SplatStick

A party fighter for 2–6 players, at one computer or online. Two share the keyboard, everyone else picks up a gamepad, and bots take any empty seat — the match starts even if a friend is running late.

A fighter has two bars, and they work differently. Health simply runs out. Damage piles up and decides how far the next hit sends you. There are two ways to take someone out — finish them off or throw them off the edge — and late in a round the second one is usually faster.

The fighting

Attack, heavy attack on hold, grab and throw, shield, roll. Shield at the last moment to parry. In the air: double jump, dash on a double tap of a direction, push off a wall. Miss the ledge and you can hang on and climb back — but while you hang, everyone can see you.

Item crates drop on their own. Inside there might be a medkit, power, a star or a speed boost — or a rifle, shotgun, bazooka, grenade launcher, laser, freeze ray, boomerang, knife, bomb, mine, anvil or black hole. Barrels explode in chains, and plank bridges get blown apart piece by piece.

12 modes

• Deathmatch — lives and rounds. Run out of lives and you are out.
  
• Free-for-All — everyone for themselves, up to six. One round, last one standing.
  
• Siege — two towers. While your tower stands, your team respawns. When it falls, that's it.
  
• King of the Hill — hold the zone, and hold it alone. Two inside means nobody scores.
  
• Football — score the most in three minutes. A knockout does not remove you, so beating each other up still pays off.
  
• Basketball — the ball has to drop through the hoop from above. Two points a basket.
  
• Rugby — the ball is carried in your hands, and hits knock it loose.
  
• Capture the Flag — bring the enemy flag back to your base. A dropped flag returns on its own.
  
• Hot Potato — the bomb goes from hand to hand, passed by touch and by hit. If the fuse burns out in your hands, the other side scores.
  
• Waves — waves of bots. Playable solo, no opponent needed.
  
• Carousel — every round brings a new mode and a new map. First to five.
  
• Royale Carousel — the free-for-all carousel: brawl, hot potato, king of the hill. First to three.

11 arenas

• The Square — flat and classic. The fight decides, not the map.
  
• The Well — a tight box with walls. Explosions have nowhere to go.
  
• The Fortress — a wide map with towers and a central column.
  
• The Canyon — a central pit with an updraft and moving platforms.
  
• The Skyway — towers over the void. Barely any ground, a fall costs a life.
  
• The Foundry — six conveyors out of phase. The floor is always going somewhere.
  
• The Forge — the lava climbs to the top. Get higher or burn.
  
• The Shaft — a vertical map with a lift pipe in the middle.
  
• The Clockwork — a pendulum over moving floors. It sets the map's rhythm.
  
• The Pitch and The Court — the home of football and basketball.

The arena gets in everyone's way equally: low gravity, meteor shower, item rain, earthquake, gale, black ice. Every event is announced by a banner a few seconds ahead: enough time to run, not enough to finish someone off. Mutators change a whole match: low gravity, one hit, bombs only, big heads.

Local and online

Up to six at one computer: everyone takes a seat by pressing a button on their own side of the keyboard or on their own gamepad. Online for up to six: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or free-for-all. The host picks the mode and the map, and bots fill the empty seats.

Windows and macOS. English, Russian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese.