ArcadeWhale
Slope is about as simple as a game gets. A ball speeds down an endless neon track, you steer left and right, and one mistake sends it off the edge. What keeps people coming back is the speed, the “one more run” restart and a distance number to beat.
We don’t have a copy of Slope, and we didn’t want to make one. What we have are three games that share its best parts: an endless run, a fall or crash that ends it, and a record you keep chasing. Each one adds a twist of its own. Here is the one that feels closest, in a short clip from our channel:
1. Tiltway: a ball on an endless ramp, but you tilt the ramp
The closest to Slope on this list. A ball rolls down a long wooden ramp that never ends, it keeps getting faster, and one fall is the end of the run. The twist is that you don’t steer the ball. You tilt the whole ramp, and the ball rolls to the low side. So does everything else: loose rocks slide faster than you do, so a well-timed lean sweeps a rock off the edge before it reaches you, and a bad one sends it right into your path.
The ramp changes as you go. Rocks show up after the first stretch, hop bars at 150 metres, gaps at 300 and whole missing planks at 500. Past that come slippery glass, forks where you pick a side before you can see what’s on it, fans, seesaws and a ramp hanging from chains that swings a beat after you lean. Speed goes from 12 to 24 metres a second over a run. Your best distance goes on a weekly leaderboard, and there’s an online race where four balls roll down the same ramp at once.
Touch: swipe and hold to tilt, tap or swipe up to hop. Keyboard: A/D or arrows to tilt, Space to hop.
2. Redline Run: endless speed on a highway
If what you love about Slope is the speed, this is the one. You drive an endless highway, the car accelerates on its own, and your only job is to steer through traffic. The catch is nitro: it only fills when you pass close to another car, and the closer the pass, the more you get. Playing it safe gives you nothing, so every overtake is a small bet.
Chain close passes together and the multiplier climbs until you hit REDLINE at 6x, where everything pays double. Five sectors rotate through the run and each one adds a rule instead of just more cars: lanes close, the left lane starts coming at you, the road gets wet, the lights go out. Coins go into upgrades and four cars that each drive differently.
Touch: two arrows to steer, BRAKE and NITRO on the right. Keyboard: A/D steer, Shift or W for nitro, S to brake.
3. Swingline: one button, as far as you can fly
The simplest control on the list, even simpler than Slope. Hold to grab a ring and let go to fly, over a sunny 3D city. The distance on screen is the score, and touching the ground ends the run. Let go just past the bottom of the swing for a PERFECT and the longest jump.
Holding on is where the risk is. The line winds in while you hold, so you swing faster, but it heats up and snaps if you hold too long. After each run you pick an upgrade with your coins, and there’s a daily map and an online race when you want to compare distances with someone else.
Touch: hold anywhere. Keyboard: any key.
How to go farther in any endless runner
- Look ahead, not at the ball. In Tiltway and Redline Run the danger is always a second in front of you. By the time it reaches your ball or car, it’s too late to react.
- Small inputs beat big ones. A short tilt or a tap of the steering is easier to correct than a long hold, especially once the speed picks up.
- Restart right away. All three save your best distance, and a run you’re not happy with is gone the moment you press again. The first minute of a fresh run is the easiest part of any of them.
Tiltway and Swingline are on the Arcade shelf, and Redline Run is with the racing games.
