Kingdom Hearts Modder Removes The ‘Drop’ From Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance

Ever since the Kingdom Hearts games made their way to PC via the Epic Games Store earlier this year, the modding community has been hard at work with implementing various ideas, from slight cosmetic alterations to fundamentally game-changing ones. A recent mod by KHVidsNET falls into the latter category.

They removed what many fans consider one of the worst and frustrating mechanics in the franchise, the Drop gauge in Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. For those unaware, Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is a rather unconventional title, even for this series of games. One of the primary reasons for its bizarre existence stems from the infamous Drop gauge. Essentially, while playing, there is a constantly ongoing time gauge on the playable character’s HUD. When this time gauge runs out, the player character automatically falls asleep, or ‘Drops,’ and players shift to the other playable character.

What makes this mechanic legitimately annoying at points is that the gauge still runs out in the middle of boss battles, so it is possible to Drop mid-battle. Then, when returning to this character, the boss battle will be completely restarted. There is one notable method to circumvent this design decision, though, that being Drop Me Nots. These items restore the Drop gauge, and they are relatively inexpensive from shops, so they’re not contrived to obtain.

Still, even though the Drop mechanic never strongly irritated me, thanks to that particular item, I agree that its inclusion can ruin pacing, and this fan-made removal can make the experience less stress-inducing and more friendly to exploration.

If you’d like to see the mod page for the Drop gauge removal, check out KHVidsNET’s announcement of it.