Play Thrust Online

Game Overview

Thrust is one of those Atari 2600 games that feels way ahead of its time—you’re piloting this little ship with actual physics, so if you yank the joystick too hard, you’ll spin out or crash into the cave walls. The whole thing’s drawn in these clean vector lines, which somehow makes the inertia even more satisfying when you’re carefully dragging stolen pods back to base with your tractor beam.

At first, it’s just about dodging turrets and shooting their power supplies (which, fair warning, explode after a few hits). But then the game starts messing with you—gravity flips upside down, walls turn invisible, or both at once. By mission 13, you’re basically flying blind half the time, tapping the button to flash the level layout like some kind of desperate radar pulse. It’s brutal, but in that good way where you keep muttering "one more try" at 2 AM.

Fun fact: the same guy later made Exile, so if you’ve played that, you’ll recognize the same obsession with momentum and claustrophobic level design. Just don’t blame me when you get stuck in a gravity-reversed cave with no visible exits.