"I'm a humble man with simple needs. It turns out what I really look for in games is a really good bumpity-bumpity-bumpity noise while sliding down a flight of stairs. If it weren't already packed with a squillion other good reasons, this would still be enough on its own to have me booting up Arc Raiders. Let's not mince words: sliding down a flight of stairs is great."
"First and foremost, there's the looking cool, but beyond this, skidding is a fast way to descend hills without draining your stamina. In fact, you can actually regain stamina during a skid, and when well-timed, it's the perfect means of escape from a feisty gang of angry drones. Run, crouch, and slide down the dusty slopes, then regain enough energy to sprint off into a nearby doorway at the bottom."
"But it's not until you attempt this move at the top of a flight of steps, whether they're in a concrete bunker or from a metal walkway, that you discover the utter life-affirming joy that's on offer here. Sliding down steps is the smoothest, most satisfying movement in a video game since Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning 's forward roll. Its perfection is a combination of factors that I shall lay out for you, scientifically:"
An emphasis on joyous physicality elevates sliding in Arc Raiders into a core pleasure. Sliding activates by hitting crouch/crawl while sprinting and produces a satisfying 'bumpity' sound and skid animation. The maneuver provides tactical benefits: rapid downhill travel, reduced stamina consumption, and even stamina recovery during a skid, enabling swift escapes from drones. Sliding down flights of steps — from concrete bunkers or metal walkways — yields especially potent gratification, combining momentum, sound, and visuals into a supremely smooth movement. The feeling is compared to Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning's forward roll and credited to multiple converging design factors.
Read at Kotaku
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