Ingress

Ingress

Augmented reality mobile game where players join factions, capture portals at cultural landmarks, and engage in strategic battles.

What is Ingress?

Ingress is an augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic and released in 2012. It originally started as an internal startup within Google before being spun off into its own company.

In the game, players join one of two factions - the Enlightened or the Resistance. The goal is to capture virtual portals that are located at culturally significant places like statues, landmarks, or public art in the real world. Players use their mobile devices and the Ingress app to interact with these portals.

When a player captures a portal for their faction, they can link it to other nearby portals to create control fields over territory. The more portals and control fields claimed by a faction, the more Mind Units they acquire. The faction that acquires the most Mind Units determines the outcome of the ongoing struggle in the game's story between order and chaos.

Ingress has a complex lore and backstory involving exotic matter, portal energy, and two rival artificial intelligence systems trying to guide humanity. This creates an immersive sci-fi experience and gives meaning to players' in-game actions as they capture territory and uncover clues about the game's narrative.

Ingress helped define real-world augmented reality gaming and built a strong cult following among its players. It paved the way for Niantic's more popular Pokémon GO game. The social and strategic gameplay around capturing territorial control continues to engage Ingress's dedicated community years after launch.

Ingress Features

Official Links