Guide
How to Play X Trench Run
X Trench Run is an endless flight down a space-station trench. Steer through the openings in every wall, shoot out laser gates and turrets, collect power-ups, and survive the boss as the trench keeps speeding up.
Play X Trench RunThe objective
Fly as far as you can, score as much as you can
Your starfighter flies forward on its own down a trench with no end. Walls, laser gates, and turrets come at you one after another, and every few kilometres a boss ship blocks the way. Your controls are steering in four directions and a pair of wingtip laser cannons.
There are no lives to spare: one unshielded hit destroys the ship. Points come from getting through walls and from destroying what shoots at you, and the trench speeds up the further you go — so a long run means reading obstacles earlier and earlier.
The game is free, runs in the browser, and needs no account. Open the flight view when you are ready; this guide covers the controls, every hazard, the power-ups, scoring, and the habits that lead to higher scores.
Controls
Steer in four directions, fire twin cannons
Use whatever is in your hand — every input flies the same ship.
Keyboard
Arrows / WASD + Space
Arrow keys or W, A, S, D steer in all four directions; diagonals work by holding two keys. Hold Space to fire the twin wingtip cannons. P or Esc pauses, R restarts, F toggles auto-fire, and M mutes.
Mouse
Left-click to fire
Hold the left mouse button anywhere on the flight view to fire while steering with the keyboard — the same setup as the classic version. Every on-screen button also works with the mouse.
Touch
Drag to steer, hold to fire
Put a thumb anywhere on the flight view and drag: the ship follows your finger’s movement, so you never cover it. Hold the round fire button with the other thumb, or switch on auto-fire and play with one hand.
The loop
Four things happen on every run
- 1
Launch into the trench
Press Launch (or Space) and your X-winged starfighter drops into an endless space-station trench. It flies forward on its own — your job is to steer it up, down, left, and right across the trench and keep it alive.
- 2
Fly through the gaps
Solid walls rush towards you, each with one or two openings outlined in cyan. Line your ship up with an opening before the wall arrives and you pass through for +1 point. Clip the edge and the run is over.
- 3
Shoot what shoots back
Laser gates seal the trench with red beams until you destroy one of their amber pillars at the trench walls (+5). Turrets on the floor and walls fire at you; two hits destroy one (+5). Hold fire and steer your cannons onto the target.
- 4
Survive the boss, go faster
Every so often the walls stop and a boss ship takes their place, weaving across the trench and lobbing fireballs. Dodge and keep firing to win +50. Then the trench comes back — faster than before.
Hazards
Walls, laser gates, turrets, and the boss
Openings are outlined in cyan, things you can shoot glow amber, and anything red will hurt you.
Walls
+1 point eachFull-width plates with openings cut into them — a half-trench gap, a horizontal or vertical slot, a corner, or one or two small windows. Openings shrink as you fly further. Your shots cannot break walls unless Wall Destroyer is active.
Laser gates
+5 pointsTwo amber pillars stand against the trench walls with red laser beams strung between them. The beams cannot be flown through. Fly close to either side and shoot that pillar until its lights go out — breaking one pillar cuts the circuit.
Turrets
+5 pointsGun emplacements bolted to the floor and side walls. They fire red bolts aimed where you are, and their light turns red just before they shoot. Two hits destroy one; flying into one is a crash.
The boss
+50 pointsA spiked, red-eyed battle station that parks ahead of you, weaves around the trench, and fires fireballs — sometimes three at once. Its health bar sits at the top of the screen. Each boss is tougher than the last.
Power-ups
Shield, Wall Destroyer, Speed Down
Glowing lettered orbs float in the trench between obstacles. Fly through one to collect it; active power-ups show on the left of the screen with a timer bar.
Shield
A cyan bubble around the ship that absorbs one hit — a wall, a beam, a turret bolt, or a fireball. It lasts until something breaks it, then gives you a moment of invulnerability to recover.
Wall Destroyer
For seven seconds every wall ahead shatters before it reaches you, and each one still scores +1. Perfect for racking up points at high speed or escaping a bad line.
Speed Down
Slows the whole trench to just under 60% for six seconds, buying reaction time for tight gaps, gate pillars, and incoming fire.
Rules & scoring
Every rule that ends or extends a run
The objective
There is no finish line. Fly as far as you can and score as many points as possible before your ship is destroyed. Your best score and best distance are saved on this device.
One hit ends the run
Hitting a wall, an active laser beam, a pillar, or a turret, or being struck by a turret bolt or boss fireball destroys the ship — unless a Shield is up, in which case the shield breaks instead.
Scoring
+1 for every wall you pass or smash, +5 for every turret destroyed, +5 for every laser gate disabled, and +50 for every boss defeated. Distance is tracked separately in metres.
Speed and difficulty
The trench starts at a manageable pace and accelerates the further you fly. Wall openings get smaller, gates take more hits, turrets fire faster, and each new boss has more health and shoots more often.
Restarting
A new run starts instantly from the game-over screen, with Space, or with R mid-flight. Nothing reloads, and every run — finished or abandoned — counts towards your lifetime stats.
Common mistakes
Why good runs end early
Steering late
At high speed a wall goes from tiny to on top of you in under a second. Choose the gap while the wall is still small and be in position before it fills the screen.
Firing from the middle at gates
A laser gate’s pillars are against the walls, so shots from the centre fly straight past them. Commit to one side, line up, and hold fire.
Hugging the floor or ceiling
Many openings are slots and windows in the middle band. Sitting at an edge makes every move longer and puts you next to floor turrets.
Staring at the boss
Fireballs are what end runs during a boss fight, not the boss itself. Watch the incoming shots, keep sliding, and let auto-fire handle the damage.
- Look past the nearest wall. Openings are visible from far away, so start drifting towards the next gap early.
- Return to the middle of the trench after each gap — the centre is the shortest move to any opening.
- Laser gate pillars sit against the side walls. Slide to that side so your nearer cannon lines up with the pillar.
- Destroy turrets while they are still far away; their light turns red right before they fire.
- Keep firing almost all the time. Shots that miss cost nothing, and a lot of turrets die to stray fire.
- Save Speed Down for later in the run — the slowdown is worth far more when the trench is fast.
- During the boss, keep moving sideways. Fireballs are aimed at where you are, not where you are going.
Where you can play
Same trench on phone and desktop
xtrenchrungame.app runs in any modern browser with no app to install. Progress stays on the device you played on.
Desktop browsers
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari run the game with no plugin. Steer with the arrow keys or WASD and fire with Space or the left mouse button. The game pauses itself if you switch tabs.
Phones and tablets
The flight view and controls fit on one screen in portrait or landscape. Drag anywhere to steer and hold the fire button, or switch on auto-fire. Restart is instant, with no page reload.
Progress on this device
Best score, best distance, longest flight, total runs, and lifetime counts of walls, turrets, gates, and bosses live in local browser storage, along with your sound and auto-fire settings. Nothing syncs between devices.
Still unsure about something? Read the X Trench Run FAQ or jump in and fly.
Play X Trench Run free