About WipEout
Psygnosis released WipEout in 1995 as one of the first big games for the original PlayStation, and versions for MS-DOS and the Sega Saturn followed. It’s an anti-gravity racer set in 2052: you fly hovering craft for one of four teams around futuristic tracks, collecting weapons and speed boosts along the way. The look came from the design studio The Designers Republic, and the European release had a soundtrack of electronic music from artists such as Leftfield, Orbital and The Chemical Brothers. It helped make the PlayStation feel like a console for grown-ups.
How it runs in your browser
In 2023 Dominic Szablewski, a developer known as phoboslab, rewrote the game from source code that had leaked in 2022, much of it from a PC edition of the game. The result is a cleaned-up version that compiles to Windows, macOS, Linux and, through WebAssembly and WebGL, the browser. Its code is public on GitHub.
Pressing Play opens phoboslab.org in a new tab, where you choose between two downloads. The full version, about 144 MB, is the complete game with the intro and music. The minimal version, about 11 MB, skips those and gets you racing quickly. Nothing is installed.
It’s single-player only: there’s no online play.
Controls and devices
The page lists keyboard controls: the arrow keys steer, X is thrust, Z fires weapons, C and V are the left and right air brakes, and A changes the view. The air brakes are the key to the tighter corners, so get used to them early. It’s built for computers; phones aren’t listed.
Tips
Start in the slowest class and learn each track before chasing first place. WipEout rewards clean lines more than raw speed, and scraping the walls costs you far more time than braking for a corner.
Is WipEout Free, Safe and Official?
Is this the whole game?
The full version, about 144 MB, is the complete game with its intro and music. The minimal version, about 11 MB, leaves those out so you can start racing sooner.
What are the controls?
Arrow keys steer, X is thrust, Z fires weapons, C and V are the left and right air brakes, and A changes the camera view.
Is this the official game?
No. It’s a fan rewrite by Dominic Szablewski and is not affiliated with Sony Interactive Entertainment.
