Space arena
Starblast.io
Mine asteroids, climb seven tiers of ship, and try to be the one still flying when the server stops letting people respawn.
- Made by
- Neuronality
- Released
- 2016
- Shelf
- The long line · 30 minutes and up
- One session
- Servers run to an endgame about half an hour in
- Account
- Account optional
- Connection
- Live multiplayer: a dead spot ends the round
- Controls
- Mouse and keys; touch supported
- Pays its way with
- Adverts and an optional $9.99 cosmetic pass
- Last retested
- 22 September 2026
Opens the developer's own site in a new tab. The link is editorial: nobody paid for it, and we get nothing if you click it.
- To start
- £0, nothing to install
- Most it will sell you
- Optional one-off pass, $9.99
- Paid random items
- None
Every price, with its source: what each cabinet really costs.
The first five minutes
You are a small ship in a field of rocks. Shooting them gives gems, gems give tiers, and tiers give you options — until the announcement that respawning has ended, and the whole server turns into one careful, tense hunt.
The shape of a server
The headline mode runs an open phase where everyone mines, upgrades and skirmishes, then an endgame roughly half an hour in when respawning stops and the last ship flying wins. Team, deathmatch and a co-op wave mode round it out.
The ship tree runs seven tiers deep with branches at each one, so two players with the same gems can end up flying completely different machines. It is made by Neuronality, a three-person team, and it has been running since 2016.
Why it is on the long shelf
You can join mid-server and leave whenever you like, but the game is built around that half-hour arc, and dropping out at twenty minutes means giving up everything you mined. This is an evening cabinet, or a long train.
There is touch support and it is playable, but the ship handling wants a mouse. If you are on a phone with half an hour, Deeeep.io is the better arena.
Chat, adverts and the pass
Advertising funds the servers. The optional Elite Commander Pass sells ship materials, laser colours and badges at a fixed price — cosmetic, directly bought, nothing random in it.
There is open chat, with an optional filter you have to switch on yourself. Worth knowing before you hand the keyboard to somebody younger.
What works
- Real progression inside a single session, all of it earned
- Four modes, including a co-op wave mode against the computer
- The endgame gives a server a genuine ending rather than an endless grind
- Cosmetics are a fixed-price pass, with nothing randomised
What grates
- Leaving early throws away everything you mined
- Open chat with a filter that is off until you turn it on
- Touch support exists but the ships want a mouse
The verdict
The most ambitious free thing in a browser tab we know of, and the endgame structure is genuinely clever. It is marked here for what it is — an evening game pretending it can fit in a commute.
Questions we get asked
Is Starblast.io free?
Yes, in the browser, funded by advertising with an optional cosmetic pass.
How long does a game last?
Servers build towards an endgame about half an hour in. You can join and leave at any point before that.
Is there a chat filter?
There is, but it is optional — you have to switch it on.