Vortex Run strategy: read the tube, chain close calls and break the Warden
How lanes, walls, bars, spinning rows, orbs, close calls and the Warden work, and how to keep a run alive as the speed climbs.
PLAY A FREE ROUND ↗Look two rows ahead
Rows appear at the far end of the tube long before they reach you. The safe gap in each row is always within reach of the gap before it, so slide toward where the next gap will be, not only the one in front of you. Holding a direction slides one lane at once, then another every tenth of a second after a short pause.
Walls, bars and spinning rows
Walls block the lanes they cover. Low bars run all the way round the tube: jump them with Space, ↑ or Jump. A jump lasts half a second, so jump a little early. From level 3 some walls spin a lane at a time as they come at you; the gap ends up where it will be when the row reaches you, so steer with it as it turns.
Build the combo
Every orb you collect, every wall you skim with a blocked lane right beside you and every bar you jump adds one to your combo. Every six raises the multiplier, up to ×10, and orbs, close calls and jumps pay their points times the multiplier. A crash resets the combo to zero.
Crashes and shields
You start with three shields and can hold five. A crash costs one, resets the combo and slows you for a moment; for under a second afterwards you pass through walls. Rare green shield orbs give one back. The run ends when the last shield breaks.
Speed and levels
Each level is a set number of rows. Every level the tube gets faster, the rows come closer together and the gaps narrow, and the colours change so you can feel the climb.
The Warden
Every fifth level the Warden waits at the end of the tube and sends full rings with narrow gaps. Gold charge orbs sit in some of those gaps, and every one you collect strikes the Warden. Break it to win back a shield and a big bonus; then the run speeds on.
Controls, ranked play and score verification · See the high scores
TRY IT IN THE GAME ↗