Tunnel Rush 2: the color rule changes everything
The first Tunnel Rush was a pure dodge game: everything in the tunnel was deadly and you rolled around it. Tunnel Rush 2 keeps the tunnel, the rolling and the speed, then adds one rule that flips the whole game. Every obstacle is painted in one of two colors, and so is your ship. Hit something in your own color and it shatters into sparks, with a small shake and no penalty. Hit the other color and the run stops. So instead of finding the one clear gap, you are reading which color is safe this second, and the safe color keeps changing: colored rings sit in the tunnel, and flying through one repaints your ship on the spot.
The rest is a proper level game rather than an endless run. Each level is a fixed stretch of tunnel (about 2,500 units at the start, roughly doubling over the first ten levels), with sections built from ring pairs, offset walls, spirals, spikes and swap-color gates. There is a gem section or two per level and a single boost star placed away from the end; the star gives a burst of speed during which every block smashes, whatever its color. Gems are saved between runs and buy ships in the hangar: Falcon is free, Mustang costs 100 gems, Phasor 300, Dragon 750 and Viper 1,500. The shop sells them at any level, and finishing level 2, 9, 24 or 49 with enough gems saved also buys and equips the next one for you at the level-end screen.
Controls & mechanics
| Action | Control | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Roll left | A or Left arrow (or hold the left half of the screen) | Rotates the ship counter-clockwise around the tunnel wall |
| Roll right | D or Right arrow (or hold the right half of the screen) | Rotates the ship clockwise; the ship keeps moving forward on its own |
| Pause | P or Esc | Freezes the run and opens the pause menu; the same key resumes |
| Speed | The Easy / Med / Hard button on the title screen | Sets the base speed for every run; it is remembered between visits |
Getting past level 10
- Look at the ring before you look at the wall: A recolor ring is always followed by obstacles that assume you took it. If you dodge the ring, the next section is the wrong way round and a run that felt safe ends in a wall. Take every ring on purpose, then aim for blocks in the new color.
- Smashing is the fast line: Steering into your own color costs nothing, so the shortest path through a spiral or a slab pair is usually straight through the matching half. Only swerve for the other color. There is also a 0.05 second grace window after a correct smash where any block breaks, which is why a thick cluster of mixed blocks is survivable if you enter it on a matching one.
- Take the star, then stop steering: The boost star appears once per level and never in the last stretch. While the boost is on, every block smashes, so hold a straight line and stop trying to dodge. The danger is where it ends: you come out fast in the middle of a section, so drift back toward your own color before it runs out.
- Play the first five levels on Easy: Levels 1 to 5 run 10% slower and levels 6 to 10 run 5% slower than the rest, whatever the setting. Use Easy while you learn the section shapes, then switch to Med once level 11 starts; the shapes are the same, only the base speed climbs.
- Ships are speed, not safety: A faster ship raises your forward speed by a fixed step; the Viper is roughly 15% quicker than the Falcon on the same setting. Handling barely changes. Buy them for the challenge, not as an upgrade to make the tunnel easier; if you cannot get past level 10 on the Falcon, the Phasor will not change that.
Key features
- Color Smash rule: Two obstacle colors per section, and one of them is yours. Smash the match, dodge the other, and watch the rings that swap your color mid-run.
- Levels with an end: A fixed length per level, a level-end screen, and procedural sections that get longer and faster. Your highest level is saved in the browser.
- Five ships to unlock: Falcon, Mustang, Phasor, Dragon and Viper, bought with the hex gems you collect: 100, 300, 750 and 1,500. Finish level 2, 9, 24 or 49 with the gems in hand and the level-end screen buys and equips the next one automatically.
- Boost stars: One per level. Grab it and the ship rockets forward, smashing everything for a few seconds. A level restarted after two crashes can also start with a boost.
- Three speed settings: Easy, Med and Hard change the base speed of every run. The choice sticks, so set it once on the title screen.
Game info
- Title: Tunnel Rush 2
- Developer: Deer Cat
- Category: Tunnel Runners
- Platform: Web browser (HTML5)
- Type: Tunnel racer · levels · saved gems and ships · WebGL
Pro tip: After a crash, the level-end screen sometimes offers Continue From Here. It works once per level in this build, and it is the difference between finishing a long level and starting the last 2,000 units again. Use it on the level you are stuck on, not on the one you can already clear.
