How to play wreck (and why standing still is the only real mistake)
wreck is a free endless run-and-gun you play in the browser. A small helmeted hero runs across a web page that goes on forever. Popups, bugs, drones, spam turrets and ad tanks come at you, every word and picture on the page can be shot apart, and the page deletes itself from the left, so you have to keep pushing right.
No download, no account, no app. It runs on a phone and keeps working with the network switched off.
The goal, in one sentence
Get as far as you can, destroying as much as you can, before you run out of hearts or the deletion wall catches you.
Your score is the metres you covered, plus points for every enemy multiplied by your combo, plus a little for every piece of the page you blow apart.
Controls on a keyboard and mouse
- A and D (or the arrow keys) run left and right.
- W, up or space jumps. Press it again in the air for a double jump.
- The mouse aims and the gun turns to follow it. Click to shoot; hold to keep firing.
- Q and E, 1 to 5, the mouse wheel or a right click switch guns.
- J or F shoots with auto-aim, so you can play on the keyboard alone.
- Esc or P pauses, and so does the pause button in the corner. Switching tabs pauses too.
Controls on a phone or tablet
wreck uses twin sticks. Put your left thumb anywhere on the left half of the game and drag to run. Flick up to jump, and flick up again in the air to double jump. Put your right thumb anywhere on the right half to shoot: hold still and it aims at the nearest enemy, or drag to aim yourself. Tap a gun in the row under the game to switch.
The page never scrolls or zooms while you play, so a stray swipe will not throw you out of a fight.
The five guns
You always have the pistol, with unlimited ammo. Everything else comes from crates and enemies, and runs out:
- Shotgun: seven pellets at once, with a kick. Great up close.
- Minigun: a stream of bullets. Chews through words and bugs.
- Laser: a beam that passes through everything in its path, words and enemies alike, until it hits steel.
- Cannon: a heavy shell that arcs and explodes, clearing a whole patch of the page. It knocks you back when you fire it.
Picking up a gun you do not have switches to it. Picking up one you already have tops up its ammo. When a gun runs dry you drop back to the next one you own, and finally to the pistol.
The enemies
- Bugs crawl along the ground and hop at you. Jump on one to squash it.
- Popups float above you and fire single shots.
- Drones line up, flash, and dive straight at you. Jump on these too.
- Spam turrets sit on the page and fire a spread of three.
- Ad tanks roll in later, lob grenades and drop guns more often.
Easier levels hold back the drones, turrets and tanks until you have gone further. Red arrows at the right edge show enemies that are about to arrive.
Crates and hearts
Wooden crates are scattered across the page. Shoot one open and it drops a heart, a shield or a gun. Enemies sometimes drop them too.
A heart gives one back, up to two more than you started with. With your hearts full, a heart is worth 200 points instead. A shield blocks the next three hits for twenty seconds.
The 404 boss
Every few hundred metres the page throws a boss at you: a giant broken page labelled 404. The screen locks while it is alive, and the deletion wall stops too, so the fight is fair. It fires aimed volleys and rings of shots, and gets nastier as it takes damage: after a third of its health is gone it calls in popups, and in its last third it fires wider spreads and more rings. Each boss you beat makes the next one tougher. Beat it for a big score, two hearts, a cannon and another gun.
The deletion wall
The page is deleting itself from the left. After a short pause at the start the wall begins to move, and it speeds up the further you go. You hear a hum that rises as it gets close, and the left edge of the screen glows red. If it reaches you, the run is over. It can never fall too far behind, so racing ahead buys you only so much time.
Combos and scoring
Kill enemies within a few seconds of each other to build a combo. Every five kills in a row adds half to your multiplier, up to four times. Getting hit resets it. The music picks up as your combo grows.
You score one point per metre, each enemy’s points times your multiplier, and a point or two for each word, picture or heading you destroy.
Levels
- Easy: five hearts, soft enemies, more hearts in the drops and a boss every 1000 m.
- Medium: four hearts, turrets on the page, tanks after 500 m and a boss every 800 m.
- Hard: three hearts, every enemy from the start, tougher and faster, rare hearts and a boss every 600 m.
The daily page and challenges
The daily page is the same page, with the same enemies arriving at the same times, for everyone on each difficulty. Your first run each day is the one that counts; after that you can keep playing it as practice.
After a run you can share your score, or press challenge a friend to send a link to the exact page you played. Your friend meets the same page and the same enemies, with your score to beat.
Frequently asked
How do I move, jump and shoot? On a keyboard, A and D run, W or space jumps (twice for a double jump), the mouse aims and a click shoots. J or F shoots with auto-aim. On a phone, drag your left thumb to run and flick up to jump; hold your right thumb to shoot with auto-aim, or drag it to aim yourself.
How do I switch guns? Q and E, the number keys 1 to 5, the mouse wheel, a right click, or tapping a gun in the row under the game. You can only switch to guns you have picked up.
Where do hearts and new guns come from? Crates on the page and defeated enemies. Shoot a crate open to see what is inside. Ad tanks drop guns more often than anything else.
What is the red wall on the left? The page deleting itself. It speeds up the further you go, and touching it ends the run. It stops while a boss is on screen.
How do I beat the 404 boss? Keep moving inside the arena, dodge the rings of shots, and pour damage in. It calls in popups once it is hurt, so clear those quickly. Cannon shells and the laser work well.
How do combos work? Each kill within a few seconds of the last adds to your combo. Every five kills in a row adds half to your multiplier, up to four times. Taking a hit resets it.
What changes between easy, medium and hard? Hearts, how early the drones, turrets and tanks appear, how tough and fast the enemies are, how often hearts drop, and how often the boss arrives.
Is the daily page the same for everyone? Yes. The page and the enemy schedule come from the UTC date and the difficulty, so every player gets the same one on the same day, whatever their time zone. Your first attempt on each difficulty is your scored one.
How do I challenge a friend? Finish a run and press challenge a friend. The link carries the page and your score, so your friend gets the same page and the same enemies, with your score to beat.
Can I pause? Yes. Press Esc or P, or tap the pause button. Switching tabs pauses the run too, and it carries on exactly where it stopped.
Is this like other games where you shoot a web page apart? The idea of blasting apart the page you are reading has been done before. This page, the hero, the enemies, the guns, the boss and the deletion wall are all our own.
Where wreck sits
wreck is the portfolio’s game about pushing forward under fire. Its siblings test other kinds of nerve. graze is about how close you dare let a shot pass; updraft is about how little input it takes to stay steady; outbound is about reading the order of things under a clock; deadband is about not overcorrecting; filter is about asking better questions; overload is about spending a limited hand; closure is about which move you are forced to make next; tint is about the cost of correction; and bridge is about blocking and winning with the same move.
Every one of them is free, runs in a browser, and works offline.