Tears of the Kingdom highlights how falling is the best feeling in video games
When I saw the last trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as I assume this will be the first of 37 times, I wanted to do one thing right away: endless free fall over Hyrule, watching Link’s long new locks blown back by the wind as he charts a collision course for an interesting new mystery. Considering that every trailer for the mysterious Breath of the Wild sequel has shown Link doing this, I’m pretty sure it will be a regular part of the game, and I can’t wait. Free fall is one of the best video game mechanics, and I’ll explain why.
It’s better than flying. Flying is for cowards. Real people know where the action is: here, on solid ground. Cool to have you up there in the air, mate. I’m going here, where the cool swords are.
Gravity is your friend, not your enemy. Or maybe a frenemy. The tension between where the world wants you and where you can actually go is The Good Shit when it comes to game design. The most fun game mechanics make you feel like you’re not just breaking a rule, but exploiting it. Hence the free fall: a beautifully elegant moment where you break one rule (gravity), only to embrace it moments later and use it to do something incredible.
You cannot ignore the world below you. Back to my first point. If you just look for the sky, you never have to think about all the interestingly designed spaces in the actual game world. Fall is a tool that asks you to contemplate and better understand the world. That’s why every battle royale game starts with you jumping out of a giant flying Roomba or whatever.
It’s pretty good for punching power. Screenshots and photo modes have been created for posts where you can position your game character and say “kiss my tunic, 30,000 feet.”
They made a whole game about this and it reigned. To remind Gravity rush? And Gravity Rush 2? Incredible stuff, man.
It has been the best game mechanic ever since Mario‘s jump. If Mario’s jump was the moment the video game atom split, the free fall is cold fusion. I think. I’m still working on this metaphor. Like cold fusion, it may not really pan out. Just know it’s sick to death.