How to play
MIRROR DUEL is a one-on-one fighting puzzle with a twist: you control both fighters. Your fighter is cyan. The magenta MIRROR gets exactly the same input, flipped left and right. Walk left and it walks right. Punch and it punches. In an empty, even room every hit would trade evenly, so you win by finding the spot where the same move hurts the MIRROR more than it hurts you.
Move with A D or the arrow keys, and jump with W, Up or Space. J or Z is a fast, short punch. K or X is a slow heavy that hits twice as hard and launches the other fighter across the arena. R retries, Esc opens the menu and M mutes. On a phone, use the arrow buttons on the left and the JUMP, PUNCH and HEAVY buttons on the right, and turn the phone sideways for a bigger arena.
Each stage is a best of three rounds with a 45-second clock. Knock the MIRROR's health bar to zero to take a round. If the clock runs out, whoever has more health wins it, and a tie is replayed. Win the match to unlock the next stage.
Tips and strategy
Read the hint. Every stage shows a one-line hint at the top that points at its weak spot. The first one says it plainly: walk left, and the MIRROR walks right into the spikes.
Hazards win fights, not fists. Punches and heavies mostly trade. The damage that decides a match comes from the arena: spikes take 16 health, an electric wall 18 when someone is launched into it, a laser beam 12 and a fall into a pit 28. Being knocked into a plain wall only costs 5.
Use the heavy near their hazard. The heavy launches. A launched fighter who hits an electric wall gets zapped, so line things up so that the MIRROR is the one flying toward the danger.
Think about the modifier. Some stages give the MIRROR a twist, shown next to its health bar. With LAG it copies you a sixth of a second late, so you can hit and step away before its copy lands. SLOW and TURBO change its speed, FEATHER makes it fly 40% further when hit, HEAVY makes it hit 30% harder but get knocked back less, and ARMOR cuts the damage it takes by 20%.
Do not just hold one key. Holding one direction rarely wins on later stages. Watch where the two of you are standing and move with a purpose.
What's in it
Eight stages, each lopsided on purpose: FIRST LIGHT (spikes on one side), BACKSTOP (a pillar on your side and a live wall on theirs), UNDERTOW (a conveyor belt dragging you both left), THE GAP (your pit is narrow, theirs is wide), LASER GRID (two beams firing out of step), BLACK ICE (their half is slippery ice), LOW CEILING (spiked ceilings) and the final MIRROR KING, where both fighters get 130 health instead of 100 and the MIRROR has LAG and ARMOR.
You earn up to three diamonds per stage: three for winning without losing a round and with at least half your health left, two for a clean win with less health, and one for any win. Beat all eight to become champion. The look is a neon synthwave night with a city skyline, a glowing floor and a synthesised soundtrack.
Questions
Is it violent? It is a cartoon fighting game between two glowing stick figures. There is no blood; a knocked-out fighter just falls over.
Do I need an account? No. Your unlocked stages, diamonds, current stage and mute setting are saved in your browser.
Can two people play? No. It is a single-player puzzle: the other fighter is always your own input, mirrored.
Does it flash? Yes. The screen flashes white briefly when someone hits a hazard and on every knockout, fighters flash white when hit, and the screen shakes on big hits.