Swimming

Swimming is a mechanic that activates if you step in a body of water that is at the appropriate level. Usually you would move slower in the water, but the speed varies with each character. While swimming, you can not attack, and you will stay on the surface. When playing as Rico, he can use his diving ability to go under the water surface.

Enemies
Enemies can also swim, but they move about the same speed they would on land. And since villains can cheat, they can attack you in the water, only with close-range attacks. However, if you shoot them while they are swimming, they will shoot back at you. There are some enemies that are never intended to be able to swim. The only enemy that is capable of swimming underwater is the Shrimp.

Trivia

 * If you happen to get a Peacock into the water at the swimming level, you will see an illusion of a huge peacock and it can still attack. This is likely caused due to the fact that peacocks were never intended to be dragged into the water, and thus have no behaviour/skeleton set. However, in Viggo's Revenge, they use an alternate moving animation when swimming.
 * Though they are able to swim, the Polar Bears in The Bad Place can ignore the water and walk on it.
 * Dragging a Chameleon in the water, you can see how the area looks like without water. If they are in water and forget you are there, it will trigger the giant illusion glitch. The latter also applies to the Fox.
 * If an Armadillo gets into the water, the giant illusion glitch will trigger every time they make a splashing noise, and then they will be invisible while moving in the water, though you can still see the ripples they leave behind.