About Neon Blade
The crowd is the resource
Everywhere else on this site, backing away from a group is the correct instinct. Here it is the losing one. A dash that cuts one enemy scores 130; a dash through two scores a 800-point bonus on top; three scores 1,800; four scores 3,200.
That is a square curve rather than a linear one, and it is deliberate. Two enemies in one pass is worth four times one, and the whole game becomes an exercise in getting a group into a straight line before committing.
The aim line is drawn permanently and highlights every enemy the dash would catch. It is the planning surface, and the game is genuinely about reading it rather than about reflexes.
Energy, and why hesitating loses
You have five dashes. Each kill returns one, a multi-kill returns several, and taking a hit costs one on top of the heart.
There is a slow trickle underneath - one dash every three and a half seconds - so a run can always recover from a run of misses. It is deliberately far too slow to live on. Kills are how energy is actually earned, which means the aggressive line is also the sustainable one.
A player who hoards dashes runs out of them anyway; a player who takes good multi-kills never runs low.
Dashing is fast, not invulnerable
You pass through enemies safely during a dash only because you are cutting them. An enemy the dash line missed can still hit you mid-dash, and a shielded enemy's plate absorbs the pass entirely - breaking your chain even though the plate itself is destroyed.
That distinction matters. A dash is not an escape button, and using it as one is the fastest way to end a run at three hearts.
An invented setting
The neon arena, the energy edge and the glowing creature palette were all designed for this site. There are no borrowed characters, no borrowed artwork, and no franchise references anywhere in it - the whole visual identity is drawn from primitives at runtime.
How to play
- Press Start. Aim with the mouse, or press a direction key to aim and dash in one action.
- Press Space to dash along the aim line. Everything the line passes through is cut.
- Standing still cuts nothing. There is no ordinary attack in this game.
- Kills return energy. Multi-kills return several and score on a square curve.
- Three hearts. Taking a hit costs a heart and a point of energy.
Controls
| Where | What to do |
|---|---|
| Aim | Mouse position, or hold a direction key |
| Dash | Space, J, K, or click |
| Aim and dash together | Any direction key - WASD or arrows |
| Touch | Tap where you want to dash to |
| Pause | Escape or P |
Scoring
These are the point values this game awards, before the combo multiplier is applied where it uses one. Hit quality changes the figure: a strike at the centre of the correct moment is worth substantially more than one at the edge of it.
Tips
- Wait for a line to form. Two in one pass is worth four singles.
- The aim line highlights every enemy it would catch. Use it before committing.
- Dashing is fast, not invulnerable. An enemy the line missed can still hit you.
- Kills return energy far faster than the trickle. Aggression is the sustainable strategy.
- A shielded enemy's plate breaks your chain even though the plate is destroyed. Flank it.
- Do not use the dash as an escape. That is how a three-heart run ends.
Common mistakes
- Dashing at whatever is nearest instead of waiting half a second for two to line up.
- Treating the dash as invulnerability frames. It is not.
- Hoarding energy, which runs out anyway because only kills refill it quickly.
- Dashing into a shielded enemy head-on and losing the chain you had set up.
Features
- Dash-to-cut combat with no standing attack at all
- Multi-kill scoring on a square curve, so lining enemies up is the whole game
- A permanent aim line that highlights everything a dash would catch
- Energy earned from kills with a slow safety trickle underneath
- An entirely original neon arena and creature palette
- One-tap touch play - tap where you want to go
