How to play
GLOB. Start as a speck in a drop of water. Evolve, stage after stage, into something the world has no name for.
First Waters. New here? Pick Campaign on Beginning — a mind waking in the drop, with dialogue and music as you learn what is possible.
Grow. Eat many kinds of food — motes, flakes, spores, crystals, oil, pearls, berries, bubbles, yolk, pollen, algae and more — plus any cell smaller than you. Some bites heal, rush, ink, or sting. Your body length grows, the microscope pulls back, and the water around you changes.
Structures. The water holds reef spires, vent chimneys, ice shards, mineral nodules, bloom tufts, shells, eddies, spore puffs, bubble nests, kelp and wreckage. Brush harvestable ones for food, dash into breakable ones when you are big enough, and watch for pushes, swirls, heat and zaps.
Read the rings. A pulsing red ring means that cell can hurt you. A green dot above a cell means you can swallow it.
Explore. The water goes on forever across many regions — temperate pools, tide pools, mangroves, silt flats, spore seas, iron film, pearl beds, twilight belts, vents, brine, blooms, seeps, hollows, glass reefs and currents. Each has its own creatures and dangers. You always wake in gentle water (never frozen brine or a vent); the map shows what is around you as you grow.
Evolve. Eating and killing earns DNA. When the DNA bar fills you reach a new stage and a skill point is stored. Tap Skill on phones (or press F on desktop) when you are safe — the game pauses while you choose. Chapters arrive every few stages with form futures.
Choosing. Earning a skill point doesn't spend it right away. Open Skills (F, or the pulsing badge), tap a talent to preview how you will look and what it does, then confirm with Take. Nothing is picked by accident.
Metamorphosis. Every few stages opens a chapter: up to three form futures with a short body line. The first pick chooses your job line (Swift, Armor, Worm…). Later chapters only advance that line. Finish the line to unlock Ascension. An apex predator also arrives around each chapter.
Mutations. Between chapters you get a thin bag of three skill spices biased toward how you live (hunt / filter / sun). Companions wait until a late stage or Colony chapter. Pause still opens the full tree to browse.
Beginning. Pick a cell from the roster — tap to see its starting gift (sense, guard, dash, hide, trick, or a soft sting/shove). Campaign teaches movement and energy in the water; Endless skips the story gate.
Locomotion. Flagella sprint and unlock Jet coil. Fins turn hard and unlock Keel. Crawl resists shove and unlocks Grip pads. Cilia and Filter crown stay on the skill tree for any build.
Controls. Settings → Controls: Auto (stick on touch, pointer on desktop), Stick, Pointer, Tap, or Keys — plus left/right handedness.
On phones: steer with the stick, tap Dash, tap Use when something is nearby, tap Skill when you have a point, tap Ability when you have one.
On desktop: mouse or WASD to steer, click or Space to dash, F (or Tab) for skills, E for ability, R to use nearby objects, Esc to pause.
Dangers. Hunters chase you, but only for a while: a red ! means something has noticed you, and a grey ? means it lost interest. Outswim it or hide. Only one apex predator can exist at a time.
Temperament. One path asks how you relate to other cells: alone with no companions, a pack of strong companion cells, or a swarm of many. Pick one.
Events. The water occasionally shifts: a bloom of food, a frenzy of predators, a toxic tide, or a marked, glowing elite cell worth a big reward. Watch the banner at the top of the screen.
Modes & score. Beginning offers Campaign (story) and Endless (sandbox). Difficulty still scales damage and foe density. Ranked boards stay available from the menu when signed in, but are not on Beginning until Campaign is finished.
Saves. Three manual slots on Play. Pause → Save opens a slot list — confirm the first write to a slot, then that slot stays trusted until you switch. Autosave never overwrites slots. Signed-in players sync slots to the cloud; newer wins.
Labels. Settings → World labels (also from Pause mid-run): Pickups shows floating +DNA / +HP text when you eat or interact; Names also tags nearby structures and nutrients.
Sound. Settings → Music / Sound effects. All audio is synthesized in the browser (no copyrighted samples). On iPhone, tap once to unlock sound — and turn the Ring/Silent switch off (Web Audio follows it).
Graphics. Settings → Graphics: Auto (Medium on phones, High on desktop; dips briefly if frames hitch), High, Medium, or Low. Low skips water dust/caustics and biome dressing for smoother play.
Skill tree. Specialty columns of icon talents — hover or click for names on the right. Glowing icons can be taken; grey ones stay locked.
More dangers. Virions swarm and sting when swallowed. Diatoms wear glass shells. Spikers hurt on touch. Jellies sting nearby. Filterers siphon food. Splitters divide when wounded. Coils and razors hunt fast. Mimics pretend to be food. Puff cells burst toxic. Leeches and latch mites cling until you dash or press R. Skimmers zip past as fast food. Burrowers hide then lunge. Stalkers are nearly invisible.