Ingress is an MMORPG and an augmented reality game that incorporates location services to add a game layer to the real world. After physicists proved the existence of the Higgs Boson particle at CERN in 2012 (a real event), the game adds the fictitious discovery of Exotic Matter (XM). It is a substance tied to an invisible alien race shown as the Shapers. This divided the world into two factions. The Enlightened faction believes the Shapers will benefit mankind while the Resistance strives to stop the alien ingression. At the start the player has to choose one of the two factions permanently and the goal is to occupy as much of the worldwide environment as possible.
Players use their mobile device as a scanner to interact with the environment. Various landmarks in the local environment (with a limited radius to interact) are turned into portals. They are either green, blue or grey to show if they are controlled by the Enlightened, the Resistance or are unclaimed respectively. Portals can be hacked with the scanner and this provides items. Portals are claimed by deploying resonators and mods for protection. Another faction can take over the portal by attempting to destroy the resonators and mods using weapons called XMP (eXotic Matter Pulse) Bursters. Mods are enhancements of various types that enhance certain aspects of the portal. These include Shields, Force Amplifiers, Link Amplifiers, Multi-hacks, Heat Sinks, and Turrets.
Hacking portals and completing missions (introduced in a later update) is rewarded with AP to level up, while XM (Exotic Matter) is lost if a claimed portal is taken over. As a location based game it encourages players to drive around and explore the real life environment. Players can put in requests for additional portals for famous or crowded locations. Other game elements are control fields that link nearby portals to make them stronger and contribute to the global competition for XM control, various items that are stored in an inventory and anomalies, which are events that affect the plot of the game.
