With teens spending more time at home than ever, video games have grown  in popularity like never  before. Viewership on Twitch and YouTube has also skyrocketed as players  found themselves cooped up at home, looking for some interaction.

Over the past few months, a few games have stood out in popularity amongst Diamond Bar High School  students for their communication, skill requirements or just being downright chaotic and fun.

If you’re looking for a relaxed, fun and goofy game, you should check out “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.” A massively multiplayer party game, “Fall Guys” throws 60 people, the titular fall guys, into a lobby from which they are then flung into random arenas and minigames of pandemonium and fun, making for a unique type of battle royale. At the end, only one victor emerges as the king of all Fall Guys and claims a crown as their reward.

Every match is different from the last. There are over 25 mini party games–both team-based and individual–each with their own bundle of craziness and amusement. This variation guarantees that you’ll never get bored, even after hours of gameplay. Other features like the option to play with up to three friends and to customize your Fall Guy make this the perfect quarantine game.

“I enjoy playing video games as a way to calm down and unwind, which is why I enjoy Fall Guys so much,” said Senior Mara Anica. “It’s a fun game with a happy atmosphere while still being quite competitive.”

FALL GUYS

If you’re looking for a relaxed, fun and goofy game, you should check out “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout.” A massively multiplayer party game, “Fall Guys” throws 60 people, the titular fall guys, into a lobby from which they are then flung into random arenas and minigames of pandemonium and fun, making for a unique type of battle royale. At the end, only one victor emerges as the king of all Fall Guys and claims a crown as their reward.

Every match is different from the last. There are over 25 mini party games–both team-based and individual–each with their own bundle of craziness and amusement. This variation guarantees that you’ll never get bored, even after hours of gameplay. Other features like the option to play with up to three friends and to customize your Fall Guy make this the perfect quarantine game.

“I enjoy playing video games as a way to calm down and unwind, which is why I enjoy Fall Guys so much,” said Senior Mara Anica. “It’s a fun game with a happy atmosphere while still being quite competitive.

AMONG US

“Among Us” is a casual party game that resembles “Mafia,” the goal being to find the impostor among a group of four to ten people. It has three maps, two of them being spaceships, and one of them being a base in a snowstorm. The impostors are tasked with sabotaging and killing the other players without revealing themselves. The crewmates, known as innocents, can win the game by completing tasks or discovering the impostors’ identities.

The controls are simple, with elementary tasks not meant to challenge the players, allowing you to focus on discovering the impostors. Impostors are given opportunities to sabotage the crew by removing oxygen or lighting, while the innocents have to fix these problems and solve the task before time runs out. Added to the many problems already on the ship, impostors have escape vents that they can use in order to leave crewmates guessing as to who committed the murders.

Though it costs $4.99 on Steam, it’s free on mobile and easy to set up. If you ever choose to play, hop on a call with your friends and have fun deciding who gets thrown out the airlock.

“I like how it’s free and I can play casually with friends, especially when I can’t see them in person. Also, stabbing people as the Imposter is also very therapeutic,” said sophomore Angelina Wang.

On top of being fun to play, it’s also very entertaining to watch, evidenced by its high viewership on streaming platforms like Twitch and Youtube. It’s definitely a game worth trying due to its low cost, easy setup and fun gameplay.

VALORANT

Riot Games’s “Valorant,” a new tactical, first person shooter that draws inspiration from other popular titles like “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” and “Overwatch” exploded on Twitch after its release and has only attracted more attention since. Its simple visuals and colorful environments are both satisfying to look at and functional, since its simplicity makes exploits like one-way smokes harder to find. While fun to play alone, it’s much more enjoyable with friends.

But if competition rather than cooperation better fits your taste, “Valorant” also has a ranked mode where you can test your skills against other players. Its music is nothing special, but it makes up for that in creative ability design, replacing commonplace utilities like flashbangs with fiery balls of light or a floating purple eye. It’s a free-to-play game, with money only netting you in-game aesthetics, so in the end the price is up to the player.

“It’s a mix of CS:GO and Overwatch and it accommodates new players, so it’s less intensive and toxic. I can enjoy the game and it’s easy to pick up,” said junior Ranbo Zhao .