STARBLAST io

Starblast.io gives you a small ship, an asteroid field, and one loop: mine crystals, upgrade your ship, and fight whoever drifts close.

Starblast.io gives you a small ship, an asteroid field and one loop: mine crystals, upgrade your ship, fight whoever drifts close. The mouse steers and fires. Early on you dodge everyone; once you upgrade into a bigger hull, the hunters become the hunted. Ship trees branch into different classes, so each run can take a different shape. A round ends when someone blows you apart, and the climb back is the whole appeal. Veteran .io players rank it among the best in the genre.

Because ship classes branch in different directions, the smartest early move is usually deciding whether you want to fight, mine, or scout before spending your first few upgrade points, rather than upgrading whatever looks strongest in the moment. Staying near the edge of a crowded cluster lets you mine safely while still being close enough to jump into a fight that is already going badly for someone else.

Selling crystals at a station before a fight, rather than during one, protects your progress if the fight goes badly, since a destroyed ship drops whatever cargo it was still carrying. Sticking close to allies in the same class also pays off in team modes, since a coordinated pair covers each other's blind spots far better than either ship alone.

Starblast.io is unblocked and works on any school Chromebook, so it is a solid pick for a longer multiplayer session when you have more than a few minutes to spare. WTF Games has more space and shooting games in the Shooting category if the mine-and-fight loop is what hooked you.