Some games ask you to save the world. Solar Smash asks you to destroy it—repeatedly, creatively, and with a surprising amount of satisfaction. It's a physics-based sandbox where you pick a planet and throw everything from lasers to asteroids at it, just to see what happens. There's no score to chase and no story to follow, which is exactly why so many people find it relaxing. If you've never tried it, Solar Smash is easy to jump into, and this short guide covers how it works, along with a few things I wish I'd known earlier.

Gameplay

When you open the game, you're presented with Earth floating in space. Along the side of the screen is a menu of weapons grouped into categories: projectiles, lasers, natural disasters, and a handful of strange "other" options like giant worms or alien invasions.

The basic loop is simple. Select a weapon, aim at the planet, and tap or click to fire. Each weapon behaves differently. A missile leaves a crater and a ring of fire. A laser can be dragged across the surface to carve lines. Larger asteroids will knock chunks off the planet entirely, sending debris drifting into orbit. Keep going and the planet's core becomes exposed, glowing red, until eventually the whole thing breaks apart.

Beyond Earth, you can unlock or switch to other planets—Mars, Jupiter-style gas giants, an ice world, even fictional ones. Some react differently. Gas giants, for instance, don't crack the same way rocky planets do. There's also a "System Smash" mode where you can mess with an entire solar system, nudging planets into each other or flinging a black hole into the middle.

Tips

Take your time. The temptation is to spam the biggest weapon immediately, but the game is more fun when you experiment. Try one weapon at a time and watch the effect before moving on.

Rotate the planet. You can spin the globe with your finger or mouse. Hitting the same spot repeatedly is fine, but spreading damage across the surface creates more interesting results.

Combine effects. Fire a laser first to weaken an area, then hit it with an asteroid. Or trigger a nuclear strike and follow it with a tidal wave. The physics respond to what's already there.

Check the settings. There are toggles for population counters, damage visibility, and slow motion. Slow motion in particular makes the bigger impacts much more dramatic.

Don't skip the odd weapons. The list gets stranger toward the bottom. Some of them—like shrinking the planet or summoning a swarm—are worth trying at least once.

Reset often. There's a reset button that instantly restores the planet. Use it freely. Starting fresh is part of the experience, not a failure.

Conclusion

Solar Smash won't take up your whole evening, and it doesn't need to. It's the kind of game you open for ten minutes when you want to switch your brain off and watch something explode in a satisfying way. It's simple, a little absurd, and oddly calming. If that sounds like your kind of thing, give it a try and see how long Earth survives.