This Silly Yet Addicting Game, Agar.io, Encapsulates the Ruthlessness of Cell Biology

agar.io 05-20-15-2

I stumbled upon a really strange browser game, dubbed simply Agar.io, or Agario (as some people call it). While the creator of the game is currently anonymous, it was originally posted onto 4chan’s /v/ board, late last month.

The game shares a premise with the currently available game, Osmos, although it introduces a mechanic that simply turns everything on its head – online multiplayer. You can pick your server, your name, and then you’re off – the only goal is to eat those pellets (agar) while avoiding larger cells/players.


If you’re larger than those spikey green spheres (viruses), you’ll break apart into two pieces upon touching them. However, you’re also enabled to attack other players outside your direct consumption, via hitting spacebar (which completely splits you in two, with one half shooting in the direction you’re moving), or by hitting W, which shoots parts of your cell at other players.

There’s also some easter eggs that definitely make it feel like a game toiled away in the fiery dungeons of the chan-realm, like being able to don secret skins to your cell by using keywords as nicknames, like Doge, 4chan, 8chan (under 8ch), and 9gag. I’ve seen lots of people using AIDS, Ebola, and various other diseases or racist terms though.

All in all, Agar.io is completely insane, and completely hilarious to me. Oh, it was also put up on Steam Greenlight, and it was greenlit nearly instantly.


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Owner and Publisher at Niche Gamer and Nicchiban. Outlaw fighting for a better game industry.


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