Serpent Swarm

Controls

Move the mouse or your finger and the serpent swims toward it. Hold the mouse button, or on a touch screen hold the BOOST button or put down a second finger, to speed up. Keys: Left and Right arrows or A and D turn, Space, Up or W boost. P or Esc pauses.

How to play Serpent Swarm

You start as a small serpent in a round arena full of glowing pellets and computer-controlled rivals. Steer toward the light and eat it to grow. Your length is your score, and the leaderboard in the corner shows where you rank against the other serpents in the arena right now.

If your head touches the body of another serpent, you are out. The same rule works for you: get in front of a rival so its head runs into your body, and it bursts into a trail of pellets you can eat. Boosting doubles your speed for cutting someone off, but it burns length while you hold it. Stay inside the red ring at the edge of the arena.

Power orbs, feasts and the Titan

A run gets busier the longer you last. After about 20 seconds power orbs start to appear: a magnet that pulls in food from further away, turbo that lets you boost for free, double growth and a shield that saves you from one crash. Every so often a golden feast drops a pile of rich food somewhere in the arena, and the minimap shows where it is.

The arena starts with ten rivals and slowly fills up to fifteen. Later in a run a Titan joins in, a huge crowned serpent that hunts aggressively. Taking one down is risky, but it leaves behind a big meal.

Tips and tricks

• Boost in short bursts. Holding it down to chase a pellet costs more length than the pellet gives back.
• Circle a smaller serpent with your body and close the loop. It has nowhere to go.
• Keep away from the edge of the arena when a big rival is nearby. The wall leaves you less room to turn.
• When you are knocked out you can watch a short ad to jump back in with most of your length and a few seconds of safe ghost mode. Skip it and you get nothing, but the button stays so you can try again.