Puppet Master — Play Free Online

Puppet Master is a ragdoll shooter with a merge-and-upgrade loop. You do not run around a map; you build an arsenal, then send it into a fight and watch the battlefield react. The weapons are the progression: combine two matching ones and you get a stronger one, and the stronger one carries you through the next level.

It is made by Freeze Nova, the studio behind Masked Forces and Masked Shooters, and it first appeared in 2019. Sessions are short and the pace is relaxed, which makes it a different kind of game from the jumpers and platformers that fill most of Doodle Jump. It suits a few spare minutes where you want to see numbers go up rather than react to a hazard every half second.

How to play

The main input is the mouse: click to shoot or throw your weapons at the targets in front of you. The listed controls are mouse-first and the game is aimed at desktop, so a laptop or computer with a mouse or trackpad is the comfortable way to play it. If you are on a phone, expect to tap where you would otherwise click.

A round has two halves. Between fights you manage your gear, combining similar weapons into better firearms. Then you enter the battle and use what you built. Clear the level, move on to a tougher one, and repeat with a stronger collection.

Tips

• Merge before you fight. Two weapons of the same kind give you more than either alone, so look for pairs before heading in.
• If a level is stalling you, the answer is usually upgrading rather than aiming better. Go back and build up first.
• Click steadily at your targets instead of waiting for perfect shots; the ragdoll physics rewards sustained hits.
• Keep the browser tab open when you want to continue later, since progress in browser games like this is held locally.

Similar games on Doodle Jump

If you want something with more movement, Fireboy and Watergirl asks you to guide two characters through puzzle rooms, and Ovo 2 is a fast precision platformer. Day D Tower Rush and Bloons Tower Defense 2 are closer in spirit, since both are about building up your defences and watching them do the work.

Puppet Master runs in the browser with nothing to install, so you can open it and be playing within seconds.