Tetherfall

You are a tetherball cut loose from its pole, with a world burning behind you. Being untethered is what you want, but being tethered is the only thing that keeps you going. Go as far as that will take you.

Tap to let go and fly. Hold instead and you reel the rope in first, building momentum like a playground swing, then let go to fly farther. Latching onto the next peg is automatic — flying close enough to latch is not. That is the entire control scheme: no buttons, no menus mid-run.

• THREE WAYS TO FAIL — miss a peg and you drop into the fire below. Release at the wrong angle and you fly back into the fire that follows you. Hang on to one peg too long and the rope frays, lets go, and you fall. The fire never hunts you; it just never stops coming.

• NOTHING WAITS — each peg can be caught twice, then it crumbles away. The gaps widen the farther you go, the world tilts against you, and the ground you left is already gone.

• SEVENTEEN AWARDS — some for how far you got, some for how you got there, and a few you will only find by accident. The ones you haven't earned won't tell you exactly what they want.

• DAY OR NIGHT — two complete looks, hand-tuned rather than filtered: the night sky with Mars low on the horizon, and a daylight version with its own palette from the hills to the HUD. Follow your device's appearance, or pin the one you like.

• NO ACCOUNTS, NO SUBSCRIPTION — no sign-in, no profile, nothing to feed. Your best distance and your awards live on your device.

• ADS BETWEEN RUNS, NEVER DURING ONE — and when you fail, you can choose to watch one to keep going, up to three times a run. Everything you earned still counts, including a new best.

• ONE PURCHASE REMOVES THE AD BREAKS — no subscription. Revives still cost an ad for everyone, buyers included, so no distance was bought.

Landscape mode. Two minutes or twenty.