30 Amazing Games Made Only With HTML5
Browsers and JavaScript are constantly getting more powerful and fully featured. There was a time when is building any type of game required Flash. But with this out of the way, the stage is set for powerful HTML5 and WebGL gaming! Here are 30 of our favorite games which run in all modern browsers and are build only with web technologies.
1. HexGL
Genre: Arcade, Racing
HexGL is a futuristic, fast-paced racing game built on HTML5, JavaScript and WebGL. You can control a space ship by using your keyboard, a touchscreen device or even a leap motion controller if you have one.
2. CrossCode
Genre: Action, RPG
A retro-inspired 2D game set in the distant future. This one is full of great game mechanics such as combos, puzzles, skill trees, quests, items and more.
3. Sketchout
Genre: Arcade
The objective of Sketchout is to protect your planet and destroy the opposition by deflecting meteors as you control an Breakout-style paddle and draw lines at the same time. Design is where this game shines with awesome visuals and music.
4. Treasure Arena
Genre: Multiplayer, RPG, Action
Treasure Arena is a dynamic battle-arena game for up to 4 players built with the power of socket.io. It features different game modes, excellent framerate and a great soundtrack. A very fun game.
5. Bejeweled
Genre: Arcade, Puzzle,Relaxing
The classic Bejeweled game in HTML5 form. This is an official clone and as such it runs and looks perfectly. The ultimate time killer.
6. Missile Game
Genre: Arcade
A very challenging game in which you play as a missile being lunched into a tunnel. The game has cool black and white graphics that are nicely used to create a strong dept of field effect.
7. Gods Will Be Watching
Genre: Puzzle
You and your crew have to survive for 40 days in isolation in this creepy (but awesome) game. There are six members of your team including a dog, a psychiatrist and a robot and you have to interact with them the right way to keep them warm, fed and sane.
8. Sinuous
Genre: Arcade
A simple game with minimalistic graphics and a fluid frame rate. Avoid colliding with the red dots while picking up power-ups. Also, never stop moving around if you want those extra points!
9. Swooop
Genre: Arcade
Fly around and collect gems and stars in a beautiful and colorful 3D world.
10. Free Rider HD
Genre: Arcade, Racing
Free Rider HD is an addicting game where you race a bike on tracks drawn by other players. You can play on any of the thousands of player made tracks or create your own and share it.
11. Entanglement
Genre: Puzzle, Relaxing
The point of this game is to create a path as long as possible by placing segments on a grid. You can play alone on one of the many levels or play against friends.
12. Escape from XP
Genre: Action, Arcade
Celebrate the end of Windows XP support with Escape from XP. It's your job to rescue the last developer trapped in Clippy's tyranny. Fight to survive endless waves of XP enemies then finish off the OS with a bang.
13. Polycraft
Genre: RPG, Tower Defense, Action
In this awesome 3D game you run around collecting resources, building stuff, completing quests and fighting stuff. Everything about it is polished and it runs perfectly smooth.
14. 2048
Genre: Puzzle
A very addictive game that you've probably already played. In 2048 you move numbered tiles around and merge them. Get that elusive 2018 tile to win!
15. Onslaught Arena
Genre: Action
A fast-paced retro styled survival game where you fight off hordes of enemies using different weapons.
16. Angry Birds
Genre: Puzzle
The (once) popular Angry Birds game in HTML5, so you can play it in your browser.
17. Cube Slam
Genre: Arcade, Multiplayer
The classic pong game done with fun colors and cool 3D graphics. You can challenge a friend by just sending them a URL and if you want to, you can see each other via webcam.
18. The Wizard
Genre: Action, RPG, Strategy
The Wizard is a turn-based dungeon crawler where you’ll encounter mythical monsters and find marvellous spells. The game features cool combat mechanics and can be quite challanging at times.
19. X-Type
Genre: Action, Arcade
Survive as many bossfights as you can in this cool looking space shooter.
20. Cookie Clicker
Genre: Casual, Funny
Cookie clicker is a game that was probably created as a joke but offers tremendous amounts of fun nonetheless. You start off with 0 cookies and after some productive cookie clicking you will find yourself with billions of cookies to spare.
21. Elevator Saga
Genre: Puzzle, Coding
And here is something for programmer-types. Your task in Elevator Saga is to transport people in the most efficient manner by programming the movement of elevators. Just one little thing - every move you make is done with JavaScript.
22. Game of Bombs
Genre: Action, RGP, Multiplayer
Game of Bombs is a bomberman type game placed in a vast map full of enemy players. Collect power-ups, skins and achievements in your way to becomming the best bomberman player.
23. Olympia Rising
Genre: Platformer, Action
A dynamic platformer with nice retro looking graphics. It is set in ancient Greece, where you play as a woman who is given another chance at life, and has to escape from the world of the dead.
24. Pixel Race
Genre: Arcade, Racing
A game with awesome frame rates and a simple concept, in which you control a car to avoid obstacles, while collecting coins. If you have the patience and the free time you might become the best in the world (the record is 36309 coins).
25. Little Alchemy
Genre: Puzzle
Start off with the four basic elements and combine them to create the 510 possible combinations.
26. Arena5
Genre: Arcade
Fly around a digital field and shoot geometrical enemies to get a high score.
27. Vector Runner Remix
Genre: Arcade
Make it as far as you can in this platformer full of colors and geometrical shapes.
28. Biolab Disaster
Genre: Action, Platformer
An awesome pixel art platformer where you have to escape a lab full of mutated creatures and other baddies.
29. World's Biggest PAC-MAN
Genre: Arcade
A huge collection of PAC-MAN mazes - probably more then you can beat in your lifetime (this isn't a challenge, please don't try).
30. New Super Resident Raver
Genre: Action, Arcade
Save panicking people from the incoming zombie invasion. Collect money, upgrade your weapons and fight zombies.
To Wrap it Up
And this concludes our list of HTML5 games! They are all fun and have huge time wasting potential. Some of them don't have sound, but frankly they don't need it. Do you have a favorite HTML5 game that is not included in this list? Share it in our comment section.
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The future is bright for browser-based games. Game developers can use engines like Unity to publish their games directly to browsers. Asm.js is getting faster every day, and developers are starting to compile pc games to it. Can't wait to see what comes next!
This is great compilation of HTML5 games. Some of these games offer excellent Graphics and Gameplay and show how far game development with HTML5 has come. There are many other Game Development tools such as Construct 2 (by Scirra) and GameMaker which are also great for developing HTML5 games these days. Recently I wrote about some Open Source HTML5 Games that are available on GitHub and can prove as good learning resource for those interested in HTML5 game development.
Thank you Kanishk! That's a great collection of open source games.
Hi Danny. Regarding Unity, I'm very in doubt that it will occupy web as platform for games nicely, as Unity and any other Emscripten compiled projects, have extremely huge and complex JS files, Unity has tens of megabytes of JS code to be consumed by browser, this is pretty much "not real" for mobile. While web - is everywhere, desktop, mobile, tablet, everywhere. And WebGL will take only if it is used as its own or with mobile-first WebGL engines.
I think this selection of Unity web games would very much disagree with you!
https://unity3d.com/showcase/gallery/games?platform=unity+web+player&genre=&gametype=t-all
Especially the hugely successful and high profile ones such as Mechwarrior Tactics and Lego (http://www.lego.com/en-us/city/games).
Here another one http://www.tankz.ru
Some great gems can be done in HTML5 and we will see more and more of thoses!
If you want to try my 2 HTML5 games, one "quiz" and one "brain" type:
ADDIcTION: www.ID-Games.net/Addiction/
HangWorm - Songs!: www.ID-Games.net/HangWormSongs/
That's a good collection and you're absolutely right about html5 becoming first choice not only to gamers and developers but game publishers (like me). The only thing I am skeptical about is the future of unity in online games. It's too robust and it creates too large output files. Chrome banned it (at the moment). Regarding html5 games, I like them when thery are small simple and addicting, because they can't parry Flash at this moment. So I would stick to games like Stick Samurai or for instance <a href="http://www.mgames.xyz/racing/stay-on-the-road/">Stay on The Road </a>
Here is another HTML5 game, similar to the arcade game Gauntlet:
http://www.pi-games.com/Thailet
Those are definitely great games, it's amazing how far you can go now with your browser!
I'm not sure but maybe the first HTML5 game i played was www.evade.mx
Thanks, Cool list!
My favourite is Raining Chain MMORPG http://rainingchain.com
I am really encouraged by these games!
Great list, thanks
I checked some of the games - they work well in the last Chrome.
Here is another good HTML game - [OmSudoku.com] (http://omsudoku.com)
I tested it on my Lenovo A1000 phone (Android) and PC (Wintel) - OmSudoku run well. It is classic sudoku game with three modes for beginners, advanced and pro players
Some of these are awesome - I've just spent a bit too much time playing a few of them, especially Cube Slam. Anyway, I feel like I should probably do a bit of self-promotion here because I've built a couple of HTML games too.
The first is called Star Citadel, which is a version of the old Cinematronics arcade game, Star Castle. These days it's not a particularly well known game, despite being quite influential back in the day (inspiration for Yars' Revenge on the Atari 2600), and appearing in Ghostbusters.
The second is Shoot The Rocks which, as you can probably guess from the name, is a version of Asteroids. Actually with Shoot The Rocks it's perhaps a bit more like Asteroids Deluxe, but you get the idea. Again, it's an absolute classic of a game - and much more popular - so I thought I'd try my hand at an HTML5 conversion. Apart from anything else I could at least reuse some of the code from Star Citadel.
Anyway, thanks for posting this great list - plenty of inspiration here to keep on developing with HTML5, JavaScript and CSS. The great thing is that it's pretty easy to get games like this working on mobile (both Star Citadel and Shoot The Rocks do) unlike with Flash.