Backfire

The formation above rains bullets at you, and you can't shoot back. Instead, hold the beam: while it's open you're anchored in place but you catch incoming fire into a magazine. Release to hurl that stored barrage straight back at the formation. The catch is that beaming roots you, so you must choose between dodging and gathering ammo.

• Move to dodge the formation's bullets when your beam is closed.
• Hold the beam to catch enemy fire, but you can't move while it's open.
• Release to fling your stored bullets back and destroy the formation.

• Daily, a seeded encounter shared by all players that day.
• Endless, keep catching and returning fire for as long as you survive.

• Desktop: Left/Right arrows to move, Space (hold) to beam and release to fire; clicks are supported too.
• Phone & tablet: drag to move and hold to beam, pointer controls are fully supported.

• Only open the beam when you have a safe pocket, being rooted in heavy fire is fatal.
• Fill the magazine before releasing; a bigger return volley clears more of the formation.
• Time your release for when enemies cluster so the flung bullets hit several at once.

A fixed-screen shoot-'em-up in which you have no weapon of your own.

You root your ship and open a beam that turns the enemy's own fire back on them, so every shot you land was theirs first.

That inverts the genre's resource. Normally the enemy's bullets are the hazard and yours are the solution; here their volume of fire is your ammunition supply, and a quiet screen is a problem rather than a relief.

Backfire is an original free browser game that reinvents the fixed-screen shooter by removing your gun entirely, building the whole loop around absorbing and reflecting the enemy's own bullets.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.