Néon Front
Top-down neon run-and-gun: move your soldier with one thumb, aim and fire with the other (twin-stick), and push back ever denser waves of enemies.
Read the rules below, then start your run.
About this game
Néon Front is a top-down arcade run-and-gun in a polished retro-neon skin, in the great line of the scrolling commando games where you advance alone against an army, reworked with a bright modern style and a feel built for sixty frames per second. You play a soldier of light pushing through a battlefield that scrolls endlessly beneath your feet: the neon scenery slides downward, as if you were advancing relentlessly upward, while enemies pour in from the top and the sides in waves that keep growing in number and aggression. The whole flavour of the game is its two-stick control, the famous twin-stick: your movement and your aim are completely independent. On mobile, your left thumb drives a virtual stick that moves the soldier in eight directions, while your right thumb, on a second stick, freely chooses the direction you aim and fire in — and both work at the same time. So you can fall back downward while hosing the enemies charging you from above, dodge an enemy shot while still strafing to the side, or cover your retreat by aiming behind you. On a computer, W A S D or the arrow keys move the soldier and the mouse dictates the aim: fire goes off automatically towards the cursor, so you can concentrate on positioning and dodging. The enemies are not interchangeable and read by shape as much as by colour: the orange infantryman walks straight at you and hurts on contact, the magenta gunner keeps its distance and showers you with shots, the yellow kamikaze charges in a straight line to sacrifice itself on you, and now and then a purple armour — a genuine mini-boss — soaks up several volleys before it gives. Every enemy downed scores according to how dangerous it is, and clearing a whole wave banks a bonus, plus a top-up if you got through it without a scratch. Between fights, glowing capsules sometimes drop from enemies: pick them up for a boosted rate of fire, a triple spread shot, or a devastating grenade that wipes the whole screen at once. You have three lives and a brief spell of invulnerability after each hit; the run ends when you run out. The difficulty climbs in carefully dosed steps — denser waves, faster enemies, more frequent fire — over a combat soundtrack whose tension builds as the enemies flood in. Every shot, every explosion and every wave pushed back comes with neon feedback and a discreet retro synthesised cue. Néon Front is free and instant in your browser, nothing to install, on desktop and mobile alike. Create an account to sync your high scores, enter the leaderboards and unlock trophies as you play. How many waves will you push back before you fall?
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How to play
Survive waves of enemies from a top-down view, moving your soldier and aiming separately to clear the field and pile up points.
Game rules
- The battlefield scrolls past and enemies pour in, wave after wave, each denser than the last.
- You control your character with two independent sticks: one to move, one to aim and fire, both usable at once.
- Read enemies by shape and colour: the orange infantryman closes in, the magenta gunner shoots from range, the yellow kamikaze charges, and the purple armour is a mini-boss that soaks up several volleys.
- Each enemy downed scores according to how dangerous it is, and clearing a whole wave banks a bonus, raised further if you took no damage.
- Pick up the capsules to boost your rate of fire, get a triple spread shot, or drop a grenade that wipes the screen.
- You have three lives with a brief spell of invulnerability after each hit: the run ends when they are gone.
Controls (keyboard and touch)
- Left touch stick / W A S D or arrow keysMove the soldier in eight directions
- Right touch stick / mouseAim and fire independently of your movement
- Capsule picked upTrigger a bonus: rate of fire, triple shot or screen grenade
How a run ends
There is no scripted ending: you take on waves for as long as you survive. Losing your three lives ends the run. Your score is the total banked from downing enemies and closing out waves.
Tips & strategy
Split movement from aim
The strength of twin-stick is retreating while still firing forward. Practise running one way and hosing the other: it is the only way to handle a wave that surrounds you without taking a hit.
Prioritise the real threats
Do not shoot at whatever is nearest out of reflex. Drop the magenta gunners at range and the yellow kamikazes charging you first: those are what kill you. The orange infantry can wait.
Save the grenade for emergencies
The grenade capsule clears the whole screen. Do not waste it on two stray enemies: hold it for the moment you are overwhelmed, or for a purple armour with an escort, to save a life and a no-damage streak.
Did you know?
The top-down scrolling run-and-gun was born in the arcades of the mid-1980s. Some cabinets of the genre came with a rotary stick: you twisted the grip to point your fire while walking in another direction — the mechanical ancestor of two-stick control.
Fully separating movement from aiming eventually named a whole family of action games, the twin-stick shooter. The idea is still a pillar of the twitch genre, and it suits touchscreens especially well, where each thumb naturally takes charge of one virtual stick.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Néon Front free to play?
- Yes. Néon Front is completely free and runs straight in your browser — no download, no install, no paywall.
- How do you play Néon Front?
- Hit “Play” to start Néon Front. 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 Front 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.
- Can I really move and shoot in two different directions at once?
- Yes, that is the whole point of two-stick control: movement and aim are completely independent. You can fall back to the left while firing to the right, which is essential once enemies arrive from every side.
- What exactly does the purple armour do, and how do I beat it?
- The purple armour is a mini-boss: it soaks up a lot and sends several volleys in a row. Stay mobile to dodge its fire, keep your own fire on it without pausing, and if you can, hold a grenade or a rate-of-fire boost to cut the fight short before it corners you.