Hey, hi!

I’m Alex, the game designer on Chariot, and I want to share some details about the Stasis Field, one of the new gadgets in the Royal Gadget Pack DLC.

Out of all the new gadgets, the Stasis Field is perhaps the one that most closely resembles an existing gadget. A sort of super-Peg, it freezes the Chariot in place wherever it is – along with everything else in the game that isn’t a player, or created by a player (like projectiles). Then, once time runs out, everything starts moving again as if nothing had happened, keeping their initial momentum.

That doesn’t mean the Peg is now useless; the level 3 version remains one of the most useful and versatile gadgets in the game, especially due to its extreme duration and nonexistent cooldown. The Stasis Field is a little less user-friendly, but its function can be so powerful in the right circumstances that it more than makes up for this flaw.

No other DLC gadget started out so different from its current incarnation. During a brainstorm, one suggestion was an item that turned looters into loot, but that was judged overpowered and too narrow. It was then tweaked to just stop looters in their track with an ice bomb effect, but that too wasn’t versatile enough. After some back and forth, we found the right balance: a gadget that was as useful in combat as for tricky platforming.

For new users, the Stasis Field is a great panic button; if you’re losing the Chariot in a pit, or falling off a platform, you freeze everything and then have enough time to correct the situation. For advanced users, however, it can allow some amazing maneuvers, like swinging the Chariot in the air and freezing it there to make a platform. All of a sudden, the hidden level no longer seems so daunting.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!