displayed is based on whoever was the Group Leader at the time the Hideout was entered. These aspects will not change simply by changing the Group Leader until a new Hideout is entered.
- Purchasable Jukebox Tracks – New Jukebox Tracks are available to purchase from the Brawl Shop! All “Match Music” (songs that play for free for all players during matches) that have been added to the game after launch are Epic Rarity and will cycle through the Brawl Shop on different weeks throughout the Season for 100 Holobux each. This includes new Season 6 tracks from the band The Lab R@tz: “Ride the Brain Waves,” “Phrequency Phenomenon,” “Paradox Rox,” the Season 5 track from The Man On The Moon himself: “Brawler One,” and Season 4 tracks from the band The Listeners: “Purple Shift,” “Transmission X,” “We Come in Beats.” All Bonus Songs only featured outside the game are Legendary Rarity and will cycle through the Brawl Shop on weeks late in the Season for 200 Holobux each. This includes the Scratched Brass Band bonus track: “Get Outta Dodge (Bonus) feat. Sonny Rey” and remix bonus tracks “Planet Bop (Hologramatix Remix),” “Doo Wop ‘n’ Fire (Alley Katz Remix),” and “Kick the Riot (Johnny and the Breakers Remix).” Purchased Tracks are added to the list of possible songs that will play when you activate the Jukebox in your Hideout. Like the Crew Banner, Crew Vehicle, and Trophy Case, the possible Jukebox Tracks that can play are based on whoever was the Group Leader at the time the Hideout was entered. Purchased Tracks have no impact on match music. All players will hear new match music for free, and no bonus songs will play during matches. Purchasing these tracks only adds them to the Jukebox in your own Hideout.
- Boomerang Ball – A new Ball Spawner has been added to the Hideout that exclusively spawns the new Special Ball, the Boomerang Ball! Try it out against a friend, the Dummy, a brick wall, or for shooting hoops without needing to follow up for the rebound!
STREET RANK CAP INCREASE: CHROME TIER
- A new 100 Level “Chrome Tier” has been added to Street Rank after Diamond 100.
- This brings the total number of Street Rank levels up to 1000.
- 20 new Chrome Cosmetics have been added to Street Rank rewards, which may be earned by any players earning Chrome rewards starting at Sapphire Tier.
- Additionally, 80 more rewards of Holobux, Style Chips, and Energy Drinks fill out the rest of the Chrome Tier levels.
- The reward levels of Holobux, Style Chips, and Energy Drinks have been rebalanced across all Tiers, with some reductions in lower Tiers and increases for the new Chrome Tier, resulting in an overall increase for reaching the max level.
- When players first hit Chrome Tier, they will earn the new Chrome Border for their Player Icon. When they reach Chrome 100 they will unlock the new Chrome Trophy for their Hideout Trophy Case.
LEAGUE PLAY: LOSS FORGIVENESS & BONUS POINTS
- In League Play, when you encounter certain “unfair situations,” you may now qualify for either Loss Forgiveness or Bonus Points. While improvements are continually being made to matchmaking to reduce unfair situations, they may still happen from time to time. Loss Forgiveness should help protect you in many of these situations, and the addition of Bonus Points may help to turn these unfortunate scenarios into positive opportunities!
- Loss Forgiveness: If you LOSE a League Play Match in one or more qualifying unfair situations, then:
– You do not lose a League Point if you are below Diamond Rank.
– You do not lose Skill Rating if you are at Diamond Rank.
– You maintain your current Win Streak if you are on one. - Bonus Points: If you WIN a League Play Match in one or more qualifying unfair situations, then:
– You are awarded a Bonus League Point if you are below Diamond Rank.
– You are awarded 10% Bonus Skill Rating if you are at Diamond Rank.
– NOTE: The means you could now earn a maximum of three League Points if you earn a Bonus Point while on a Win Streak. - Qualifying Situations: At this time, only the following scenarios qualify as an “unfair situation” that may award you either Loss Forgiveness or Bonus Points:
– A teammate that wasn’t part of your Group was absent from the team for more than 25% of the match without being filled by a new player.
– A teammate that wasn’t part of your Group was in a lower League Tier than the highest League Tier on the opposing team.
– An opponent was in a higher League Tier than the highest League Tier in your Group.
– You joined the match while it was already in progress. - Non-Qualifying Situations: Among many others, here are some situations that do NOT qualify for either Loss Forgiveness or Bonus Points:
– A teammate that WAS part of your Group was absent from the team for more than 25% of the match without being filled by a new player.
– A teammate that WAS part of your Group was in a lower League Tier than the highest League Tier on the opposing team (assuming someone in your Group was also at that highest League Tier).
– You or a teammate is in a lower League Division but the same League Tier as the highest League Division on the opposing team. - Results Sequence: The League Play Results Sequence has been updated to display the following messages under any League Points you may have earned or lost:
– Win: For a League Point you earned for winning the match.
– Streak: For a League Point you earned because you are on a Win Streak of 3 or more.
– Bonus: For a League Point you earned from the new Bonus Point system.
– Loss: For a League Point you lost for losing the match.
– Forgiven: For a League Point you did not lose because of the new Loss Forgiveness system.
– Blank: Nothing is displayed in cases where none of the above terms apply, like earning a League Point in the Unranked Tier for simply completing the match.
NEW ENERGY DRINK: STARFRUIT SPECIAL
- A new Energy Drink has been permanently added to the game: “Starfruit Special: Hits with Special Balls earn +25 Bonus XP for 1 hour.”
- Like all other Energy Drinks, Starfruit Special comes in 1-Packs, 2-Packs, 4-Packs, and 6-Packs, and can be acquired in the following ways:
– Randomly rewarded from Energy Drink levels in Street Rank.
– Randomly rewarded from Daily Login Bonuses.
– Rewarded for reaching certain Levels of the Season 6 Brawl Pass.
– Rewarded for reaching certain Ranks in Season 6 League Play.
– Purchasable from the Brawl Shop.
ENERGY DRINK & MATCH XP REBALANCE
- Throughout Season 5 we have been rebalancing some of the XP you can earn from Energy Drinks and Matches, culminating in some final minor adjustments for Season 6.
- Match XP has been rebalanced for every Playlist type based on each mode’s unique average match lengths, matchmaking times, KOs, win rates, etc. so that they are all equally rewarding based on time investment. Essentially, playing for an hour should result in similar amounts of XP earned regardless of which Playlist you chose, so you are free to pick the Playlist that you want to play without fear that you are missing out on optimizing your XP gain.
- Energy Drinks have received a significant boost in how much XP you can earn. Before Season 5, Energy Drinks were based on KO Finishes only. Now, they are almost all based on Hits, more than doubling the average amount you can earn. For the Energy Drinks still based on KOs, the amount of XP they reward has been significantly increased so they are just as good as the Hit-based drinks. Here are all the updated Energy Drink rewards that went in throughout Season 5, along with the new Starfruit Special:
– Ulti-Berry Blast: Ultimate Throw KOs earn +75 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
– Coconut Crash: Character Throw KOs earn +50 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
– Dizzy Fizzy: Hits from Curve Shots earn +25 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
– Grenade-ade: Hits from Lob Shots earn +25 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
– Cherry Charge Up: Hits from Full Charged Shots earn +25 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
– Orange Overcharge: Hits from Overcharged Shots earn +25 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
– Potato Punch: Hits from Undercharged Shots earn +25 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
– Pom-Passer: Hits from Teammates using balls that you passed to them earn +25 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
– Starfruit Special: Hits with Special Balls earn +25 Bonus XP for 1 hour.
NEW MUSIC: THE LAB R@TZ
- Three new amazing song tracks from The Soundlings, styled after a new in-game band: The Lab R@tz
- About The Lab R@tz: The theory of gravity. The theory of evolution. The theory of relativity. Many theories have been advanced by science and The Lab R@tz are emerging from their laboratories to show off their envelope-pushing advancements in musical theory! Using the latest in high-tech brain-scanning equipment, The Lab R@tz are turning brainwaves into sound waves. Hook yourself up to their machines and think of a beat and out it comes. You want a 100 piece orchestra made up of beat boxing saxophone players? You got it! The only limits are your imagination!
– Track 1: Paradox Rox
– Track 2: Phrequency Phenomenon
– Track 3: Ride the Brain Waves - All three song tracks from the new Knockout City band The Lab R@tz are added to the game:
– Added to the Title Screen, matchmaking, and elsewhere for the duration of the Season.
– Permanently added to the random assortment of songs that play during matches for all players.
– Available to purchase for your Hideout Jukebox in the Brawl Shop.
NEW CREW VEHICLE: SCI-FLYER
- Just in time for the Super-Science Symposium, a new Crew Vehicle type has been permanently added to the game: Sci-Flyer
- Various versions of this futuristic Crew Vehicle can be purchased from the Brawl Shop and earned from the Season 6 Crew Contracts and Brawl Pass.
NEW CAREER CONTRACT: FAME AND FORTUNE
- For the first time, a new Career Contract has been permanently added to the game: “Fame and Fortune: Earn XP over the course of your Brawler career.”
- Instead of rewarding XP like other Career Contracts, “Fame and Fortune” is the first to reward Holobux! The XP requirements are steep, but the Holobux rewards increase over time!
INTRO/VICTORY/DEFEAT/MVP POSE AUDIO
- All new Season 6 Intro Poses, Victory Poses, Defeat Poses, and MVP Poses can now contain audio.
- Previously this was restricted only to higher rarity MVP Poses.
- You may also start to see audio added to Poses from previous seasons over the course of the next few Seasons.
BRAWL SHOP IMPROVEMENTS
- Most NEW items will now appear in three large slots at the left side of the Brawl Shop at the start of each “in-game week” (each Tuesday) and will remain in those slots for the rest of the week.
- Most of the eight small slots to the right will still cycle out on a daily basis and feature other Brawl Shop items released in previous Seasons.
- These changes should make it easier for you discover and purchase the variety of new cosmetics released each week without worrying about missing something on a day you didn’t play.
- Purchased Bundles can now be equipped as an entire set right from the Brawl Shop immediately after purchasing it. This works just like equipping an individual item purchased from the Brawl Shop. After purchasing the Bundle, in that same Bundle Details screen you can then hold to equip the entire set to your currently selected character.
BOT IMPROVEMENTS
Bots continue to learn new behaviors and improve their skills and teamwork. Some highlights include:
- Bots will now Fake Throw when playing against tougher opponents.
- Bots will now Tackle opponents in certain situations.
- Bots can now use Spin or Flip Jump to reach more locations across Knockout City.
- Bots won’t Pass into walls if there is another teammate nearby with a clearer trajectory.
As a reminder, Bots only appear in the Practice Match in the Training section of the Play menu, or in the first 5 to 10 Street Play Team KO matches for New Players. (The first match is always all Bots, then each match after that brings in more and more new human players, depending on how well the New Player performs.) Bots currently cannot appear in Street Play matches beyond that, and they are always clearly identified by a RadioBot icon in place of a platform icon on their Player Card. We are hard at work preparing them to eventually spawn into certain situations where players may be down a teammate in Street Play, so stay tuned for more information on that in the future.
MAP IMPROVEMENTS
- Some map adjustments have been made based on player feedback and player testing. Some of these changes may be reverted or altered during Season 6 depending on community feedback, so please give yourselves some time to try it out and then let us know what you think!
- Knockout Roundabout: Each lane of traffic has had one car removed, and then all the remaining cars are spaced out more to fill that extra space. This should make it less frustrating to get bounced around by the vehicles while still maintaining their value as moving cover, quick escapes to dodge or roll under, and transportation to ride on.
- Alien Smash Site: Two Ball Spawners have been relocated to try and encourage players to move around to different areas of the map and provide more choices to make regarding when to hold onto your UFO or hop off. The Ball Spawner in the “picnic area” just outside the Cow Barn has been moved just a few steps into the Cow Barn itself. The Ball Spawner on the lower level of the Silos area has been moved into the living room of the Farmhouse.
BASKETBRAWL IMPROVEMENTS
- Fixed a number of issues regarding interactions with… Force-Balled players?… Trap-Balled?… Brawl-Balled… Basket-Bawling… Player-Wads… omg how do we not have an official term for this?? Players trapped in Ballform because they’ve been KO’d in Basketbrawl. I like Basket-Balled. Let’s go with that. There, it’s now canon… Fixed a number of issues regarding interactions with Basket-Balled players.
- Hitting Basket-Balled players with another ball will now once again pop them up in the air. (We are keeping the previous change where hitting Basket-Balled players doesn’t extend their Basket-Balled time, but the pop-up should help make it easier to grab Basket-Balled players and give you some more choices to make during a chase.)
- Hitting Basket-Balled players no longer counts as “Hits” for Energy Drinks. Sorry, it was fun while it lasted!
SUPERPOWERS! IMPROVEMENTS
- Just in time for the upcoming Heroes Reborn Event, some small improvements have been made to the Super Strength Superpower to make it less frustrating to be on the receiving end.
- When you break out after being grabbed from Super Strength, the amount of button presses you need to mash to break out if grabbed again no longer starts at the full amount right away. Behind the scenes, this slowly counts up from 0, so if you are grabbed again a second later you may be able to break out right away.
- Fixed a bug where players would briefly be unable mash to break out if grabbed by the Super Strength Superpower while stunned.
- These updates also apply to the regular “mash to escape” moments if caught or picked up in ballform in regular matches.
JOIN-IN-PROGRESS IMPROVEMENTS
- Several “Join-in-Progress” improvements and bug fixes now and in the coming weeks should make joining a match in progress better, and result in significantly fewer situations where you might play an entire Round or Match with empty teammate slots.
- Fixed some issues where players were able to matchmake into active gameplay with less than the intended number of players in a team.
- Fixed some issues that sometimes caused the matchmaking system to not search for a replacement player if you were missing a teammate.
- Some final fixes for the remaining cases causing the issues above will be coming sometime in the first few weeks of Season 6.
- When a player joins a match in progress, they now spawn using the same logic as the regular respawn system (which tries to respawn teammates close to each other but far from opponents), instead of spawning at the initial “match start” spawn point.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES & IMPROVEMENTS:
- Added support for 12th generation Intel chips.
- Player balls colliding in air with other balls now play the correct ball collision sound.
- Dodge-Deflecting Player Balls now has a sound effect.
- Respawn Tip UI now looks significantly better and takes up much less of the screen.
- Match XP Results Sequence now correctly says “KOs” instead of “Eliminations.” Remember: KOs = KO Finishes + KO Assists
- The Turret targeting laser in Lockdown Throwdown is back to instantly tracking you, giving you more time to react and prepare for when it fires.
ADDITIONAL FIXES
- Fixed an issue where, occasionally, Street Rank rewards were showing the “Leather Jacket” in the match results reward sequence instead of the reward that was actually received.
– This may still happen in cases where players have already received all items within a pool. We know some players are seeing this in the Platinum Tier of Street Rank, and it’s usually nothing to worry about since you aren’t missing out on any items!
– For players above Platinum Tier of Street Rank that were seeing the Leather Jacket instead of the Chrome Cosmetic you were supposed to unlock… CONGRATULATIONS! That means you got to take advantage of a bug that was rewarding you the NEW Chrome Cosmetics added for Season 6. So you will actually be the first to have these in your inventory when you boot up for the first time during Season 6. - Fixed an issue where the reward sequence was skipped when a player logs in after a Crew Contract was completed while they were logged out.
- Fixed an issue where some Steam players were locked out of the game even though they had previously purchased the full game.
- Fixed the sudden movement that can occur when entering ballform after being “stored up” from a previous action.
- Fixed an issue occasionally preventing players from scrolling through Player Cards on the “Next Match” screen.
- Fixed an issue that was introduced in Season 5 that affected the resolution of Performance Mode on PS5.
- Fixed an issue where certain Energy Drinks (like Potato Punch) were crediting players for the actions of their teammates.
- Fixed an issue where players had to return to the title screen in order to have their selectable playlists change over into Midnight Madness mode.
- Fixed an issue with the bloom on outfits’ glow/holograms for the blue, green, and pink team colors.
- Fixed an issue in the League Play Match Results Sequence where incorrect text was being shown after losing a match in Bronze, Sapphire, or Emerald Rank.
- Fixed an issue on Nintendo Switch where accepting group invites from Nintendo Friends prevents players from accepting KO City Friend or Group Invites in-game.
- Fixed a freeze which was occurring when rapidly cycling between customization menus and selecting one item from each category.
- Fixed several issues which were caused after a player who’s holding or touching a ball disconnects from the game.
- Fixed an issue where recently rewarded Crew Vehicles weren’t previewed in the match results screen until they were equipped.
- Fixed transparency issues with certain elements of the Title Screen on Nintendo Switch.
- Fixed several locations (like in the Hideout!) causing players to take damage when under certain geometry in ballform. This should only happen when under active hover technology.
- Fixed missing geometry on the base of some Trophies in the Trophy Case.
- Fixed an issue in Superpowers causing X-Ray Vision graphics to persist after being KO’d.
- Fixed several different issues which were resulting in crashes on various platforms.
- Various other fixes and improvements.
Knockout City is now free-to-play on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. Since it is now free-to-play, there is no more need for players to have PS Plus, Xbox Live Gold, or Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions. Anyone can play the game.
