Arcade · How to play

How to play Up NEPA

A first-person shooter on one Lagos market street. Raiders come for the market in waves, and every wave is bigger than the last. You hold the street with two guns, whatever the shops will sell you, and whoever came with you.

Players
1 to 4
You carry
Two guns
Between waves
25 seconds
The boss
Waves 6 and 11
How it plays

Nine things, and the first three keep you alive.

  1. Hold the street

    Raiders come in through the alleys between the buildings, a wave at a time. Every wave is bigger than the last, and they get better at shooting.

  2. There is no health bar

    Take hits and the screen goes red. Get out of sight for a few seconds and you come back.

  3. Use what stops bullets

    A danfo stops bullets. So does a road divider, a kiosk and a stack of rice bags. An umbrella does not. Crouch behind something low and a raider cannot see your head over it.

  4. Pick two guns before you start

    You carry two, chosen under Loadout: a rifle, a pump action, a bow and others. Each keeps its own magazine. You can take one perk in beside them, or none. Once the first wave has come, none of it can change.

  5. Shop between waves

    Clear a wave and you have 25 seconds before the next. You start with ₦500. A hit pays ₦10, a kill ₦90, and a headshot ₦60 on top. The shops are the signs on the street: stand under one and hold E, or USE on a phone, to buy.

  6. Take a card

    After each wave the shopkeepers back you. Pick a shop, then pick one of its cards. Each shop is a path: one for the gun in your hands, one for fire, one for your health, and so on. A card lasts the whole run.

  7. NEPA takes light

    Two waves are lit, then three are in the dark, and again. Wave 3 is the first blackout. In the dark the raiders have the advantage. Fuel the generator and the whole street is lit for everybody, 60 seconds a fill.

  8. The Oga comes himself

    On wave 6 and wave 11 the boss arrives in an armoured jeep. Nothing gets through the armour, so aim low at the tyres: each one you burst takes a quarter of its speed. Then he steps out with his guards, and the wave is not over until he is down.

  9. Going down, and the score

    Go down and you have 25 seconds on the floor, still able to crawl and shoot. Kill a raider from there and you are back up. A raider scores a hundred, a headshot fifty more, and clearing a wave pays 250 times its number.

Controls

A keyboard, a phone or a controller.

The whole guide is in the game under Guide, and look speed is under Controls.

Keyboard and mouse
Click the street to take the mouse. W A S D moves, Shift sprints, C crouches, Space jumps. Left click fires, right click aims down the sights, R reloads. E buys at a shop and gets a squadmate up. Z reaches for your other gun. G says you are ready for the next wave.
More keys
F throws: hold it to aim, let go to throw. Q uses your charm. V swings the omorogun, which is what you have when a raider is too close to shoot. Esc lets go of the mouse.
Phone
Turn it sideways. Put your left thumb down anywhere on the left half and drag to move; push it to the rim to run. Drag the right half to look. FIRE, AIM, JUMP and CROUCH are always in the corner. USE, MELEE, THROW and JAZZ come up when they can do something. Your ammo count is the reload button.
Controller
The left stick moves; click it while pushing forward to sprint. The right stick looks. RT fires and LT aims. A jumps and B crouches. Tap X to reload, hold X to buy or get a squadmate up. RB throws, LB uses your charm, and Start pauses.
Moving well
Crouch while you sprint and you slide: fast, low and hard to hit. Jump at a road divider or a stall counter and you vault it. You cannot shoot while you sprint.
One run

The first six waves, start to finish.

You walk onto the street with the two guns you picked and ₦500. Waves 1 and 2 are in daylight. Get behind a danfo or a kiosk, take heads where you can, and use the 25 seconds after each wave to buy and to take a card.

Wave 3 is the first blackout. From here some raiders come with a name over their head and are tougher, and not every one is a rifleman: runners come straight at you, and marksmen hang back for one heavy shot. Fuel the generator if you want a fair fight.

Clear wave 5 and the lights come back. Wave 6 is the Oga. Burst the jeep's tyres early and he gets down at the far end with a long walk ahead of him. Leave them and he parks in the middle of your street. Take his guards first, then go for his head.

People ask

Before your first run.

Is Up NEPA free to play?
Yes. It costs nothing to open and play. The naira in the game is earned in a run and spent in that run. It is not real money.
Do I need an account?
No. Open it signed out and you are seated as a guest.
Can I play Up NEPA with friends?
Yes. Squad, then Start a squad, makes a room for up to four. Send the link or the code, and the host starts the run when everyone is in. With controllers connected, Same screen puts more than one player on one device. The host can also switch a room to Versus, where you play against each other.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Turn your phone sideways. Your left thumb moves, dragging the right half of the screen looks, and FIRE, AIM, JUMP and CROUCH are always in the corner.
What carries over between runs?
Not your power. Naira, cards and everything you bought are for that run only, and a new run starts with nothing. Your best runs are kept, and playing opens more of what can turn up on the street. The Unlocks page in the menu shows what is next.
What happens when I go down?
You are not out yet. You can still crawl and shoot, and you have 25 seconds before you bleed out. Kill a raider from the floor and you are back up on 40 health. In a squad, a teammate who holds E, or USE on a phone, beside you gets you up.
Where it comes from

The shout when the light comes back.

NEPA was the name of Nigeria's power authority, and it outlived the authority itself. When the light goes, NEPA has taken it. When it comes back, the whole street shouts the same two words. The game is named for that shout, and the blackout is one of its rules.

The street is a Lagos market: danfos, kiosks, a suya spot, a buka, a generator. The game was called Eko Strike before it took this name, which is why its address still says so.

Now play

The street is waiting.

Alone
Play solo from the menu. A finished solo run can go on the board.
A squad
Up to four. Start a squad and send the link or the code. Waves grow with the squad, and you can get each other back up.
Against each other
The host of a room can switch it to Versus: the same street, every player for themselves.
Play Up NEPA

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one of the games in the Arcade.