How to play SLASHTYPES

1. The basics

• Every word is an enemy. The word floats above its head and also appears in the typing area at the bottom, just like a classic typing test.
• Every correct letter is a slash. The ronin cuts the enemy, blood flies and wounds stay on its body.
• The last letter is the finisher. The enemy is sliced apart along the angle of the blade and its pieces stay on the battlefield.
• Press Space to dash to the next enemy, leaving afterimages and speed lines behind. The ronin flicks the blood off the blade when he lands.
• A typo means you get hit. The enemy you are facing strikes back and you lose one of your 5 lives. Lose all five and the run is over.
• There is no timer in Survival. You are never rushed, so accuracy matters more than raw speed. Speed only becomes pressure during boss fights.

2. Controls

On phones and tablets, tap the game to open the on-screen keyboard. A physical keyboard is strongly recommended for serious runs.

3. Enemies

The type of enemy depends on the word it carries, so longer words come with bigger monsters. Flying enemies appear after the first few kills.

In multiplayer, purple enemies are sabotage sent by your rival. They drop from the sky and must be cut down like any other.

4. Bosses and their forms

Every 12 kills in Survival a boss appears. A boss is a whole sentence instead of a single word, and each sentence is one phase. When you finish a phase, the boss's body explodes and it rises again in a new, more dangerous form. Four bosses take turns, and each one has its own path of transformation, its own moon colour and its own weather.

Oni — the demon of the crimson gate

A club-wielding giant that grows a burning mane and four arms with extra katanas, then sheds its flesh to become a floating skeleton with bone wings.

Dai-Tengu — king of the mountain crows

A flying boss with a feather fan and a long red nose. Red lightning crawls over its wings in the second form, and the final form is Karura, a garuda with wings of fire and a burning blade. The ronin leaps into the air for every heavy strike.

Yuki-onna — the snow woman

A pale spirit in a white kimono who glides above the snow. Her hair writhes like snakes and ice shards circle her in her wrath, and her final form is a giant crystal queen crowned with frozen spikes. Snow falls harder with every phase.

Ryūjin — the dragon god

A serpentine dragon that coils through the sky under a golden moon. It becomes a storm of lightning, then crashes to the ground as Yamata-no-Orochi, the legendary eight-headed serpent.

5. Boss attacks and parrying

Bosses do not wait for you. Shortly after they appear, and again after every transformation, a red ! flashes over the boss's head. Time slows down and a DEFEND! box shows a defense word such as parry, deflect or, in the last phase, a short phrase like hold the line.

• Type the word before the timer bar runs out to PARRY: your blades clash, the boss staggers back and you earn bonus score.
• Wrong keys inside the defense box do not cost a life, but the timer keeps running.
• If time runs out you are CRUSHED: you lose one life and your combo.

Iai and zanshin

During a boss fight, pressing Space between words makes the ronin sheathe his katana with a metallic click (残心, zanshin). A heartbeat later the delayed cuts explode across the boss's body. Your next keystroke draws the blade straight from the scabbard in a heavier iai strike.

6. Style ranks and score

Your combo is the number of correct letters in a row. A typo or a failed parry resets it. The higher your combo, the higher your style rank and the more each hit is worth.

7. Game modes

Survival

The full game: endless enemies, rotating bosses, five lives and no timer. Your run ends when you die, and the results screen shows your WPM, accuracy, kills, best combo and a per-second speed chart.

Time (15 / 30 / 60 / 120 seconds)

A pure typing test in the style of classic WPM tests. There are no bosses and no healing lanterns, and you cannot die: typos still trigger a counterattack and lower your accuracy, but your lives never run out. The clock starts with your first keystroke, and your best WPM is saved separately for each duration.

Options

• english / indonesia: language of the interface and of the word list.
• normal / brutal: brutal adds capital letters, punctuation and numbers.
• gore max / gore low: reduces blood particles and removes blood splatter on the screen.
• sound on / off: every sound is synthesized live in your browser.

Weekly leaderboards and sharing

Open 🏆 leaderboard to see the best runs of the week for Survival and every Time duration, separately for each language and mode. Enter a name and your best run of the week is submitted automatically. The boards reset every Monday at 00:00 UTC. After any run, press share to create an image card of your result and post it or send it to a friend.

8. Multiplayer races

1. Click ⚔ multiplayer, enter a name and choose create room.
2. Send the five-letter room code to a friend. They enter it and press join.
3. The host presses start race. After a 3-2-1 countdown, both of you face the exact same enemies.

Your rival's battlefield is shown live at the top of the screen, together with a race bar and a blue caret in your text that shows exactly where they are typing.

• Win by killing the final boss, the Crimson Shogun, first.
• Sabotage: reaching a 30, 60 and 100+ combo, or killing a boss, sends extra purple enemies into your rival's path.
• Dying does not end the race. The survivor keeps running, and the winner is whoever covered more distance. The race ends as soon as the result is certain.

Multiplayer connects the two browsers directly (peer-to-peer). Very strict networks, such as some office or campus Wi-Fi, can block the connection. Switching to another network or a phone hotspot usually helps.

9. Tips to type faster

1. Accuracy first, speed second. In SLASHTYPES a typo costs a life and your combo, so a clean 60 WPM beats a messy 80. Speed grows naturally once your fingers stop making mistakes.
2. Keep your eyes on the text, not the keyboard. Read one or two words ahead of the caret so the next word is already loaded in your head.
3. Use the home row. Rest your fingers on A S D F and J K L ;, using the small bumps on F and J to find them without looking.
4. Find a rhythm. Steady, even keystrokes are faster than bursts followed by pauses. Short words are perfect for building rhythm.
5. Relax. Tension slows your fingers down. If you feel yourself tightening up during a boss fight, slow down for one word.
6. Practise in short sessions. A few 30-second Time runs every day improve your speed more than one long session a week.
7. Try brutal mode once normal mode feels comfortable, to train capitals, punctuation and numbers.

10. FAQ

Is SLASHTYPES free?

Yes. It runs in your browser, with no download and no account.

How is WPM calculated?

WPM counts every correctly typed character, including spaces, divides it by five (the standard length of a "word") and divides that by the minutes played. Raw WPM also counts typos, and accuracy is the share of keystrokes that were correct.

Why can't I use backspace?

Because a sword cut cannot be taken back. Every key you press is final, which turns accuracy into the core skill.

Does it work on mobile?

Yes, with the on-screen keyboard, but the game is designed for a physical keyboard.

Is it too violent?

SLASHTYPES contains stylized blood and dismemberment and is intended for teens and adults. The gore low option reduces the effects.

Are my scores saved?

Your settings and personal bests are stored only in your own browser. See the privacy policy for details.

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