How to play
THE MARK is a sniper puzzle. You lie on a rooftop above a busy crowd, and one of the people below is an enemy agent trying to blend in. Your job is to work out which one from the clues, then take a single clean shot. You have three rounds per mission.
The TARGET PROFILE panel in the top left starts with two clues. Over the next minutes your radio adds more, and each new piece of intel cuts down the list of people who still fit. Red dots are appearance clues (colours, hats, sunglasses, bags, hair, height, which hand they hold things in), blue dots are habits you have to see happen, and yellow dots are events.
On a computer, click once to grab the mouse and move it to aim. Hold the right mouse button (or press Q) to look through the scope, and use the wheel or 1 2 3 to zoom between 3x, 6x and 10x. Fire with the left button, Space or F. Hold Shift to hold your breath and steady the sway. E or a middle click tags a suspect with a red marker, R restarts and P pauses. On a phone, drag with one finger to aim, pinch or tap SCOPE and ZOOM to look closer, and use the HOLD BREATH, TAG and FIRE buttons.
Hit the mark and time slows right down while the camera swings onto them as they fall. Hit anyone else, or miss, and the crowd panics and the mark makes a run for an exit, with an ESCAPING countdown on screen. You fail if you run out of rounds, the mark gets out, or the mission clock runs out and the mark simply walks away.
Tips and strategy
Do not shoot early. Every mission is built so that the full set of intel points at exactly one person. Until the last clue arrives there are usually several people who fit, so wait, watch and tag.
Use tags. When someone matches the first clues, press E on them. When new intel comes in you only have to check your tagged people instead of the whole square.
Habits need watching. The five habits are checking a wristwatch, glancing up at the security cameras, steering clear of the police, pacing back and forth in one spot, and turning away to hide the face when someone walks past. Each shows every few seconds, and some innocents share one. A habit alone is never enough; use it to choose between people who already match the looks.
Watch the events. When a siren goes past, the mark stops, looks around and hurries away from it while others only glance. On some missions the mark puts down a parcel and walks off, or swaps bags with a contact; the radio then gives the new bag.
Mind your breath. Holding your breath steadies the scope for about four seconds. Hold it too long and you gasp, and the sway gets worse while you recover.
Check your line of fire. Someone walking in front of the mark will take the bullet instead.
What's in it
Sixteen missions across five places: a market with stalls and a fountain, a train station with a platform, a clock tower and a departures board, a harbour with boats, cranes and a lighthouse, a festival with a stage, food tents and a Ferris wheel, and a rooftop party with a pool and a DJ. They come at different times of day: morning, noon, dusk, night, fog and rain. Crowds grow from 60 people to 150, with more lookalikes and more reliance on habits as you go.
The mark is picked at random every time you play, and the clues are worked out from the crowd, so replaying a mission is a fresh puzzle. Missions unlock in order. You earn up to three stars: three for a first-round hit under the par time, one less for each extra round and one less for going over par, with at least one star for any win.
Questions
Is it violent? It is a sniper game, but there is no blood. People are simple stylised figures who just fall down.
Do I need an account? No. Your stars, best times, unlocked missions and mute setting are saved in your browser.
Does it flash? There is a short white screen flash on every shot, and the siren event flashes red and blue light for a few seconds.