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OPERATION BRIEF

Blackout Relay

Leave no signal.

A stolen signal. A facility full of ears. You are one operative inside a station that is listening for you: patrols on a shared radio net, doors that have to be hotwired, and a signal core that has to come out with you. Replayable stealth action in the browser for phone, keyboard and controller, with nothing to install.

PLAY

Field recordings

  • Blackout Relay on a phone held sideways: the operative stands on the lit floor of Arrival Hall 09 with his silenced pistol out, a guard holds the far end of the room with a cone of vision across it, and the touch deck sits on either side with the move pad, FACE, STRAFE, SPRINT and the FIRE ring.
    Phone. Arrival Hall 09. One guard, one lit floor, and the part of it you cannot cross.
  • A guard down in Blackout Relay on a phone: the body lies on its back with its arms folded under it and its rifle dropped beside it, the operative stands a few steps away with the silenced pistol reading 14 rounds, and a steam valve offers itself on the wall behind.
    Phone. A suppressed shot is quiet, not silent. Somebody nearby heard that.
  • Blackout Relay on a desktop: the operative has stood still at the end of a wall beside the cage bars and settled into cover, shoulders leading past the edge with the gun forward, and his view has opened out along the wall into the dark. The keyboard deck runs along the bottom with the pistol, rifle, knife and flashbang.
    Desktop. Stand still at a wall's end and the body settles into cover. The view goes first.
  • Blackout Relay on a desktop: the signal core is out of its housing in Relay Chamber 04 and carried in both hands, so no weapon is up, a guard lies where he fell across the chamber, and a siren is marked on the wall by the door.
    Desktop. The core rides in both hands, so nothing else can. Now walk it back.

How it plays

  • Stealth. Stay in the shade and out of their sight cones: what you can see is exactly what can see you.
  • Guards on a net. Patrols report what they find over a shared radio, call for backup and sweep together; take a radio off one of them and you can hear the net yourself.
  • Scavenged gear. Carry two firearms and a knife, take rounds and magazines from the guards you leave behind, and drop whatever slows you down.
  • The building is a weapon. Shoot a pipe for cover steam, break a light to dim a room, cut an alarm line, or throw a flashbang to break contact.
  • Co-op. Bring a friend into the same station with a private room link; no accounts, and friendly fire is live.

Controls

Touch
A phone held sideways: the move pad under the left thumb, the fire ring under the right thumb, the FACE, STRAFE and SPRINT keys above the left pad and the weapon rail down the right edge. FACE · STRAFE · SPRINT weapon rail drag to move drag to aim and fire

The deck splits around the mission: movement on the left, weapons and fire on the right.

LEFT THUMB drag to move, ease gently to sneak
RIGHT THUMB drag to aim and fire; tap FIRE for one shot
Tap or drag the field to face without firing
FACE / STRAFE release or hold a bearing
SPRINT run; firing stops it and draws your weapon
INTERACT, or tap what is in front of you; its caret opens the rest
FLASHBANG throws ahead; walls block the blast
Tap a holstered weapon on the rail to select it
Keyboard and mouse
The arrow key cluster: up, and left, down, right beneath it. walk ARROW KEYS

The arrow keys walk you. W A S D also works, and W A S D is what other games call it.

A mouse seen from above: the left button holds to fire, the wheel between the buttons cycles weapons, the right button toggles Face and Strafe, and moving the mouse itself aims. LEFThold to fire WHEELcycle weapons RIGHTFace / Strafe move the mouse to aim

Moving the mouse aims: the crosshair on the floor is where your shot goes. In Face you turn back to your walk when you let go; in Strafe your aim stays with the mouse.

Mouse aims; hold left-click or press SPACE to fire
Right-click toggles Face / Strafe; F Face, C Strafe
Click a reachable item to interact; E takes the offered verb
SHIFT sprint, ALT sneak
TAB / SHIFT+TAB the other options; walking dismisses them
Wheel, X, 1 2 3 weapons; G flashbang
ESC pause, cancel, or put a carried body down
Controller
A gamepad: the left stick moves, the right stick aims, the right trigger fires and the lower face button interacts. move aim RT / R2 fire A / Cross

A pad plays it the way a pad plays anything: sticks for the man, triggers for the gun.

Left stick moves, right stick aims
RT / R2 fire; firing stops a sprint
A / CROSS interact; B / CIRCLE cancel
X / SQUARE cycle firearm; Y / TRIANGLE knife
LB / L1 sprint; RB / R1 flashbang
LT / L2 hold a bearing at strafe speed
The d-pad walks the options in front of you; MENU / OPTIONS pause

What's new

v0.50.3

  • Duck at a corner, and you can settle in it. Cover no longer requires standing. Fold down behind a crate or a wall and you can still lean into the corner, with the sliver you show and the ground you can see both smaller than standing gives you, and it works at a box exactly the way it works at a wall.
  • The first room now has something to duck behind. Every mission opens with a crate close enough to practice on.
  • A dragged body stays in view. The corpse you are towing used to disappear the moment you turned away from it, even with your hands full. It stays visible the whole time now, for you and for your partner.

v0.50.2

  • Taking cover keeps you on your feet. Ducking behind a crate used to drop you to one knee. You now hold the same stance you were already in, low and in shadow, and the kneel is saved for the moment it belongs to.
  • The kill replay walks. In the recap of the shot that killed you, everyone who was moving now moves their legs. They used to glide across the floor without taking a step.

v0.50.1

  • The front page explains itself. Scroll down from the door and the game tells you what it is: a short brief, four real frames from a mission on a phone and on a desktop, how it plays, the latest releases, and the controls for whichever thing you are holding, with the other two a tab away. A quiet cue under the menu points the way down, and sharing the link now shows a picture from the game.
  • PLAY, beside INFILTRATE. The start bar wears a small PLAY chip, so a first visit knows which button begins without the operation losing its word.