At a Glance

Auralon is a free, browser-based vertical shoot-'em-up. There is no download, no account and no framework involved — just open the link and play. After the first visit the game works fully offline as a Progressive Web App (PWA).

The game is built on Vanilla JS ES6 Modules and the Canvas 2D API, running at a logical resolution of 360 × 640 (portrait 9:16). It works on desktop and mobile alike using pointer events for unified touch and mouse control.

The Branching Level Tree

What sets Auralon apart from a traditional linear shmup is its diamond-grid level tree. After clearing each stage you are shown two possible next worlds and choose which one to tackle.

The tree expands from Stage 1 to Stage 5 — up to five parallel paths run simultaneously through the mid-game. From Stage 5 onward the tree converges back, narrowing towards a single final boss in Stage 9. Navigating to the outer edges of the grid reduces your future choices; staying near the centre keeps your options open the longest.

Stage:  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9
Levels: 1    2    3    4    5    4    3    2    1

                    L-5.1
         L-4.1               L-6.1
L-1.1  L-3.1   L-5.2   L-7.1
         L-4.2   L-5.3   L-7.2   L-9.1
───────  L-3.2   L-5.4   L-7.3   ──────
         L-4.3               L-6.2
L-1.1  L-3.3   L-5.5   L-6.3
         L-4.4               L-6.4
                                      L-8.1
                                      L-8.2

When only one path remains — at the outer edges of the convergence phase — the "Path Narrows" screen appears and the transition happens automatically after a short countdown. A mini-map at the bottom of the level-choice screen shows your full route through the tree at all times.

Controls

Power-Ups

Enemies drop power-ups when defeated. Bosses always drop an extra life.

Enemy Types

Seven distinct enemy classes appear across the 9 stages. HP scales with stage: each stage adds 20% more health than the last.

Weapon Tiers

The Aurora Interceptor has 12 weapon levels grouped into 4 tiers. Collecting Weapon Up power-ups advances through the tiers.

Score & Combos

Destroy enemies in quick succession to build a combo multiplier. Every 3 kills within 1.8 seconds raises the multiplier by one step (up to ×10). A bonus is awarded for each kill while a combo is active.

Highscores are saved locally in your browser. The top 10 scores are displayed on the in-game highscore screen.

Technology & Compatibility

Auralon runs on any modern browser — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge — on both desktop and mobile. No plugins or extensions are required.