Even if you proclaim yourself as someone who breathes .io games – eats them for breakfast perhaps – there’s no way to keep up with all of the new ones. It’s simply not possible. You choose what you like the most and pretty much stick with them until you like something else, and that’s okay. There are far too many to bother trying to play them all.
As with any other genre, some .io games are simply better than others. Whether it’s because their gameplay and premise are unique and fun, or because they offer a bunch of modes and features, some really just come out ahead of the pack. And that’s what we’re going to be looking at here.
If you’re wandering in trying to see if Agar.io is on the list, go ahead and back out now. The game has gotten so bloated this past year that I can’t recommend it anymore, especially with worthy and faster clones like Gota.io floating around these days. Agar’s time in the spotlight has been fading for a while.
So what are the .io games that are above and beyond now in early 2017? Let’s get it started with an obvious one.
5. Slither.io
How could this one not be on this list? It’s been about a year and Slither.io is going just as strong as it was in its first few months, if not more so. There’s a reason for that.
This is by far the easiest .io game to play, have fun with, and do well in. Literally anyone can pick up Slither and figure out how to play in a matter of seconds, and it doesn’t take a pro gamer to feast on other players. Only a little care and patience.
The game has also kept to its roots well. It doesn’t shove a bunch of ads in your face (at least in the browser version) and doesn’t ask you to pay money for skins, either.
Some might say this should be higher on the list because it’s tried and true, but it does get boring just playing a PvP version of Snake after a while. Slither.io is one of the best, but it lacks the oomph of the other options on this list.
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4. Opka.io
This little gem gets ignored a little too often for my tastes. All of the games listed here are unique from one another, but Opka.io is probably the furthest from the rest.
Opka.io pits you against nine other players in its own hectic version of Pong. Before a round starts you choose your passive skill, active skill, and color and then you throw down. The last three standing are awarded medals that can be seen by other players as long as they do multiple rounds that play session.
This is one of the more constrained .io game options but is also one of the most competitive. You’re dealing with surviving against countless other players in most other .io games but in Opka.io you’re only dealing with nine. Your active and passive skills matter just as much as your own personal skill, and a win feels rewarding.
This is one of the more skill-based options both on this list – and among the genre in general –and it certainly has a place among the best. All it needs is stat tracking, and a larger playerbase is sure to follow.
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3. Diep.io
I’m sure a lot of people would expect this one to be in the first or second spot, but Diep.io is certainly not an .io game everyone can enjoy. That said, it is one of the most fleshed-out and varied of them all. and were it not for number 1’s exponential growth and development, this would certainly be in second place.
Diep.io is a sort of multiplayer shoot’ em up borderlining on bullet hell that asks players not only to get good, but to play the way they want to via a flexible class and stat system. The game’s tank classes and stat builds alone make it one of the most versatile .io games out there.
On top of classes and stats are a number of game modes – ranging from the straightforward free-for-all to tag, domination, and maze. To say there are a ton of ways to play Diep.io would be a serious understatement.
The above all sounds great, but this is by far one of the most rage-inducing .io options. It takes a lot of practice and class/stat testing before you really find your own in a mode. It’s one of the highest quality ones you’re going to find, but it’s very possible you may hate how hard it is.
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2. Bonk.io
This one seems to have come out of nowhere, and is not as big as some of the other games on this list. But it’s definitely climbing in popularity, and there’s good reason for that.
Bonk.io is a physics-based .io game pitting you and up to eight other players against one another in the struggle to stay on the map. You start off bouncing, and if you’re not lucky you’re going to bounce right off.
Bouncing, balancing, and controlling your weight is fun enough, but a huge part of the draw of Bonk.io is its map editor. The community has come up with a nearly endless array of maps to play on, and it’s easy to make your own. Part of the fun really lies in the map editor.
The game itself is as simple as it gets, but it does take practice to learn to control yourself – and with so many maps on rotation there’s rarely a dull moment. Matches are fast and you find yourself going from one to the next without even thinking about it.
Bonk.io is one of the more original .io games to get popular over the past few months, and it’s easy to see why.
1. Mope.io
All this writing to lead up to Mope.io. Am I for real? Yeah, I’m for real. Mope.io is not only one of the fastest growing .io games these days, it’s also one of the most frequently updated and most unique.
Like Diep.io, this one features a class system, but there are no tanks here – you’re evolving an animal based on how much you’ve eaten and where you are when you’re evolving to the next level. I hope you like eating berries and chomping on other players’ tails!
Anyone who has been playing Mope.io for a while knows just how in-depth this game is when compared to its .io game brethren. Every animal has its own movement speed, its own types of animals it can eat (or be eaten by), and some have their own special abilities.
As it’s essentially a game of survival of the fittest, this is one of the longer options. A single play session can last a while, and if you like the game it’s an enjoyable while. You’re not just duking it out to hit the top of the leaderboard; you’re playing through multiple animal species with their own varying abilities. If you end up being able to reach the top of the food chain you’re a king of the beasts, and you’re a force to be reckoned with.
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Mope.io may not have all the features of the other games in this list, but it deserves its place in the number 1 spot. It’s simple enough for anyone to get into and enjoy, in-depth enough to engage gamers from casual to core, and updated often enough not to get stale. That’s why it’s the top .io game on this list – and if you’re an .io player who hasn’t checked it out yet, you should do that sooner rather than later.
