Free space MMO in the browser
What is massively multiplayer about it, what a session looks like, and what it costs.
Swarm MMO is a real-time strategy MMO set in a spiral galaxy. Every player is on the same map at the same time, the map keeps running when nobody is looking at it, and what you take stays yours until someone takes it back. It runs in a browser tab on a desktop or a phone, and it is free.
What makes it an MMO
- One shared world. There are no instances, lobbies or private matches. You spawn into a live galaxy next to other players, and new galaxies open as the existing ones fill.
- Persistence. A planet at level L produces L probes a minute whether you are online or not, up to level 10. Other players' planets do the same, so the map changes while you are away.
- Clans. Members reinforce each other's planets instead of attacking them, share a clan chat, and a galaxy counts as held when the clan between them owns every sun in it.
- A public ranking. The leaderboard ranks players and clans by lifetime energy earned.
Probes, not spaceships
There is one unit: the probe. Probes are what planets produce, what you send and what fights. There are no ship classes, no fleet to compose and nothing to pilot. You drag from a planet you own to a target, choose how many probes go, and they fly over as a swarm. On arrival they fight the garrison, and if more of yours are left than theirs, the planet is yours.
Two larger units come from converting probes. A sun turns 100 probes into one super-probe, and a black hole turns 100 super-probes into one megaprobe. The endgame is paid in those.
A typical session
Open the tab, read the log of what happened while you were away, and decide where to send what your planets produced. Taking a neutral planet takes under a minute. Automation can upgrade planets and ship probes on its own, so a session can be two minutes of checking borders or an evening of pushing into a neighbour's territory.
What it costs
Nothing. There is no download and no account needed to start: you spawn as a guest and can link an email later to keep your empire across devices. Credits buy skins, emotes, colours and the Command Center panel, never probes or combat strength. Meteorites pay 1 credits and the three starting quests 10 each, so credits can be earned in the game.
How a galaxy ends
Each galaxy can be won. Hold every sun in it, capture the black hole at its core, stockpile 1,000 megaprobes there and collapse it. The collapse destroys the galaxy, your own planets included, and permanently raises the energy every sun you own produces. Prestige, technology, credits and skins stay on the account, and there is always another galaxy to spawn into.
Play in the browser, as a guest.
Questions
Is Swarm MMO free to play?
Yes, all of it. Credits are optional, buy cosmetics and one interface panel, and can be earned in the game without paying.
Does Swarm MMO have spaceships?
No ship classes. The unit is the probe, and probes move in swarms: drag from a planet you own to a target and the probes you pick fly there. A swarm plays the role a fleet does in other space MMOs, with one unit type and nothing to compose.
Can I play with friends?
Yes. Start a clan or join one: clan members reinforce rather than attack each other, and a clan can take a galaxy that a solo player cannot. Founding or joining a clan needs a verified email.
What happens to my planets when I log off?
They keep producing, and they can be attacked. Automation can keep upgrading and sending probes while you are away, and the log shows what happened when you come back.