When Pokémon GO launched two years ago, it drove a lot of newcomers to the concept of Augmented Reality. Developer Niantic had built upon their AR technology with an earlier game, called Ingress.
This week Niantic launched a rebooted version of Ingress, called Ingress Prime. Ingress Prime is available now as a free download on iOS and Android.
“Ingress Prime is built on Niantic’s Real World Platform and serves as a key driver for innovation around gameplay and technologies for all Niantic products,” said John Hanke, founder and CEO of Niantic. “Since its original release in November 2012, Ingress and its passionate and diverse user community have been an inspiration for the team to create new and innovative ways for players to work together both in-game and in the real world.”
Players embody agents of two different factions: the Enlightened and the Resistance, within the sci-fi near future world of Ingress. The story will evolve and change depending on how the agents interact and which side can control various landmarks around the world.
Anomaly events are similar to Pokémon GO’s Community Days, bringing people together for a weekend of mobile gaming. Niantic plans to host 12 Primary Anomaly events around the world, as well as over 100 smaller community-drive events. You can find out the wheres and whens of the events on the Ingress website.
With the launch of Ingress Prime, Niantic is also expanding the story and setting of their sci-fi universe. The Ingress Anime is an new CG-animated series coming in 2019 on Netflix. It’s described as a sci-fi adventure thriller featuring Ingress Agents and gameplay.
Pokémon GO will be celebrating Ingress Prime’s release with shiny green Cubones and blue Ponytas, as well as free in-game avatar gifts. Ingress Prime is available now on iOS and Android mobile devices.
