How to ride

Riding

The road is seen from the side, like Excitebike, but it has three lanes. The far lane is up, the near lane is down. Gallop to move, turbo to go faster, and watch the heat meter: run it to the top and the horse overheats and slows to a walk for two seconds.

• Hop. Tap back (left) on the ground to hop a low wall, a fence or a hitching rail. Miss it and you stumble.
• Tuck. Hold forward (right arrow, D or F, or the Tuck button on a phone) under low branches, or they sweep you out of the saddle. A red TUCK cue appears over Revere when a branch is coming in your lane, and turns green once you are down.
• Air. In the air, back leans the horse back and forward leans it forward. Land with the horse's angle matching the ground for a perfect landing: no slowdown, a puff of gold, and a step on your combo. Land badly and you lose speed or health.
• Gaps. Ditches, water, ice and lava need speed. Hit the ramp on turbo.

The Call

The new button. Press Call (C, E, L or Q on a keyboard) and Revere shouts.

• Beside a house (a gold marker appears over it), the family wakes, a lamp comes on in the window, and a minuteman rides out to join you.
• Beside a belfry, you ring the bell, and every house on that stretch wakes at once.
• With a full Spirit lantern, and nothing to call to, you fire a Lantern Burst: a few seconds of top speed, no heat, and a shock wave that knocks dragoons down and breaks barricades. The camera cuts to the front of the horse for this one.

Spirit fills from rousing houses, perfect landings, coins and takedowns.

Your crew

Every rider you rouse gallops behind you in another lane. They cheer at perfect landings and they get in the way of dragoons who try to pass. If you wipe out, one of them falls back. The more crew you bring to the finish, the more coins you earn.

Danger on the road

• Patrols and chasers. Dragoons ride ahead of you or come up from behind and try to bump you off the road.
• Volleys and broadsides. Red markers at the side of the screen show which lanes are about to be hit. Change lanes.
• Powder kegs. They go off if you touch them.
• Barricades. Break them with turbo or a Lantern Burst, or stop dead.
• Falling bridges. The planks fall in behind you. Keep moving.
• Cannon pads. Ride onto one and the gun throws you a long way down the road.

Stars, medals and the map

Every stage has three stars: one for finishing, one for beating par time, and one for its own objective. Stars open the next acts on the map. Medals come from your time: gold, silver or bronze. Every finish also earns Liberty coins and horse experience.

The camera

The side camera is where you play. For the big moments, the director cuts in like a car-chase film: a dolly down the starting line, a hoof-level tracking shot at GO, a front shot for the Lantern Burst, a crane over big air, a slow orbit on a takedown, a two-shot beside a rival, a swing past a cannon launch and a sweeping crane at the finish. Each cut slows the clock while it plays, so you never lose control. In Settings, Cinematic cuts can be Full, Light (start, burst and finish only) or Off.

Controls

On a phone, turn it sideways. Gallop is the throttle: hold it to run and let go to slow down. Save 150 coins for Steady Spurs at the Saddler and the horse gallops on its own, which frees a thumb for turbo and Call.