Metallicide

Metallicide was one of those games you'd find buried in the Flash portals of the mid-2000s. It didn't have a big studio name attached, just a straightforward premise delivered through that familiar vector-art style. You loaded it in a browser window, and it just worked, a small piece of a vast, now mostly vanished ecosystem.

You control a small, angular ship locked in a single-screen arena. The objective is simple: survive. Waves of geometric enemies drift in, and you eliminate them with a constant stream of fire. You move with the mouse, your ship gliding smoothly to wherever you click. Picking up power-ups scattered by defeated foes is essential; they might upgrade your weapon or provide a temporary shield. The arena walls are more than boundaries. You can use them to ricochet shots, trapping enemies in corners or hitting them from unexpected angles. The pacing is relentless. The difficulty builds steadily, forcing you to stay mobile and think about positioning as much as aiming. It feels like a tense, tactical dance in a confined space.