Drift into the debris belt and play free in your browser, no download required. Ion Drifter is an inertial Asteroids-style space shooter where you pilot a free-floating salvage drone with real Newtonian momentum. Thrust to accelerate, rotate to aim, then release and coast — your velocity carries you while you line up shots on the tumbling rocks around you. Every rock you hit splits: a large rock breaks into two mediums, each medium into two smalls, and each smaller shard drifts faster and scores more, so one trigger pull can turn a single boulder into a spreading cloud you have to clean up. The screen wraps at every edge, so bullets, rocks, and your drone all reappear on the opposite side — thread a seam to dodge, or catch a shot that looped around behind you. Clear every rock and the next, harder wave begins; the belt never ends, and from wave three a hunter-saucer starts crossing the field, sniping bolts at you across the wrap. Bank the Salvage you collect into the Drydock, where six permanent upgrades — extra drones, a start shield, rapid fire, spread shots, hyperspace blinks, and a Salvage multiplier — make every future run start stronger. Contact with any rock or saucer costs a drone; lose them all and the run is over. How deep into the endless belt can you drift?

What's New

Version 3 · Gameplay polish and stability improvements.

How to play

Desktop: press the Left/Right arrows or A/D to rotate your drone, and Up arrow or W to fire the thruster — remember your momentum keeps carrying you after you let go. Press Space (hold to auto-repeat) to shoot, and Shift or H to trigger a hyperspace blink that teleports you to safety. Mobile and touch: the whole left half of the screen is your steering surface — press and drag horizontally to rotate (left turns counter-clockwise, right turns clockwise) and drag upward to thrust. The right half is your fire zone: tap or hold anywhere on it, or use the on-screen FIRE button, and tap the BLINK button to hyperspace. One finger is enough. Tips: don't hold thrust constantly — short taps let you coast into position and set up cleaner shots, since fighting your own momentum is what gets you killed. Use the screen wrap on purpose: fleeing toward an edge puts you out on the far side, and a well-aimed bolt can loop around to hit a rock behind you. Finally, spend early Salvage in the Drydock on Reserve Hull or Aegis Plating for survivability before chasing firepower, so you live long enough to reach the deeper, higher-scoring waves.