Ragdolls, the one game-enchanting aspect of any game, often regardless of genre. For me, the fun started all the way back in the original Hitman: Codename 47, when I noticed you could drag the dead bodies around. I spent hours dumping my victims into the sewers (we all float down here). Since then, it has of course lost some of the shine, as it has become standard in games (you would hope, at least). Some do it poorly, and some do it great, but as long as it is there, it improves the game experience.
The missing link
However, two recent titles that I really enjoy (Jagged Alliance 3 & Xenonauts 2) are missing ragdolls effects, which to me is extremely baffling. Not only from a design decision to provide extra fun, but also from a technical viewpoint. If these games were 2D sprite based, like the former games in their respective series (Jagged Alliance 2 & Xenonauts), it would be understandable. It probably wouldn’t have an easy physical engine to use, but they are not 2D sprite based anymore. To be fair, I’m not sure about the HaemimontSol engine used for Jagged Alliance 3, since it’s an in-house engine creation, but I would be very surprised if it didn’t have support for physics. Xenonauts 2 is on Unity, in which I have dabbled. So, in this case, I know physics is pretty easy to add.
The reason I talk about this, is, as said, it improves the gaming experience by a lot. It has the potential of making the mundane special. Like when you throw a grenade at a guy standing on a rooftop, to then watch him sail away across the heavens to finally land in a hilariously awkward pose after gravity has done its job. Yet, for some damn reason, that is not to be in Jagged Alliance 3. An otherwise good game when it comes to gameplay, and general engine decisions, like true-line-of-sight for example. I just don’t understand it, as of now we are left with only canned animations that always play out the same. It removes the dynamic chaotic feel of the battlefield, and the added random humor. It’s also one of the things I expected to be in the game, because it would be the natural evolution going from 2D to 3D. That I have to go back to Silent Storm from 2003 to experience this, is absolutely bewildering to me. Silent Storm is now over twenty years old, for crying out loud.
If I’m being honest, and it might sound petty, since the game is good, made even more interesting with mods. But the lack of ragdolls is one of the reasons I’m not going for a new playthrough. The shooting, and the tactical aspect is still excellent, but that extra fun fluff is just missing. It’s made worse by the fact that the environment is so good, and so is the graphical engine. Like it was made for this exact thing – seeing people fly from explosions, that is. It’s a major-missed opportunity that gnaws on me whenever I think of starting a new playthrough. It makes me annoyed and disappointed, instead of looking forward to playing. You can say that the wasted potential gets to me. However, I should mention it has “gibbing”, if someone eats a grenade directly. Unfortunately, it’s also a static 1×1 tile animation, which always plays out the same each time. Gibbing multiple bad guys at the same time looks very samey, and dull. So many opportunities for glorious fun… gone, like tears in rain.
Aliens don’t ragdoll
Xenonauts 2 isn’t much better, and it could even be regarded worse, seeing as I know the engine used supports it. And I have a faint memory of it being included in the real early versions of the game that got presented as a demo on GOG. Even so, I don’t mind it too much in Xenonauts 2 for some reason. Meaning, it hasn’t hindered me from trying out the Early Access release repeatedly. Yet, once again, it’s undeniable something I miss, and I can’t fathom the reason it’s absent. In both cases you can make the argument that it would be hard to get to the corpse, or wounded soldier in some cases, but does that really matter? It would just be a random amusing event. Let’s say if you couldn’t can’t reach Private Smith until he bled out thanks to being thrown on top of a rooftop. Isn’t that what developers and journalists go on about often: the so-called highly praised “emergent gameplay”? Dynamic gameplay spawned from events happening due to the systems involved. Even so, the pure fun ragdolls effects add, outweighs any issue it would create. Besides, Xenonauts 2 also has gibbing, which destroys the corpse and any equipment. It’s also a static animation, but it makes the argument for lost equipment moot, since grenades already erase everything from our planar existence.
Update:
My friend Jonathan found this on RPG Codex, which confirms ragdolls was once part of Xenonauts 2, but has since been disabled. It’s a quote from Chris, the main developer.
“To answer a couple of specific points – the game is indeed in Unity, and the ragdolls on corpses have been disabled for normal death animations, but I think they’re still enabled for the explosions – I seem to remember aliens being thrown around by the grenade launcher in the relatively recent past.”
It’s a real shame, since both of these games are a perfect fit for ragdolls. Thankfully, a couple of upcoming games in a similar genre will have ragdoll effects, and it’s not yet too late for Xenonauts 2 to include it. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is going to have ragdolls, and so will Urban Strife and Project Haven. A simple addition, now in the age of 3D-engines. Just knowing that these titles will include this specific effect, makes me a happy camper. It’s just puzzling to me that games that can support it, devs still make the active choice not to include this effect. But, I guess, that’s gaming for you. Ragdolls forever, I say!
Thanks for reading.
– Thomas
Tom's Gaming Vault 