Dodge swarms of emoji monsters for fifteen minutes while your weapons attack by themselves and you grab gems to grow stronger.
Emoji Horde drops you into an arena where crowds of emoji monsters pour in from every side. You never aim or shoot. Every weapon triggers by itself on a timer, and your whole job is to move: dodge, steer the crowd and scoop up the gems that fallen enemies leave behind.
A run lasts fifteen minutes, and then a stage boss arrives. Between runs, a shop turns your coins into lasting upgrades, so each new attempt starts a little stronger.
Picking a hero
Each hero brings a different starting weapon. Bot carries Chain Lightning and Cat has Fish Orbit. Wizard begins with Fireball, while Smiley uses Dagger Slash. Last ten minutes in any run and Vamp, a hero who steals life, joins the roster.
The stages are Volcano, Frozen, Beach, Graveyard and Meadow, and each has its own mix of enemies and its own final boss, such as the Reaper in the Meadow.
Leveling up during a run
Some defeated enemies drop blue gems. Gather enough and the game pauses to offer three random choices: a new weapon, a new passive, or another level for something you already have. Your loadout holds five weapons plus five passives at most, and nothing goes past level 5.
Spending coins can refresh the three choices, or remove one option for the rest of the run. You can also skip for a small amount of extra XP.
Breaking crates and barrels spills coins and healing food. Sometimes you find a clover that grants a short random buff. Glowing enemies are worth noticing too. Red glows mean speed, gold means extra toughness and purple means heavy damage, yet each kind pays out more XP.
Evolving weapons
Timed bosses appear throughout the run, the first a Giant Bat three minutes in, and each one drops a chest. A chest can evolve a weapon if that weapon is at level 5 and you also own its partner passive. For example, pairing Heart with Dagger Slash gives you Axe, and Magnet plus Bomb produces Nuke. Fireball pairs with Sneaker, and Chain Lightning with Stopwatch. If nothing is ready to evolve, the chest hands out three random upgrades instead.
That means it pays to plan. Know the partner passive for your main weapon before you take any other.
Why it’s worth a try
Emoji Horde is easy to pick up because you only think about movement, yet the build choices give each run its own shape. Nine base weapons, each with an evolved form, leave lots of combinations to try. After your first win, Curse mode makes enemies tougher in return for more XP and coins.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Mouse | Touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move your hero | Arrow keys or W A S D | Hold the left button to walk toward the pointer | Drag the on-screen stick that appears where you touch |
| Pick an upgrade, reroll, banish or skip | — | Click a menu button | Tap a menu button |
| Pause the run | Esc | Click the menu icon (top right) | Tap the menu icon (top right) |
| Restart after a game over | R | — | — |
Emoji Horde FAQ
Does Emoji Horde work on a phone?
Yes. Press a finger anywhere and a control stick forms beneath it, which makes one-handed steering easy. Tap to use the menus. On a computer or Chromebook you can move with the arrow keys or W A S D, or hold the mouse button to walk toward the pointer.
Does it save my progress?
Some of it. Your browser keeps your coin total, shop purchases, longest survival time, opened stages and whether Vamp is unlocked. Weapons and passives are not kept, so every run starts fresh on that side.
How long is one run?
A full run lasts fifteen minutes on the clock. At that point the stage's final boss appears, and beating it wins the stage and unlocks the next one. If your health runs out earlier, the run ends there and you press R to try again.
What can I do if I keep dying early?
Spend coins in the shop. Permanent upgrades such as Vigor and Magnetism make the opening minutes safer. Also keep moving in wide circles, because enemies walk straight at you and a loop draws them into a line.
