How to play THE NEX
THE NEX is a free multiplayer extraction shooter that runs in your web browser. You drop into a raid, fight monsters and other players, grab loot, and reach an extraction point before the timer runs out. Extract and you keep everything you carried. Die and you lose it.
Play free now. No download.The core loop
- Gear up in the hub. Buy supplies and weapons from Kade's shop, store loot in your bank, and pick a world at the Raid Gate.
- Raid. Each raid runs on a 12-minute timer. Explore, fight Glitches and world creatures, open caches and loot what they drop.
- Extract or descend. Reach an extraction point to bank your haul, or take the Descent shaft to a deeper, more dangerous depth with richer loot.
- Upgrade and repeat. Sell loot for credits, buy better gear, unlock bank tabs and climb the leaderboards.
PvPvE: other runners are a threat too
Raids are shared. Other players (runners) can team up with you or hunt you, and everything you carry drops when you die. Raid in a squad of up to four for safety in numbers, or go solo and play it quiet.
Controls
| Action | Desktop |
|---|---|
| Move / sprint / jump / crouch | W A S D / Shift / Space / C |
| Look and shoot / aim down sights | Mouse, left click / right click |
| Reload | R |
| Interact, or dash | E |
| Medkit | H |
| Take all loot | F |
| Inventory | Tab or I |
| Swap between your two guns | Q or mouse wheel |
| Use a Data Stick ability | 1 to 4 |
| Chat / pause | Enter / Esc |
THE NEX also plays on phones and tablets with touch controls, and in VR headsets through the browser (left stick to move, right stick to turn, trigger to shoot, grip to interact).
Weapons and abilities
- Procedural guns. Every gun is generated with its own stats, rarity and sights, so no two drops are quite the same. Headshots deal double damage. Bosses and vault caches drop the best guns.
- Bows and crossbows. The Warbow rewards precise headshots; the Arbalest fires heavy piercing bolts.
- Melee. Energy longswords, war mauls and daggers with combo swings and staggering heavy hits, plus shields that block.
- Data Sticks and runes. Abilities like blink, EMP, cloak and sentries, plus runes such as fireball, smite (a lightning strike), ward (a bolt-blocking bubble) and haste.
- Consumables. Medkits, bandages and torches for the darker depths.
Bosses and the Descent
Each world has bosses that guard the best loot, and every depth goes deeper and harder. Vaults are locked behind keycards and guarded by a Vault Warden. Clearing deeper depths unlocks deploying straight to them from the Raid Gate.
Duels and ranked
Off the hub there is a duel arena. Challenge another player to a 1v1, optionally with credit stakes you both agree to, or queue for ranked duels with a seasonal rating.
Five worlds
The Raid Gate opens onto five worlds that each play differently: the neon Sprawl, the dark Crypts, the freezing Frost Abyss, the poisonous Overgrowth and the scorching Foundry. See every world's mechanics.
Tips for your first raids
- Extracting with a little loot beats dying with a lot. Learn where the extraction points are first.
- Watch the ground: glowing rings and flashing plates warn you before an attack or hazard hits.
- Every world beyond the Sprawl has its own survival meter (light, warmth, toxin or heat). Keep an eye on it.
- Pick Random at the Raid Gate for a bonus on extraction, and check the daily Spotlight world for extra credits.