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What is Agar.io?
When Agar.io released less than a year ago, the world fell in love with its simple, engaging gameplay, and a concept that was unique at the time. It started out as a browser-based game, but since then it has come to Windows, Linux, OS X, and iOS devices. In Agar.io, you play as a cell with the aim of becoming as large as possible. You do this by consuming other cells, but you can only eat cells that are smaller than you are. It may seem like a simple premise, but there’s actually a lot of strategy involved, and it’s a lot of fun to learn.
Since Agar.io’s release, a lot of other games have been developed with a similar premise. Some of them are just straight up clones, while others just borrow inspiration from the original game, and improved upon it. If you’re bored of Agari.io, or if you’re just looking for something different, you’ll want to take a look at this updated 2018 list of top five games like Agar.io currently available.
5. Katamari Damacy
I feel like this game should be included in this list, if only to honor the great Katamari name. Katamari Damacy was a game that originally released on the PS2, and it was quite the sleeper hit in both North American and Japanese markets. If you haven’t played it before, it’s basically an action-puzzle game. The basis of the gameplay is that you’re rolling around a large sticky ball, which picks up debris and becomes larger over time. Once the ball releases a certain size, it becomes a star, and enables you to progress to the next level. Sounds pretty familiar, right?
Namco had come up with the general idea of Agar.io over 10 years before it even came out. If you’re a big fan of Agar.io, I think that you should at least give its predecessor a chance. Since the core gameplay is similar, Damacy feels similar to Agar.io while still feeling completely brand new. The game actually has a story, which Agar.io, as well as the other items on this list, don’t really have. Not to mention, the game is played in 3D third-person. This is very different from the minimalist, 2D, top-down graphics that most Agar.io fans have probably become accustomed to.
Damacy feels and plays different, but the satisfaction of watching your small ball become larger and larger over time is still there. That being said, though, the campaign isn’t very long, and it doesn’t have nearly as much replay value as the other non-serial games on this list. Not to mention, although there are many other games in the Katamari series available on other platforms, it’s not quite as easy to play this game as it is to play Agar.io. It also isn’t multiplayer, unfortunately, which doesn’t make the experience as competitive as you would hope for it to be.
4. Cosmic Crush
Cosmic Crush takes the standard Agar.io format, and tweaks it just a little bit. The resulting game feels new, despite possessing the same core mechanics. Cosmic Crush is a space-themed game, where you progress through different levels by becoming as large as possible, absorbing smaller planets and rocks. That’s right. Level progression, Unfortunately, Cosmic Crush doesn’t have a multiplayer mode. You can play survival mode, which is endless like Agar.io, or through levels, which is basically just a campaign that gets progressively more difficult.
On the surface, it doesn’t sound like much. However, one of the most interesting additions to the original game is the addition of physics. In Cosmic Crush, you don’t have to just avoid larger planets. You have to avoid their gravitational fields, too. This adds a whole new level of challenge to the game, and requires you to play in a completely different way. Agar.io isn’t really a physics-based game to begin with, so this game is both similar and fundamentally different.
I also really like the visuals of Cosmic Crush in comparison to Agar.io. They manage to look nice, while still maintaining the same level of minimalism. It’s definitely a bit flashier than Agar.io, but it never reaches eye-burning levels of ridiculousness. Being a browser-based game, you can expect to be able to play this game on pretty much anything that has Flash. Unlike Katamari, this game is really easily accessible.
3. Eufloria
Eufloria was actually released several years prior to Agar.io’s release, and one can help but wonder if it was used as inspiration during Agar.io’s development. In Eufloria, you plant trees on different planets with the intention of completely overtaking them. Once your planet becomes strong enough, it is able to take over a neighboring planet. It has the same premise of “get stronger over time and conquer” that you’ll find in Agar.io.
However, Eufloria is a lot more strategy-oriented than Agar.io. While playing, you won’t even find yourself on the edge of your seat, excited and nervous. In fact, it’s actually a more relaxing game. The soundtrack is fantastic and the graphics are simple, yet beautiful. It’s easy to just sit back and chill out with this game. It isn’t quite as difficult as Agar.io either, and there’s a certain point in the game where it becomes really easy to dominate the other planets. So, if you’re looking for a game that has the same level of action as Agar.io, you may want to look elsewhere.
2. Haxball
One of the greatest draws of the original Agar.io is how easy it is to jump into a game. Type in the short URL, punch in a username, click a button, and you’re in. No downloads, no loading screens, no tutorials. It’s really accessible, and it can easily be played with friends. Another great technical aspect of Agar.io is the graphics. The bare-bones user interface means that it can be played on most devices, since it isn’t very graphically demanding. Haxball takes these best technical qualities, and puts them together to create a game that, while aesthetically similar, is completely different from the original game.
In Haxball, you’re basically just playing soccer. Take a ball from the center of the field, and push it into the opposing team’s goal. Rules vary from lobby to lobby, but none of the differences are that mind-blowing. Some lobbies are dedicated to specific game types. For example, in “snipe” lobbies, you’re only able to take shots from really far away. Even with such a simple game, the online community is able to come together and keep things feeling fresh.
Haxball has the same minimalist, dot-oriented graphics that you’ll find in Agar.io. Controls are also equally simple, and joining games is just as easy. However, I should note that it’s not quite as populated as Agar.io. With Agar.io, you can get into a full lobby almost every time. Haxball hasn’t attained that level of renown yet, but there’s pretty much always a game or two available.
1. Curve Fever 2
Curve Fever is like Haxball, in that it’s a departure from Agar.io’s gameplay while still maintaining the same technical aspects that helped make Agar.io so successful. Unlike Haxball, however, Curve Fever is also an action-strategy game. It manages to stay in Agar.io’s same genre without completely ripping off its format. In this game, you compete to stretch and curve your line as far as possible, without hitting your own line or the line of your competitors. It’s like multiplayer Snake, and it’s a ton of fun.
Curve Fever is a lot more strategic than it may sound, and you can actually find online guides where people discuss the best and most efficient lines to travel in order to score the most points. This game also has a lot more content than its predecessor, with a level progression system not dissimilar to Agar.io’s. The more rounds you win, the more experience points you earn. The more experience points you earn, the higher your level becomes. Some people play Curve Fever competitively, so a high level will enable you to join more games. (Some lobbies are locked to people with lower levels.) This isn’t quite as satisfying as Agar.io’s skin purchasing system, but it comes pretty close.
Curve Fever 2 also has a feature that a lot of Agar.io fans have been begging for: in-game power-ups. During a game, you can maneuver your line in such a way to pick up power-ups, which can give you a major leg up in the round. Power-ups include things like a line thickener, which makes it more difficult for your opponents to evade your line. Rounds are often pretty quick, which makes Curve Fever just as easy to binge as Agar.io. If you love the general feel and mechanics of Agar.io, but you don’t want a straight clone, I can’t recommend this one enough.
