What it is#

An arkanoid. A paddle below, a wall above, your balls in between. Twelve floors down, then as deep as you last.

How it plays#

You never have just one ball, and they are all different. The fire one sets wood alight and the flame spreads on its own. The heavy one punches through several blocks, the piercing one flies straight through, the homing one turns toward the nearest target after a hit. After each floor you pick one card of three: a new ball, a spare life or a bigger paddle.

What's inside#

• Five kinds of balls and a draft between floors instead of percentage upgrades
• The place changes every few floors: somewhere everything burns, somewhere nothing does, somewhere the wall swings
• Bonuses from broken blocks that hit harder when you catch the same one twice
• Runs are saved: close the game and come back to the same floor

Why it works this way#

Percentage upgrades bore me. Every upgrade here is a verb: it burns, it punches through, it splits. And anti-synergy counts as much as synergy, otherwise the draft stops being a decision.