THE WORLD FIGHTS BACK
Wind, flooded areas, low ceilings, crevasses, caves and vertical routes make flying itself part of the mission.
A RESCUE GAME WITH TEETH
BRING
THEM ALL
HOME.
The rescue loop that made a generation lean toward the screen—rebuilt as a modern VTOL gunship campaign for players who remember Choplifter and players who have never heard the rotor spin.
18CAMPAIGN
SECTORS
SECTORS
4POST-CAMPAIGN
SORTIES
SORTIES
53FLIGHT
COMMENDATIONS
COMMENDATIONS
21HELICOPTER
LIVERIES
LIVERIES
MISSION DOCTRINE / 01
NOT A SHOOTER WITH A HELICOPTER.
A RESCUE MISSION UNDER FIRE.
You do not win by clearing a screen and walking away. You breach detention sites, drop into hostile airspace, hover low enough for civilians to run aboard, and get them back to the pad while the clock, terrain and enemy pressure keep moving.
Every sector changes the problem: dunes, flooded shafts, crevasses, calderas, drowned jungle, underground vaults, collapsing rock, rising coolant—and the things waiting there for you.
01BREACHOpen the route.
02DESCENDPut the aircraft where it hurts.
03EXTRACTLoad civilians under pressure.
04RETURNBring every soul home.
THE CAMPAIGN / 02
18 WAR ZONES.
NO COPY-PASTE BATTLEFIELDS.
Rotor Rescue escalates by changing the environment as much as the enemy roster. The campaign begins with rolling dunes and ends inside a failing reactor complex. Between them: weather, water, darkness, caves, vertical rescues and terrain that becomes part of the combat puzzle.
SECTOR 01 / 18
DUNE OUTPOST
A quiet border post on rolling dunes. Learn the stick.
THREATS WITH DIFFERENT ANSWERS
Tanks, interceptors, flak, drones, mines, gunboats, Sentinels, gunships and bosses force you to change altitude, heading and weapon choice. A one-second 360° evasive roll can slip bullets and drone impacts.
BUILT TO REPLAY
Four difficulty tiers, permanent flight records, 53 commendations and 21 liveries turn every cleaner, faster rescue into a new target.
POST-CAMPAIGN / EYES ONLY
FINISH THE WAR.
THEN THE STRANGE MISSIONS START.
CLASSIFIED
UNLOCK AFTER CAMPAIGN
UNLOCK AFTER CAMPAIGN
∞
SURVIVAL
LAST BIRD FLYING
One helicopter, one life, escalating waves. No reset button waiting to forgive the last mistake.
HOW LONG CAN ONE AIRFRAME LAST?☠
EXTERMINATION
KILL 'EM ALL
No cells. No civilians. A dead city at the gate, then twenty kilometres of hostiles, open water and a rotten cave you have to enter.
THE LAST KILL ENDS THE SORTIE.◉
GROOM RANGE · 03:40
OPERATION NIGHTFLIER
Saucers are lifting ranch workers off the dry lake. Break their shield logic, interrupt abductions and clear the range before the night owns it.
THE RED BEAM CAN BE TURNED AGAINST THEM.▲
ALPINE EXTRACTION
WHITEOUT EXTRACTION
Eight climbers. A knife-edge summit. Glacier on one side, avalanche on the other. Clear the approach and work the rescue sling one survivor at a time.
THE BOMB CONTROL BECOMES A WINCH.1982 DNA / 2026 AIRFRAME
IF YOU KNOW,
YOU KNOW.
IF YOU DON'T—NOW YOU CAN.
Choplifter Classic is built into Rotor Rescue as a deliberate old-school mode: a four-barrack field, 64 hostages, tanks, interceptor jets and a 480-second timer in an Apple II-style visual language.
The rest of Rotor Rescue takes that essential rescue tension and asks what it feels like with modern terrain, weather, bosses, special missions, adaptive graphics and a much larger campaign.
THE TRIAL INCLUDES CLASSIC MODE →APPLE II FIELD RECONSTRUCTION280 × 192
HOSTAGES 64BARRACKS 4CLOCK 480s
FREE FLIGHT CHECK
DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT.
TAKE THE STICK.
The browser Trial contains the first two campaign sectors plus playable Choplifter Classic. No install. No purchase needed to find out whether the rescue loop gets under your skin.
WASD / ARROWS FLYSPACE FIRER/V FLAREE/C BOMBR×2 / V×2 EVASIVE ROLLTOUCH DOUBLE-TAP FLARE · ROLL
CHOOSE YOUR AIRFRAME / 03
FLY WHERE YOU WANT.
Take the full game on desktop, or carry the rescue into your pocket on iPhone, iPad and Android.
FULL DESKTOP EDITION
ITCH.IO
Complete desktop campaign and post-campaign content.
€6.99 BUY FULL GAME → IPHONE · IPADAPP STORE
Touch controls, mobile layout and the Rotor Rescue campaign on Apple devices.
VIEW ON APP STORE → ANDROIDGOOGLE PLAY
Fly with mobile controls on supported Android phones and tablets.
VIEW ON GOOGLE PLAY →Desktop price shown as €6.99; store checkout may display localized currency, taxes or regional pricing.
INTEL / FAQ
BEFORE YOU LIFT OFF.
What is included in the browser Trial?
The Trial contains the first two campaign sectors plus playable Choplifter Classic mode. It is embedded directly in this website project and runs locally from the trial/ folder.
Do I need to know Choplifter to enjoy Rotor Rescue?
No. Rotor Rescue explains its own rescue loop and modern campaign systems. Classic mode is there for players who want to feel the lineage directly.
When do the special missions unlock?
Last Bird Flying, Kill 'Em All, Operation Nightflier and Whiteout Extraction unlock after completing the campaign.
How does the evasive roll work?
Quickly press R twice or V twice on a keyboard, or quickly double-tap FLARE on a touch device. A single R/V press or FLARE tap still launches a normal flare. The helicopter performs a one-second 360° roll to the left and cannot be damaged by bullets or drone impacts during the maneuver. After the roll, there is a two-second cooldown before it can be used again.
Is this the original Choplifter?
No. Rotor Rescue is an independent modern tribute inspired by Choplifter and includes its own Classic-mode recreation. It is not presented as the original 1982 commercial release.
TOWER TO PILOT
THE PAD IS CLEAR.
THEY'RE WAITING.
You already know what the mission is.