What is ragdoll physics?

Ragdoll physics is a way of animating a game character's body with a live physics simulation instead of set animations. When a character is knocked out, thrown, or killed, its limbs go limp and flop under gravity and momentum, so no two falls look exactly the same.

How ragdoll physics works

The game links a character's body parts with joints, like a puppet, then hands control to the physics engine at the right moment. Every push, punch, or drop then plays out on the fly rather than from a saved clip.

• Joints and limits. Each limb can only bend so far, which keeps the flailing looking roughly human.
• Forces do the acting. A hit sends the body tumbling based on speed and angle, not a pre-set fall.
• It triggers on cue. Most games switch to ragdoll the moment a character is downed, then blend back to normal animation if it gets up.

It's generated by rules as you play, in the same spirit as procedural generation, except the rules shape a body's movement instead of a level's layout.

Games that use ragdoll physics

• Gang Beasts is Boneloaf's wobbly party brawler, where grabbing someone and heaving them off a rooftop is the whole point. We flag the ragdoll physics as the catch in our two-player Switch guide, since they decide plenty of rounds no matter how much you practice.
• Party Animals is Recreate Games' physics-driven brawl between puppies and kittens, built for short, silly rounds. It lands at number seven in our two-player Xbox guide, where the wobble is the joke.

Both are co-op party games that lean on the physics for comedy rather than precise control.