Zerdly

Rift Runner

A top-down twin-stick survival game: move and aim separately, read each enemy's warning, and build your run one upgrade card at a time.

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About Rift Runner

Rift Runner is an original twin-stick arena game. You move freely with one hand and aim in any direction with the other, across six floating arenas - from the open Split Ring to the curving walls of Coil Yard. Every run starts with an 8-second safe zone before the first wave comes through the rift gates.

Five enemy roles each have their own shape, movement and warning. Chasers draw an orange line before they dash along it, Shooters flash before firing one slow bolt, Splitters break into two smaller splitlings, Shielded bots block from the front but are open at the back, and Orbiters light a lane of their ring path before they fire. Enemy bolts are capped at a dodgeable speed, and no enemy fires without line of sight.

After each wave you choose one of three upgrade cards - faster fire, wider fans, piercing shots, a shorter dash cooldown, more health and more - or skip for bonus points. Six weapons (Pulse, Arc, Ricochet, Slow Orb, Fan and Beam) each play differently, and weapon tokens appear mid-run. At every wave boundary you can continue or extract and bank your score.

How to play

  1. Press Play. On your first run, short tips show you how to move, aim and dash.
  2. Stay alive until every enemy in the wave is defeated. The HUD shows your health, score and how many enemies are left.
  3. Watch for orange: a line, a flash or a lit lane always comes before an attack. Step aside or dash through it.
  4. Between waves, pick an upgrade card (or skip for +50), then continue to the next wave or extract with your score.

Controls

  • Keyboard and mouse: WASD or arrow keys to move, the mouse to aim, hold the left button to fire, Space or Shift to dash, Q for Rift Pulse, Esc or P to pause.
  • Keyboard only: I, J, K and L aim and fire in four directions; turn on auto-fire and aim assist in Aim options for more help.
  • Touch: drag anywhere on the left half of the game to move and on the right half to aim - pushing past the ring fires. The DASH and PULSE buttons sit above the aim stick. A left-handed layout swaps the sides.

The rules

  • You start with 100 health. Touching an enemy or being hit by a bolt costs health; after a hit you have a short moment of protection.
  • Dash makes you untouchable only while its white outline shows (0.2 seconds), then needs 3 seconds to recharge.
  • Rift Pulse clears enemy bolts within 4 m and pushes enemies back. It recharges in 12 seconds.
  • A wave ends when every enemy is defeated. A run can be saved and resumed only at a wave boundary.

Scoring, saving and limits

Defeated enemies give points by role, each cleared wave adds a bonus, a full Run clear adds 250 and a boss adds 500. Skipping an upgrade card adds 50. Your best Run score and its wave-by-wave curve, your best Endless wave, today's Daily Rift and your best score against each boss are kept on this device. Clearing a full Run, reaching Endless wave 10 and defeating a boss unlock dash trail colours.

Settings, aim options, best scores, codex entries, unlocked trails and - at a wave boundary - your current run are saved in this browser on this device only. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account. Clearing your browser data, or the clear button in Settings, removes them.

Needs a browser with WebGL 2. There is no online leaderboard: the Daily Rift is the same for everyone on the same UTC day, but results stay on your device. A run in progress can only be resumed from the start of its next wave.

Accessibility

Reduced motion removes particle bursts, flashes and drifting decoration without changing the game. Enemies differ by shape and outline as well as colour. Auto-fire, aim assist and aim-stick sensitivity are separate options, the touch controls can be resized, faded or mirrored for left-handed play, and sound is off until you turn it on. Every menu works with the keyboard and screen reader updates announce the wave and health.

Questions

How is this different from Space Defender?
Space Defender is a fixed-position shooter. In Rift Runner you move anywhere in the arena and aim independently, enemies have distinct roles and warnings, and you build your run with upgrade cards between waves.
What are the modes?
Run is 5 to 8 waves at the pressure you choose. Endless keeps going with a boss every sixth wave. Daily Rift gives everyone the same arena, weapon, enemies and upgrade pool for the day. Boss Gate is three short waves and then a boss with a learnable pattern. Zen Practice has no score and no defeat - pick one enemy role and its speed.
Is the game fair on Expert?
Expert adds more enemies, tighter spacing and more complex patterns, but every attack still has a visible warning of at least 0.35 seconds, enemy bolts never speed up past a dodgeable limit, and no enemy shoots without seeing you.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. On a touch screen the game shows a move stick, an aim stick and dash and pulse buttons inside the game area. A recent phone with WebGL 2 is needed.