Swarmlight
You are a small light in a dark arena, and the swarm walks in from every wall. You never aim: your light fires on its own at whatever is closest, so all you do is move — weave through the gaps, lead the crowd round in a circle and dash straight through them when they close in. Everything they drop is a shard, and every few shards you pick one of three powers: faster fire, a fan of bolts, bolts that go through a whole line, sparks that circle you, a burst at the end of every dash. Spitters keep their distance and lob shots, splitters break in two, and every minute and a half a warden arrives. One run is a few minutes; how long you last is the build you made.
How to play Swarmlight
⌨️ Keyboard & mouse
- WASD/arrows
- move
- Space
- dash
- 1 2 3
- pick a power
📱 Phone & tablet
Drag anywhere to move (the stick appears under your thumb), DASH button to slip through, tap a power to pick it
Controls guide →- Free, no sign-up
- Plays in the browser
How Swarmlight works
You are the light in the middle of a dark arena, and the swarm comes in from all four walls. Your light fires by itself at the nearest foe, a few times a second, so your only job is where to be. Moving well means never being cornered: lead the swarm round in a wide circle, slip through the thin side of it, and keep the open floor in front of you.
Every foe you put out drops shards. Fill the bar along the top and the run pauses on a choice of three powers — Quickfire, Fan (more bolts per shot), Lance (bolts that pass through), Heavy light, Halo (sparks that orbit you), Nova (a burst at the end of every dash), Swift, Pull, Blink (a shorter dash cooldown) and Ember heart. Powers stack, so a run becomes the build you chose.
The swarm changes as the minutes pass. Pink mites run straight at you; teal splitters break into two mites; orange brutes are slow and take many hits; violet spitters hold back and lob shots. Every ninety seconds a warden arrives, big and slow, with a health bar of its own. You have four hearts, a short blink of safety after every hit, and a dash that passes through anything — the ring around the light shows when it is ready. Your score is two points for every second plus points for every foe, and your best is kept in this browser.
Tips for Swarmlight
- Move in a wide circle round the arena. The swarm follows you and bunches up behind, which is exactly where your bolts are going.
- Stay off the walls. A light in a corner has nowhere to go when the next group walks in.
- The dash goes through anything. Save it for when you are boxed in, and dash through the thinnest side, not away into a wall.
- Fan and Lance together turn a crowd that follows you in a line into a shower of shards.
- Halo sparks do their work up close, so they pair well with Swift and a lot of moving through the edge of the swarm.
- Spitters only throw where you are, not where you are going. Keep moving and their shots fall behind you.
- When a warden arrives, keep circling: it is slow, and your light keeps hitting it as long as it is the closest thing around.
