Gravity rings, explained

What the rings actually do

Inside a gravity ring's field, your Orb accelerates toward the ring's centre — not down. Fly close and the arc curves hard; skim the edge and it barely bends. The ring's pull is continuous, so the resulting path is a genuine curve, not a deflection.

Chambers place rings where straight lines can't work: around corners, inside loops, guarding the goal itself. Learning to read ring strength is the difference between 'impossible' and 'one elegant curve'.

Three rules for reading rings

Rule one — size is strength: the ring's diameter is its effective radius. Big rings start pulling early; small ones are surgical.

Rule two — speed resists pull: a fast Orb bends less. The same ring that curves a lazy arc into a U-turn barely tickles a power shot.

Rule three — exit beats entry: what matters is where the arc leaves the field, not where it enters. Aim for the exit vector you want and let the ring solve the curve.

A gravity ring doesn't break the reflection law. It just makes sure you arrive at the surface from an angle you couldn't have chosen directly.

Slingshots and kills

Advanced players treat rings as engines: enter tangentially and the field slingshots you out faster — a genuine speed-gain technique called 'ring running'. The inverse is the ring kill: enter steeply and bleed speed for a soft landing on a needle target.

Frost Hollow's final chamber chains four rings for a line that looks impossible until you see it as one continuous slingshot. The Hints Pack replay shows it in slow motion.