A free katana brawler in a supermarket

Supermarket Brawl is a free first-person action game you play right in your browser. You clock in for the shift from hell: a store full of furious shoppers, a katana in your hands, and every shelf, cart and watermelon ready to break. Slice shoppers in half, parry what they throw at you, dash through them with a charged stab, and see how many waves you can survive. There is nothing to download and no account to make: press Play and you are in.

Everything in the store is physics. Shelves topple into each other, carts roll, stock spills across the aisles, and anything you cut actually comes apart along the line of your blade. Every cut is aimed by your crosshair, so the fight is about timing and placement, not button mashing.

How to play

• Move: W A S D. You always run. Look around with the mouse.
• Slice or parry: click (or press Space). If a throw or a punch is about to hit you, the same click parries it instead. Time it perfectly against a throw and you lunge straight at whoever threw it.
• Charged stab: hold either mouse button (or Space / Q) for a second and let go to dash forward, running through anyone in your path. The longer you hold, the faster and further you go.
• On a phone or tablet: a virtual stick on the left moves you; on the right, drag to look, tap to slice or parry, and hold to charge a stab.

Game modes

Shift Survival

Waves of increasingly dangerous shoppers pour in through the doors. Clear a wave and you pick one of three upgrades, and every upgrade stacks. Every fifth wave the Store Manager himself steps in: a swordsman who guards against everything, to be beaten by parrying his attacks and breaking his posture. Your score, wave and knockouts go on the global leaderboard when the shift ends.

Sandbox

Clear wave 10 to unlock it: the whole store with no waves and no pressure, just you, the shoppers and everything you can break. Its tools spawn any enemy in any number, hand you any upgrade, and change the rules: god mode, enemy health and damage, game speed.

Features

• Blade Mode and Zandatsu. Finish a combo and time slows to a crawl while you aim each cut by hand. Slice through the glowing target in the shopper's chest for a Zandatsu that restores your health completely.
• Ripper Mode. Chain three Zandatsus to go berserk: your blade burns white-hot, a swing at a shopper a few steps away lunges you to them and halves them, every parry is perfect and every score counts double.
• Ripostes. After any instant kill a star glints on your blade. Strike on the ting and your riposte cuts the next shopper in half too, so a perfectly timed fight becomes a chain.
• Parries and dashes. Bat thrown groceries back at whoever threw them, answer a punch by opening Blade Mode on the attacker, or lunge across the store on a perfect parry.
• More than 25 stackable upgrades. Sharper steel, longer reach, chain lightning between stabs, explosive parries, blood-fuelled healing, faster swings and more, each one visible on your katana.
• A store that fights back. Ordinary shoppers, Coupon Karens who hurl whole volleys of stock, Bulk Buyers who shake the floor, Security who tackle, Sushi Chefs who block your cuts with their own blades, Riot Security behind shields you have to flank or stab through, the armored Store Manager, and the odd surprise guest.
• Free and instant. Runs in any modern browser on desktop or mobile, with nothing to install.

Tips for surviving the shift

• Health does not regenerate. A Zandatsu in Blade Mode is your main way to heal, so aim for the target before you cut for points.
• A glowing orange windup means an attack is coming. Click as it flashes white to parry it.
• Keep cutting the same shopper: each cut in a row comes faster than the last.
• Sushi Chefs block cuts that cross their blade and knock you off balance. Swing along their blade's angle, or stab straight through them; a cut that slips past a guard is a clean cut for extra damage.
• Riot Security block every cut from the front. Get round the shield, or break it with a charged stab.
• Don't swing at air: every miss in a row slows your next swing.
• Watch the riposte glint after every kill. Hitting the ting keeps the chain going.

Games like Supermarket Brawl

If you loved the Blade Mode of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, you will feel right at home: finish a combo, time slows, and you aim every cut yourself, with a Zandatsu through the glowing target to heal. Like Ghostrunner, it is a first-person sword game where speed and parries keep you alive. Like Superhot, slowed time turns a crowded room into a puzzle you cut your way through, and like Katana Zero, one clean katana stroke ends a fight. And if you just love slicing things, it is Fruit Ninja with shoppers, shelves and watermelons that all come apart along your blade.

The difference is that Supermarket Brawl is free and runs in your browser: no download, no install, no account and no console. It is a katana game, a hack and slash game and a slicing game you can open in a tab and play in seconds on a laptop, a desktop, a Chromebook or a phone.

A free browser game you can play right now

Looking for free online games to play in your browser? Supermarket Brawl is one of the few browser games that is a full 3D first-person sword fighting game, with physics you can break and a global leaderboard to climb. Like the best browser games, it starts the moment the page loads: no sign-up, no waiting. It runs on WebGL in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, with touch controls on phones and tablets.

Want something different? Splinter Kick, by the same developer, is a free online martial-arts fighting game in your browser: physics ragdoll fighters, 40-player multiplayer brawls and a roguelite arena of stacking items.

Frequently asked questions

Is Supermarket Brawl free?

Yes. It is free to play in your browser, with no download, account or install.

Can I play Supermarket Brawl on my phone?

Yes. On phones and tablets it switches to touch controls: a virtual stick on the left to move, and on the right you drag to look, tap to slice or parry, and hold to charge a stab. It plays held either way up.

What are the controls?

Move with WASD (you always run) and look with the mouse. Click to slice, or to parry anything about to hit you. Hold either mouse button (or Space or Q) for a second and let go to dash forward in a charged stab.

How do I heal?

Health does not come back on its own. Finish a combo to open Blade Mode and cut through the glowing target in the shopper’s chest: a Zandatsu restores your health completely. Clearing a wave and some upgrades also heal.

Is there a leaderboard?

Yes. Shift Survival has a global leaderboard: your score, the wave you reached and your knockouts.

What games are like Supermarket Brawl?

If you like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Ghostrunner, Katana Zero, Superhot or Fruit Ninja, try Supermarket Brawl: a free first-person katana game in your browser with Blade Mode slicing, parries and a wave-survival roguelite, with nothing to install.

How do I unlock Sandbox mode?

Clear wave 10 of Shift Survival. Sandbox is the store with no waves, where you respawn when you go down, with tools to spawn any enemy (the Store Manager and Gym Bros included), give yourself any upgrade, turn on god mode and change the game speed.

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