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Sliding Makes Games Better
A significant percentage of video games are broadly about moving a character through some kind of world or place. The more fun that movement is, the better the game will be to play, and the longer players will stick with it.
I play games with a friend every week, and any time we come across a game that doesn’t have some kind of fun traversal mechanic in it, we call it out. We’ve been moving through Elden Ring lately and our favorite critique came up in the voice chat: “This is good, but it would be better with sliding.”
Every game is better with sliding. There’s something magical about running, taking a leap at the ground, then defying physics by sliding across it like a football/soccer player on wet buttery pitch. Some games put this sort of move in just for fun, while others kick it up a notch and let you slide for additional strategic benefit.
Here are three recent games with sliding in them that I enjoy. I wasn’t asked to feature any of these games, and I only make money from my writing with user support, which you can find out more about at the bottom of this article.