Néon Assault
Hold out five nights against the jellyfish of the red moon: the city is your health bar, you intercept their shots, pick an upgrade every dawn and face one boss per night.
Read the rules below, then start your run.
About this game
Néon Assault is a campaign wave shooter: five nights to hold under a red moon, against jellyfish rising from the sea, to save a coastal city. You steer a battery on a rail at the foot of twelve buildings; it fires upward by itself, and your only job is to position it. The city is your health bar: each building has 8 city points, a shot crashing onto a roof takes 2 from it, a kamikaze reaching the ground 4. A building at zero goes dark, and when all twelve are dark the run is over — just as it is if a formation reaches the defence line. The jellyfish do not only aim at you: a growing share of their shots is aimed at a lit building, wherever your battery is. You protect them by shooting those shots down in flight (5 points per interception) or by taking out the shooter first. A night chains four formation waves and then a boss. Each night brings a new enemy: the armoured jellyfish, the one that splits into two larvae, the kamikaze diving onto a building, the ink jellyfish whose puddles slow your battery, and the lightning jellyfish whose bolt locks onto you. Five bosses wait for them: the Mother, the Queen, the Kraken, the Cuttlefish and the Moon Jelly, each with three phases and a signature attack that is always announced before it strikes. At dawn, the buildings still lit regain 6 points, then you pick an upgrade out of three drawn at random from nine: double shot, fire rate, side cannons, shield generator, repair, piercing shots, slowdown, heavy rounds, armored roofs. Capsules dropped by the jellyfish add temporary effects: triple shot, rapid fire, shield, slow-motion or a bomb. Holding out through the fifth night saves the city and scores 100,000 points; the campaign then goes on with harder nights until the city falls, which leaves room for a very big score. On a computer, the arrow keys (or A and D) move the battery and the mouse drags too; on mobile you slide your thumb along the band under the city. Néon Assault is free to play in your browser, with nothing to install. Create an account to sync your records, appear on the leaderboard and unlock trophies, from “First Wave” to “Three Hundred Thousand”. How many nights will the city last?
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How to play
Hold out for five nights against the jellyfish rising from the sea: destroy every formation and its boss before they put out the twelve buildings of the coast your battery defends. Once the city is saved, the nights that follow push your score higher.
Game rules
- The city is your health bar: twelve buildings with 8 city points each, and no lives on the side. A jellyfish shot that crashes onto a roof costs the building below 2 points, a kamikaze reaching the ground costs 4. A building that drops to zero goes dark; when all twelve are dark, the run is over.
- You steer a battery on a rail at the foot of the buildings. It fires upward by itself: your only job is to position it. A night is made of 4 formation waves, then a boss. The formation slides sideways, drops one step at each edge, speeds up as you thin it out, and the run is also lost if it reaches the defence line.
- The jellyfish do not only aim at you: a growing share of their shots is aimed at a lit building, wherever your battery is. You protect the city by shooting those shots down in flight (5 points per interception, and a “SAVED!” pops up) or by taking out the shooter before it fires.
- If the battery is hit, the building under it loses 4 city points and its two neighbours 2 each; the battery is stunned for 1 second (no moving, no firing), then protected for 0.9 seconds. A jellyfish that dives onto it counts as a hit.
- A new enemy arrives every night: the armoured jellyfish (night 1, one more hit point than the others), the splitting jellyfish (night 2, leaves two larvae when it dies), the kamikaze (night 3, blinks for 0.8 seconds then dives onto a building), the ink jellyfish (night 4, its puddles slow the battery by half for 4.5 seconds) and the lightning jellyfish (night 5, a bolt follows the battery then locks on: its line shows on the ground for 0.75 seconds before it strikes, so you simply step out of the zone).
- Every night ends with a boss, one per night: the Mother (32 hit points, releases larvae), the Queen (48, calls armoured guards), the Kraken (58, its tentacles sweep the coast), the Cuttlefish (70, spits ink and hides in it) then the Moon Jelly (92, it combines everything). Each boss has three phases, at 66% and 33% health; every barrage is announced by a 0.62-second charge, and ground hazards always leave a way out.
- At dawn, every building still lit regains 6 points (never above 8), then you choose one upgrade out of three drawn at random from nine: double shot, fire rate, side cannons, shield generator, repair, piercing shots, slowdown, heavy rounds and armored roofs. Levels stack until the end of the campaign.
- Capsules dropped by downed jellyfish (at most one jellyfish in four) give a temporary effect: triple shot for 8 seconds, rapid fire for 6 seconds, a shield for up to 12 seconds (it absorbs one hit), slow-motion for 5 seconds, or a bomb that destroys the lowest row of the formation.
- Holding out through the fifth night saves the city: +100,000 points and the “CITY SAVED” screen. You can keep going: the following nights mix every species, make the jellyfish tougher and replay the bosses with more health, until the city falls.
Controls (keyboard and touch)
- Left / right arrows (or A / D)Move the battery along its rail
- Mouse (drag) or fingerMove the battery; firing is automatic, Space or the up arrow only switch the sound on
- Thumb slide (band under the city)Move the battery on touch, automatic fire
- At dawn: ← → then Enter, keys 1, 2, 3, or click / tap the cardChoose the upgrade for the next night
- Enter or SpaceSkip the coast map or continue after the victory
How a run ends
You lose when all twelve buildings are dark or when the formation reaches the defence line. You win by holding out all five nights: the city is saved (+100,000 points), then you can carry on through ever harder nights until the city falls. Your score is the total of points: every jellyfish is worth more the higher it sits in the formation, every cleared wave gives a bonus, every night held gives 600 points times the night number plus 6 points per city point left.
Tips & strategy
Intercept before you aim
A shot aimed at a building is destroyed in flight by any of your shots that crosses it. Stand on its path rather than under the jellyfish: one avoided impact is worth more than two enemies downed, and every interception scores 5 points.
Pick the upgrade that answers the threat
Kamikazes and divers giving you trouble: take the slowdown. Armoured jellyfish and bosses resisting: take heavy rounds or piercing shots. A badly damaged city calls for repair (five buildings back to full, the dark ones first) or armored roofs (two impacts absorbed per building and per night at each level).
Leave the zone when the line shows
Lightning bolts, tentacles and boss barrages are always announced: a line or a charge of several hundred milliseconds comes before each strike, and a free passage always exists. Do not try to fire through it: step aside, then come back.
Kill the splitting jellyfish early
A splitting jellyfish drops two larvae when it dies: they fall onto the city and cost 2 city points if they reach the ground. Take it down high in the formation, where its larvae have time to be shot before they arrive.
Did you know?
In the very first wave shooters of the late 1970s, enemies speeding up as the formation emptied was a technical accident: the fewer invaders left, the less the processor had to compute, so the survivors moved faster. Chance created one of the best crescendos of tension in video games, and the genre has kept it ever since.
That format set the codes of the wave shooter: a formation coming down, a defence line, a shelter. Néon Assault keeps them but changes the stakes: instead of lives, a whole city is the health bar, and enemy shots aim straight at it.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Néon Assault free to play?
- Yes. Néon Assault is completely free and runs straight in your browser — no download, no install, no paywall.
- How do you play Néon Assault?
- Hit “Play” to start Néon Assault. It runs on keyboard on desktop and on touch controls on phones and tablets — no controller needed.
- Do I need an account to play?
- No — you can play right away as a guest, and your best score is kept on this device. A free account (by email link, no password) syncs your high scores, puts you on the leaderboards and unlocks trophies.
- Does Néon Assault work on mobile?
- Yes. The game is responsive and fully playable with your fingers on phones and tablets, just like on desktop, with no app to install.
- Why are there no lives?
- Because the city is the health bar. Twelve buildings of 8 city points: every shot that crashes onto a roof, every kamikaze reaching the ground and every hit on the battery chips away at them. As long as one building glows the run continues; when all twelve are dark, it stops.
- How do I relight a dark building?
- With the “Repair” upgrade, offered at dawn among the three cards: it restores five buildings to full, starting with the most damaged, the dark ones first. Dawn itself only heals buildings that are still lit, by 6 points each.
- What happens after the fifth night?
- If you hold out, the city is saved: 100,000 bonus points, then you pick one last upgrade and the campaign goes on with harder nights (all species mixed, tougher jellyfish, bosses going round again). It only ends when the city falls.
- Is a formation reaching the bottom the same as losing a life?
- No, it is the immediate end of the run, whatever the state of the city: a formation touching the defence line is not damage, it is defeat. Clear the bottom rows before they arrive.