GAMIVU

Shooting games

5 games

Hold out against waves and hordes, pick one of three upgrades as you go and take down the bosses, fly a drifting ship through a field of rocks that split into shards, or lead a squad up a road and shoot number barrels open. One clockwork shooter plays your past runs back as echoes. Each game has a daily run that is the same for every player.

Voidwake Space Shooter is the classic one: a lone interceptor that fires on its own while you steer, through a 50-level campaign in five sectors that each end in a boss, plus an Endless mode with a boss every fifth wave. Palinode Rewind Shooter is the puzzle-minded one: 12 rooms in three acts, eight seconds a try, and a failed run replays beside you as an echo that can hold a pressure plate while you do something else. Cinderhold Survivor is the horde one: you only walk while every weapon fires itself, and each of its five stages is twelve minutes against a growing horde with a boss waiting at 12:00. Flinder Asteroid Shooter is the drift-and-split one: a ship that keeps its momentum in a field that wraps around, 30 sectors in five worlds, where every rock you break throws out glowing shards that break whatever they touch. Gabion Squad Shooter is the number-barrel one: a squad of gunners fires straight up the road on its own while you slide it left and right, shooting barrels open for more gunners and better guns across 40 stages in five worlds.

All five are free to play in the browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer, with touch, mouse or keyboard. Each keeps your scores and progress on the device you play on, with no account, and all five are played alone.

Upgrades, bosses and what carries over

After every level or wave in Voidwake Space Shooter you choose one of three upgrades from spread, pierce, rapid fire, power, drones, homing missiles, shield, magnet and repair. A level cleared without a hit earns three stars, and every 15 kills without a hit raise the score multiplier, up to x8. You start with three hull points, and clearing level 10 or wave 10 opens hard mode with two hull points and tougher enemies.

Palinode Rewind Shooter offers faster fire, one more damage per shot or one more health after the guardians in rooms 4 and 8, and the last guardian waits in room 12. Clearing room 4 or 8 saves a starting checkpoint at room 5 or 9.

Cinderhold Survivor offers three cards at every level: a new weapon, a level on a weapon or passive you carry, or an evolution. You can carry six weapons and six passives, and a weapon at level 6 evolves once you also own its paired passive. Elites arrive at 4:00 and 8:00 and drop a chest, horde rings close in at 2:30, 6:30 and 10:30, and the stage boss comes at 12:00. Gold from every run, won or lost, buys permanent ranks in the camp shop, and six heroes unlock through feats.

Flinder Asteroid Shooter keeps one rule at its centre: a rock broken by your shot splits into pieces that fly on along the line of the shot and glow for under a second, and a glowing piece breaks any rock or saucer it touches. Every break in one cascade scores its value times its place in the chain, up to x10, so the question is where you shoot from, not which rock is nearest. Each of the five worlds adds a rule, from iron rocks that take four shots to a dead star that pulls everything in and gas rocks that break whatever is near. Rocks broken in a chain drop embers: every 25 you fly through give an extra ship, and every world you clear adds one more.

Gabion Squad Shooter puts a number on every barrel: it is the damage the barrel still takes before it opens, and the lid shows what it pays, from more gunners or a better gun to a tank, a sentry turret, a frost burst, a shield or salvage. An opened barrel also bursts and hurts every creature around it, so when you open one decides how much of the horde it takes, and a burst that catches three or more creatures scores extra. Six guns replace one another as weapon barrels open, and salvage from every stage buys eight upgrades between stages. Each of the five worlds has eight stages and ends with a boss.

Controls, hard mode and the daily run

In Voidwake Space Shooter you drag anywhere on a phone and the ship follows your finger without sitting under it; with a mouse it follows the cursor, and the arrow keys or WASD work too, with Shift for fine moves. Only the small bright core of the ship can be hit, so you can slip through gaps narrower than the wings. In Palinode Rewind Shooter you move with WASD, the arrow keys or a floating joystick, dash with Space or Shift, and end an attempt early with R or the Rewind button. In Cinderhold Survivor you drag anywhere on a phone and the hero walks the way your finger moves, hold the mouse button to walk toward the pointer, or use the arrow keys or WASD. Circles and lines on the ground mark where damage will land a moment later, and only the small light at the hero's chest can be hit.

In Flinder Asteroid Shooter the left and right arrows or A and D turn the ship, up or W burns the engine, down or S brakes and Space or J fires, with four shots in the air at most. On a phone you slide a stick in the lower left, a short slide to turn and a longer one to burn the engine, and hold Fire with your right thumb. In Gabion Squad Shooter you drag left or right anywhere on a phone, move the mouse, or use the arrow keys or A and D to steer the squad, which fires on its own.

Each of the five has a daily run that is the same for every player that day, so scores compare directly. Hard mode opens after level 10 in Voidwake Space Shooter, after the first guardian in Palinode Rewind Shooter, after your first stage clear in Cinderhold Survivor and after the first world in Flinder Asteroid Shooter, where rocks move faster, saucers fire faster and aim better and the aim guide is gone.

Gabion Squad Shooter opens hard mode once its first world is cleared, with a horde that has 60% more health and walks 12% faster, and each stage keeps its own three stars for each mode. Its daily run is one endless road with the same loadout for every player.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to aim in these shooting games?

Mostly not. Voidwake Space Shooter, Palinode Rewind Shooter and Cinderhold Survivor fire automatically, so you steer and dodge, and Palinode picks the nearest exposed enemy for you. In Flinder Asteroid Shooter you do the firing yourself by turning the ship toward a rock, and the aim guide shows where the next shot lands. In Gabion Squad Shooter you only steer the squad, which fires on its own, and the skill is in choosing which barrel to open and when.

Which shooting game is the easiest to start with?

Voidwake Space Shooter. The ship fires by itself, only the small core in its middle can be hit, and each new enemy type arrives alone with a short note on how to beat it. Cinderhold Survivor is almost as direct, since you only walk and every weapon fires itself, but a run lasts twelve minutes. Palinode Rewind Shooter asks for the most planning, since every plate in a room must be held at the same time, and Flinder Asteroid Shooter asks you to steer a ship that keeps drifting and to fire it yourself, which takes the longest to get used to. Gabion Squad Shooter is just as easy to steer, with only left and right to learn, but reading which barrel to open first takes a few stages.