How to play
Two players start in opposite corners of a walled arena full of wooden crates. Drop bombs, blast a path through the crates and catch your rival in the fire. The last player standing wins the round, and the first to win three rounds takes the match. You can switch the match to first to 5 on the menu.
- Two players, one keyboard. Amber walks with W A S D and drops a bomb with Space. Cobalt walks with the arrow keys and drops a bomb with Enter (or Numpad 0).
- Gamepads work too: the left stick or the d-pad walks, A drops a bomb. The first pad is Amber, the second is Cobalt.
- On a phone, hold it sideways. Each player owns one half of the screen: drag anywhere on your half to walk and tap the round button at the edge to drop a bomb.
- Playing alone? Choose vs Bot and pick Easy, Normal or Hard.
- P or Esc pauses. The game also pauses by itself when you switch tabs.
Bombs and fire
A bomb burns for about two and a half seconds, then bursts in a plus shape. The fire reaches two tiles in each direction at first. It stops at stone pillars, smashes the first crate it touches and stops there, and anyone it touches is out. The fire lingers for half a second, so do not walk into it.
You start with one bomb at a time. You can step off a bomb you just dropped, but once you leave its tile it blocks you like a wall.
Chains grow. When fire reaches another bomb, that bomb goes off at once, and every bomb set off by a chain blasts one tile further than normal. A row of three small bombs can sweep half the arena.
Power-ups
About one crate in three hides a power-up. Walk over it to take it. Fire destroys power-ups lying on the floor, except the ones it has just uncovered.
- Longer blast (red flame): your fire reaches one tile further, up to eight.
- Extra bomb (grey bomb): you can have one more bomb on the floor at once, up to six.
- Faster feet (green arrows): you walk faster.
- Short fuse (yellow clock): your bombs burst after about 1.4 seconds instead of 2.4.
- Twin bombs (purple pair): your next three bombs each get a twin in the mirror-image spot on the other side of the arena. Twins do not count toward your bomb limit.
The squeeze
After one minute the arena starts to close in. Stone blocks drop one by one, spiralling in from the outer ring, and anyone under a falling block is out. The next tiles to close blink red. A small room in the middle never closes. If both players are still standing 15 seconds after the squeeze ends, the round is a draw. You can switch the squeeze off on the menu; a round then ends in a draw after 75 seconds.
Strategy
Plan your exit before you drop. Look for the corner you will step into before you press the button. A dead-end corridor with your own bomb in it is a trap.
Use chains on purpose. Drop a second bomb next to the first one and both go off together, the second one bigger. It is the fastest way to reach a rival hiding behind a pillar.
Short fuse is a weapon. With it, your rival has much less time to run, but so do you.
Mirror the twins. Before you use a twin bomb, check where its mirror lands. It can cut off your rival’s escape on the far side of the arena.
Stay near the middle late in a round. The squeeze starts from the outer ring, so the middle room is the last safe place.
If you like duels on one keyboard, Bounce Tanks is a tank maze where every shot ricochets. For a calmer evening for two, Lumen & Umbra is a co-op platformer about light and shadow, and Pop Split has you popping bouncing balloons side by side.
If you enjoy Fuse Arena, try Gulp Duel or Hedge Maze next.
