HOW TO PLAY

CONTROLS

WASD / Arrow Keys to move. Mouse aims, LEFT CLICK shoots (or enable AUTO-SHOOT in Settings). RIGHT CLICK uses your secondary weapon — hold to charge, release to fire. SPACE dashes (brief invincibility). E drops a bomb that clears all normal enemies. P pauses. Keys 1-5 switch primary weapons, 6-9/0 switch secondaries. Everything is rebindable under CONTROLS. Mobile: twin joysticks, auto-fire, and a CHRG button for your secondary.

MODES

• NORMAL — The story campaign: pick a boss from the Codex, clear its level, unlock the next. Easier pace with checkpoints after each boss.
• SURVIVAL — Endless phases that keep getting harder. The classic mode.
• BOSS RUSH — Bosses only, back to back.
• IRONMAN — One life. No mercy.
• CO-OP — Party up to 4, run by the server so nobody's laggy tab stalls the game. Shared score and word bounty; killing a boss revives fallen teammates.
• PVP — Duels and party battles; see the bottom of this guide.

CLASSES

NORMAL — balanced. TANK — +25% damage, −25% move speed. SPEEDSTER — +25% move speed, −25% damage.

COMBO SYSTEM

Every kill raises your combo; getting hit resets it. Combo boosts damage (up to +50%), move speed, fire rate, bullet speed and score — and crit chance scales from 0% at zero combo to 100% at 600. Your ship evolves through 8 tiers:

• COMBO (0-24) — Green V
• STREAK (25+) — Orange ▼, aura ring appears
• RAMPAGE (75+) — Yellow ✦, star bullets
• FRENZY (150+) — Blue ◈, double rings, weapons take on your streak color
• ULTRA (300+) — Indigo ◆, DNA spiral bullets
• GODLIKE (450+) — Magenta ☆, orbiting sparks
• THUNDER (600+) — Your ship becomes a crackling ball of lightning. 100% crit.
• DNA (750+) — The final form: a rotating double helix.

WORD BOUNTY

A meme word sits at the top of the HUD. Kill enemies whose letters match it IN ORDER — each correct letter refreshes an 8-second streak timer. Complete the word and the next one grows a letter longer: 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8. Let the timer empty and the ladder falls back to 3. In co-op the whole team shares one word.

• 3-4 letters — +1 bomb
• 5 letters — ⚡ LIGHTNING STORM: every non-boss on screen dies
• 6-7 letters — storm + 2 bombs
• 8 letters — storm + 2 bombs + 1 life

THE ARSENAL

Weapons come from boss upgrade cards and are COLLECTED, not replaced — switch anytime with 1-5 (primary) and 6-9/0 (secondary).

• PRIMARY: DEFAULT · LASER (fast piercing shots, 2× damage) · SHOTGUN (5-pellet cone, brutal up close) · ROCKETS (AoE explosions, 9× damage) · CHAIN LIGHTNING (bolts arc through 3 targets)
• SECONDARY (right-click): CHARGE SHOT (piercing fireball) · BOOMERANG (returning disc) · THUNDER HAMMER (ground-slam shockwave) · BLACK HOLE GRENADE (pull vortex, then detonation) · MIRROR CLONE (armed decoy that draws enemy fire)

UPGRADE CARDS

After every boss: +1 max life, +1 max bomb, and a pick of 1 from 3 cards (one free reroll per day). The pool: ATTACK SPEED, SWIFT, SPREAD SHOT (max 3), POWER SHOT, POWER DASH, MAGNETISM, SHIELD (up to 6 absorbs), REAR GUARD, MEGA BOMB (bombs damage bosses), TIME WARP, HOMING, SLOW FIELD (stacks 5×, slows enemies and their bullets around you), CLUSTER BOMB (max 3), RICOCHET, CURSED BLADE (+200% damage, −50% fire rate), AI COMPANION (up to 3 drones), the five weapons above — plus CHARGE POWER and FIRE TRAIL once you own the charge shot.

ENEMIES

• Letters A-Z — wanderers and chasers
• W Splitters — split into fast V chasers on death
• S Snakes — segmented serpents that split when killed
• C Shooters — keep their distance and fire at you
• Dodgers 龍鬼神 — sidestep your bullets
• Word Fusions — enemies merge into whole words with combined power
• Shielded, Teleporters, Bombers, Mimics, Summoners, Laser turrets — join the fight as the phases climb
• Blackholes — bend your bullets with gravity and EAT other enemies to evolve: chasing at 10 eaten, shooting at 15, MEGA at 25. Two blackholes that touch merge into a bigger one. Kill them early.

BOSSES (15)

BOSS 67 → JET → TANK → UFO → SKULL → SERPENT → CAT → THE VOID → DARK MIRROR → THE LIBRARY → THE SUMMONER → THE DRAGON → THE ARSENAL → THE PARASITE → THE COLOSSUS. Every boss has phases and its own mechanics, and every kill permanently raises your life + bomb caps. Clearing one in NORMAL unlocks the next Codex chapter, and PRACTICE mode lets you rehearse any boss you have reached.

PICKUPS & HAZARDS

Care packages drop +1 LIFE, +1 BOMB, SHIELD, SLOW-MO, DMG BOOST or OVERDRIVE — grab them before their timer ring runs out (a popup names whatever you collected). Wormholes teleport you to their twin. In later phases natural disasters roll through: meteor showers and lightning storms that hurt enemies too.

PVP ARENA

1v1 duels (QUEUE SOLO), practice VS AI, or PARTY matches (free-for-all / 2v2) on arenas with destructible ASCII walls — blocks crack and change color as they take damage, and debris briefly blocks shots. Upgrade pickups spawn constantly: weapons, SPREAD, POWER, RAPID, shields, heals, TIME WARP, SLOW FIELD, BOOMERANG, HAMMER, BLACK HOLE, CLONE and more. Control the pickups and you control the fight. First ship destroyed loses.

YOUR WALLET IS YOUR ACCOUNT

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