IO Games are a genre of free realtime multiplayer online games that you can play in your browser without needing to install anything or create an account. The first io game was agar.io. IO is a domain extension which stands for "Indian Ocean" but it is a favored domain extension by game developers because it also stands for "in / out."
io games traditionally refer to games with sites that end with the domain ".io". Nowadays, iogames typically refer to multiplayer browser games io games became popular with the release of Agar.io. It had simple gameplay and graphics, as compared to the mobile and computer games of the time. Regardless, Agario drew many online players which made the game super popular. It spawned a lot of clones that show up every day. The next majorly well-received io game was Slither.io. And after that, an io games trend began. Titotu has the most complete list of io games and keep it updated.
The io game genre all began with the release of an insanely addicting game called agar.io (which was probably inspired by another game called “Osmos”). Agario grew so fast that within months, it was already seeing several hundred thousand players worldwide. What made this io game so unique was it’s a very interesting style. Unlike most browser games of the past, it was designed to be played in a full-screen browser window and was entirely multiplayer. This set the framework for many of the other .io games that would hit the web in the months to come.
You might consider io game running on any device since it's browser game, but you'll be mistaken. Since game runs inside browser it heavily uses devices resources. So on an old computers the games might be laggy. To avoid those you need not very old computer and a high-speed network connection. If the game still lags, try exit full screen mode. Also in some games you can reduce graphics quality.
Most fun and successful new io games like zombs.io, zombsroyale.io, slither.io, splix.io, and moomoo.io follow these general guidelines: Have the player be able to hop right into a game with one click. Keep it super simple to learn but difficult to master, like with the krunker io game. Allow the player to “scale” their authority in-game compared to other players. (Ex. in agar.io you grow a lot bigger and scarier the more you eat and scale your size.) And last but not least, they are either competitive or cooperative. Slitherio is a good example. It's a very simple game, with easy-to-use controls. There's no experience required to begin playing, meaning people can get the hang of it very quickly. Despite this, the game is difficult to master. The simple, clean graphics are also worth mentioning as a relevant characteristic of the genre.
After I found the first few popular io games, I tried to find more. Sadly, without a list, they were really hard to find. I felt that they deserved more exposure, so I decided to create my own list. I put together all the titles I could find, and many helpful users shared new ones with me. From that point on, I was on a mission to push the io movement forward! On this site, you will find that the games in the list have a common style and theme similar to those mentioned above. The goal of the list is to bring exposure to these awesome .io games that oftentimes go unnoticed. This is due to the fact that they are all standalone games which means that they are all hosted on separate sites. That’s what I'm here for! So, support the games and make sure you bookmark this site. (CTRL-D) I try to keep it updated with the best, new io games every day, so make sure to check back from time to time. Have fun!
