Neon Siege
A twin-stick neon shooter: dodge, aim, auto-fire and outlast escalating waves.
How to play Neon Siege
You pilot a glowing neon ship inside a walled arena. Nothing spawns until your first move (a movement key, the mouse over the arena, or a touch), and from then on the siege never lets up. Move with WASD or the arrow keys (on a phone, hold the left side to steer with a virtual stick) while your cannon aims and fires on its own: on desktop it tracks your mouse, and on touch you point with the right stick. That split is the whole game: thrust in one direction while shooting in another. Waves throw escalating neon geometry at you: fast chasers, kiting shooters that spit bullets, splitters that burst into shards, and hulking tanks. Clear a wave to earn a breather and a little health, and watch for glowing drops: spread shot, laser beam, shield, overdrive speed and screen-clearing bombs. Every fifth wave a boss storms in with its own health bar and bullet patterns. Touching foes or their fire drains your health; when it runs out the run ends. Your score is the best wave you reach, and it goes on the leaderboard.
Your health comes back
Here's the most useful fact in Neon Siege, and the game never spells it out: your health regenerates. Go 3 seconds without taking a hit and the bar refills at 7 health a second. A nearly empty bar is full again in about 14 seconds. Clearing a wave adds 22 on the spot. Once you know that, every fight has a rhythm. Take a hit, break away, circle for a few seconds and let the bar climb back. Most runs end because a player keeps trading hits when they should have stepped out.
You get 100 health, and a hit gives you 0.7 seconds of flicker where nothing else can hurt you. Your ship moves at 6.2 units a second in an arena about 18 units across. That's roughly twice the speed of a Chaser and faster than every enemy that chases you. Bodies are easy to outrun, so bullets are the real danger. The cannon does the shooting for you, about six bolts a second at 11 damage each, and your score is simply the highest wave you reach.
What comes at you, and when
The siege waits for you. Nothing spawns until you press a movement key, move the mouse over the arena or touch it. Wave 1 is then eight Chasers, pink triangles that fly straight at you and hit for 9. The count climbs by three a wave after that, and a new type joins on each of waves 2, 3 and 4. Enemy health also grows 16 percent a wave, so a Chaser that dies to two bolts early on takes three by wave 6.
- Shooters (orange pentagons, wave 2) hang back 5 to 8.5 units away and fire every 1.5 to 2 seconds. Their bullets fly at 6.4, a bit faster than you, so step sideways instead of running straight away. Kill these first.
- Splitters (green diamonds, wave 3) burst into two small Shards when they die. Shards are fragile, but they are the quickest regular enemies, so pop Splitters while they're still far off.
- Tanks (purple hexagons, wave 4) have about five times a Chaser's health, crawl along and hit for 16. They drop a power-up about a third of the time, against 5 percent for a Chaser, so a Tank is worth the bolts.
New foes spawn near the edge of the arena, on the far side from you, and never within 5 units of your ship. A corner is still a bad place to fight. The whole wave closes in from one side and you have no room left to back away. Fight from the open middle and keep drifting.
Drops: grab, skip or save
A drop lasts 13 seconds and blinks for its last 3. It slides toward you once you're within about 3 units. Spread Shot lasts 13 seconds and fires a fan of three bolts at 8 damage each. Up close, that shreds big targets. Laser Beam lasts 11 seconds. Its bolts do 9 damage but fire twice as fast, and each one passes through up to three foes to hit a fourth. The two replace each other, so grabbing a Spread Shot while a Laser is running throws the Laser away. Shield blocks every hit for 7 seconds, even from bodies. Overdrive adds 42 percent speed for 9 seconds.
The Bomb goes off the moment you touch it. It wipes out every regular foe and every enemy bullet, and it hits a boss for 240 plus 22 for each wave number. You can't keep one for later, but you can leave it on the floor. If a foe drops a bomb while things are calm, stay more than 3 units away and come back when the arena fills up. Just don't wait until it blinks out.
Three bosses on a loop
Every fifth wave is a boss fight. The Warden lands on wave 5 with 1,035 health and fires a ring of 16 bullets every 2.1 seconds, each hitting for 22. The gaps in that ring widen as it spreads, so slip through from about a third of the arena away, not up close. Nexus Core comes on wave 10 with 2,400 health. It sprays a spinning spiral with three arms and calls in a Chaser every 3.2 seconds, so kill those as they arrive. Prism takes wave 15 with 4,305 health, firing a fan of five aimed shots every 1.35 seconds and lunging at you every 3.5. Circle it and change direction often. A tougher Warden starts the cycle again on wave 20, and every boss leaves two drops behind.
The two-stick idea goes back to Robotron: 2084, a 1982 arcade game from Williams. Its designers, Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, gave players one joystick to move and another to shoot. Geometry Wars brought it back in bright neon on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005, and Neon Siege wears that same glowing look. If you'd rather fly with momentum and wraparound edges, try Vectroid.
Neon Siege leaderboard
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Neon Siege: frequently asked questions
How do I control Neon Siege?
It’s a twin-stick shooter: you move and aim independently. On desktop, move with WASD or the arrow keys and aim with your mouse. The cannon auto-fires toward the crosshair, so you never have to click. On touch screens, the left stick moves and the right stick aims and fires. Great play is all about strafing: drift away from danger while pouring fire into the swarm.
What do the power-up drops do?
Enemies and cleared waves drop glowing neon tiles. Spread Shot fans out three bullets, Laser Beam fires fast piercing shots, Shield wraps you in a bubble that blocks damage, Overdrive boosts your speed, and the Bomb instantly clears the screen and wipes incoming fire. Weapon drops are timed, so grab a fresh one before it runs out.
How do bosses and waves work?
Each wave sends a bigger, tougher mix of neon foes, and a boss arrives on every fifth wave (Warden, Nexus Core or Prism), each with a health bar and its own bullet pattern, from radial bursts to spiral streams and aimed shotguns. Clear everything on screen to advance, recover a little health, and roll into the next wave. Your best wave is your score.
Is Neon Siege free and does it work on mobile?
Yes. It runs free in your browser with no download or sign-up, rendered in glowing neon on a dark grid. On phones and tablets you get dual on-screen sticks (left to move, right to aim and fire) and the same escalating wave survival as on desktop.
Does health regenerate in Neon Siege?
Yes. Go 3 seconds without being hit and your health refills at 7 a second, up to the maximum of 100. Clearing a wave also gives you 22 health straight away, so backing off to recover is often smarter than trading hits.
Which enemy should I shoot first?
Usually the Shooters, because their bullets travel a little faster than your ship and are hard to outrun. Next, pop Splitters before they get close, since each one bursts into two fast Shards. Tanks are slow, but they drop a power-up about a third of the time, so they're worth the effort.
Do Spread Shot and Laser Beam stack?
No. Picking up one cancels the other, so a fresh Spread Shot ends a running Laser Beam and the other way round. Shield and Overdrive are separate timers and run alongside whichever weapon you have.
Can I save a bomb for later?
Not in an inventory, because a bomb goes off the moment you touch it. Drops stay on the floor for 13 seconds, though, and only slide toward you inside about 3 units. Leave a bomb lying there and collect it when the arena gets crowded.
Where do new enemies spawn?
Near the edge of the arena, usually on the far side from you, and never closer than 5 units to your ship. In a corner the whole wave still closes in from one side and you have nowhere to back away, so the open middle is the safest place to fight.
Is Neon Siege free to play?
Yes. Neon Siege is completely free on Inkplay, with no download, no sign-up, and no in-game purchases. Open the page and play instantly on desktop or mobile.
Can I play Neon Siege unblocked?
Yes. Neon Siege runs entirely in your browser with no download, install, or plugins, so it loads instantly and keeps working even on school or work networks where bigger game sites get blocked.
More games to play
In the mood for more? Try Snake, Breakout, Pong, Blocks, or browse all arcade games and the full games list on Inkplay.