https://tehbofis.itch.io/empire-2-rise-of-xu

Hey everyone! I've been building a browser-based action RPG for a while now and it's finally at a point where I want real players to try it. No download, no install,  just open the link and play. Here's the full rundown.

🎮 WHAT IS IT?

Empire 2: Rise of Xu is a top-down isometric action RPG that runs entirely in your browser. You play as a resistance fighter pushing back against the Xu Dominion - a militarised reptilian empire that's occupied the Expanse. You fight through 18 zones, level from 1 to 100, unlock a post-cap Ascendancy system, and loot some of the nastiest gear in the game off a cathedral-sized skeleton in a city of the dead.

It's built in raw Three.js - real 3D, proper lighting, fog, and weather per zone, weapon meshes on every character, procedural armor textures. No 2D sprites.

⚔️ COMBAT

• Real-time click-to-attack with mouse aiming
• Dodge roll (SPACE), block (RMB), parry and counter
• 4 equipped skill hotkeys (E/R/T/G) with cooldowns
• Combo system - chain hits to x3, x6, x10 damage multipliers
• Status effects: burn, freeze, poison, stun
• Weapon types: melee, ranged, magic, two-handed - each with different attack animations and hit VFX
• Full spell effects - chain lightning with actual branching geometry, nova shockwaves, whirlwind swirl rings, blade flurry crossed arcs, rending slash energy sweeps

🌍 18 ZONES

Each zone has unique enemies, a boss, its own fog/lighting/music, and its own ground texture:

Zone	Level	Theme
🏚️ XU Outpost	1+	Safe hub, crafting, shops
⚔️ Patrol Zone	5+	First combat zone
💀 XU Cemetery	20+	Undead grounds
🌌 Void Wastes	15+	Dimensional anomalies
🏙️ XU Citadel	25+	Fortified stronghold
🌋 Ashlands	35+	Fire and brimstone
🍄 Fungal Depths	42+	Bioluminescent horror
⛏️ Caves of Despair	40+	Mine full of something wrong
❄️ Frostveil	50+	Permanent blizzard, snow-covered ground
🏛️ Ancient Realm	58+	Elder Architect's domain
🏜️ Sunken Sands	60+	Desert ruins, giant scarabs
🌀 Rift Vale	65+	Dimensional collapse
🐉 Dragon Lair	75+	She cannot die
🗡️ Xumen	80+	Xu capital city
🐲 Wyvern Wastes	80+	Snow wastes, mobs the size of buildings
🛡️ Sanctuary	40+	Neutral safe zone, mid-game respite
⚡ Xumen Fortress	100+	Flying warships, a spacecraft for a boss
☠️ The Necropolis	100+	City of the dead. Constant rain. Lightning strikes from the sky and damages you. Dark castles, withered trees, endless undead tide.

The Necropolis is the newest and hardest zone. It sits above the Cemetery and requires Lv.100 to enter. The ground is permanently stained, it rains constantly, and every few seconds a lightning bolt cracks down from the sky - stand in the wrong place and it hits you for 150–350 damage. The enemies hit harder than anything else in the game and the boss has 1.4 million HP.

👹 16 BOSSES

Every zone has a boss. They scale from challenging to catastrophic:

• ☠️ The Bone Colossus - 1,400,000 HP. Four phases. A cathedral-sized skeleton forged from the remains of thousands. Full anatomy - spine, ribcage with void flame inside, clawed hands, skull the size of a building with glowing cyan eyes and a crown of bone spires. (Necropolis)
• 🔺 The Apex Pyramid - 1,200,000 HP. A rotating spacecraft with orbital cannons, tractor beams, and a weapon ring. (Xumen Fortress)
• 🐉 Vaeltharax The Undying - Five phases. She literally does not die until you prove otherwise. (Dragon Lair)
• 🌀 The Rift Sovereign - A dimensional anomaly that shouldn't exist. (Rift Vale)
• 🐲 The Stonewyrm Colossus - Ancient. Massive. Will flatten you. (Wyvern Wastes)
• 🤖 The XU Supreme Overlord - Top of the Xu command chain. 500,000 HP. (Xumen)
• 🧙 The Lich King - Centuries old. Raises what you already killed. (Cemetery)
• ⚔️ General Vorrakh - The traitor general. This is personal. (Citadel)
• 🔥 Inferno Colossus - Fire, mass, and zero regard for your health bar. (Ashlands)
• 🦂 Khepri The Sand Colossus - Ancient and enormous. (Sunken Sands)
• 🍄 Mycelium Queen - Organic horror, spore clouds, underground movement. (Fungal Depths)
• ❄️ Frostveil Colossus - Absolute zero. (Frostveil)
• 🏛️ The Elder Architect - Rewrote the laws of physics once. Trying again. (Ancient Realm)
• ⛏️ Foreman Drax - Runs this mine and makes you regret entering. (Caves of Despair)
• 🐍 Serpent Titan MK-VII - Prototype Xu war machine. Your first real fight. (Patrol Zone)
• 👾 Void Wraith Prime - Phases through your attacks. (Void Wastes)

🧬 8 PLAYABLE RACES

Each with unique passive abilities, stat spreads, and racial skills:

• 🦎 Xu - Scale plating (12% phys reduction), crest flare fear aura, berserker mode below 30% HP
• 🧑 Human - +5% XP from all sources, equip any weapon regardless of class, bonus crafting speed
• ⚙️ Gnome - Highest INT+SPD, deploy a combat automaton companion, field repair gear
• 💪 Ogre - 18% physical damage reduction, War Chant buffs nearby allies, heaviest base STR/VIT
• 🐴 Centaur - Fastest race on Aethon, reveals enemies before visual range, massive charge damage
• 🐂 Minotaur - AOE heal pulse every 30 seconds, Vreth Stance reflects damage, immovable
• 🧝 Elf - Spells cost 20% less mana, Void-Sight sees through walls, best mage race in the game
• 🧛 Vampire - Melee attacks restore HP, Void-Step teleport on 6s cooldown, fear aura at night

🗡️ SKILLS

Warriors: Whirlwind · Rending Slash · Blade Flurry · Execute · Leap Strike · Counter Strike · Iron Stance · Berserker Fury

Mages: Chain Lightning · Void Meteor · Cryo Pulse · Aether Nova · Void Blink · Aether Sigil · Meteor Shower · Void Pierce

Rangers: Aether Volley · Precision Shot · Venom Coat · Tactical Scan · Swiftfoot · Shadow Veil · Aether Dash · Scavenger

Healers/Support: Heal Pulse · Life Drain · Holy Barrier · Void Regeneration · War Rally · Aether Bulwark

💎 LOOT

• 171 legendary items in the database across all zones
• 5 rarity tiers: Common → Rare → Epic → Legendary
• 10 procedural armor texture styles generated on canvas - void crack patterns, frost crystal geometry, dragon scale rows, cyan circuit traces, fungal cell walls, celestial starburst, bloodsteel drips, and more
• Every legendary weapon has a custom hand-built 3D mesh that shows on your character
• 24 gem types for socketing (rubies, sapphires, emeralds, void gems, prism gems, shadow gems...)
• 28 craftable items at the crafting bench
• Boss loot drops scatter in a ring - walk over items to collect

Best-in-slot Necropolis endgame gear:

• ☠️ Soulreaper Scythe - +380 ATK +60 STR, 5-tile melee reach, two-handed
• 💀 Staff of the Undying Lich - +180 ATK +160 INT, skull head, orbiting soul gems
• 🛡️ Colossus Bone Plate - +140 DEF +65 VIT +30 STR
• 🧥 Shroud of the Lich Sovereign - +85 DEF +110 INT +40 VIT
• 💀 Crown of the Bone Colossus - +90 DEF +50 VIT +45 INT
• 👢 Void Stalker Treads - +70 DEF +28 SPD +20 AGI
• 🔮 Soulchain Amulet - +80 INT +40 STR +55 VIT +12 SPD
• 🛡️ Colossus Fragment Shield - +120 DEF +45 VIT

These beat everything else in the game by a wide margin. Getting them requires surviving the Bone Colossus at Lv.100+.

🔺 ASCENDANCY SYSTEM

Hit level 100 and you're not done. The Ascendancy system unlocks post-cap progression across four deep power trees - hundreds of ranks of passive bonuses, stat scaling, and class-specific powers that keep building indefinitely. The ceiling is very far away.

🌐 MULTIPLAYER CO-OP (UP TO 4 PLAYERS)

• Up to 4 players real-time co-op, entirely in-browser — no server, no account, no software
• Host-authoritative - one player hosts, others join with a short code
• Full sync: enemy positions, HP, boss phases, damage numbers floating above mobs, skill VFX, loot drops on the ground
• Both players see each other's equipped weapons, armor, helmets, and shields in 3D
• Spell effects are visible to everyone - if your party mage casts Chain Lightning you see the full bolt
• Shared XP and gold - every kill rewards the whole party
• Die in MP? You skip the death screen entirely and respawn at the outpost instantly - no lobby, no bots, straight back in
• Zone travel syncs - travel through a portal and your party sees you move to the new zone

🤖 AI BOT COMPANIONS (SOLO ONLY)

Playing alone? You get a full bot party - Warrior, Mage, Ranger, Healer. They fight alongside you, call out enemy moves and boss spawns in chat, use their own skills, and have opinions about every zone. Bots are solo-only - in multiplayer the party is real players only.

✨ VISUAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Full isometric 3D world in Three.js - fog, ambient lighting, directional sun, all per-zone
• Necropolis weather system - constant dark purple rain rendered with actual line geometry, lightning bolt strikes using branching BufferGeometry that deals real damage if you're standing nearby
• Chain lightning is real jagged bolt geometry with recursive branches, not particles
• Warrior skills use sweeping arc geometry with additive blending - looks like the reference art
• Whirlwind spins 5 layered geometry rings at different speeds around the player
• Boss phase transitions: screen flash, heavy camera shake, expanding void shockwave
• Dark castles, withered dead trees, and gravestone clusters populate the Necropolis

🕹️ CONTROLS

WASD - Move Mouse - Aim LMB - Attack RMB - Block (hold · shield = better %) SPACE - Dodge Roll E / R / T / G - Skills I - Inventory Q - Quest Log K - Skill Loadout N - Talent Tree F5 - Save Game ← LOBBY - Return to lobby / multiplayer menu

💾 SAVE SYSTEM

Multiple named save slots, full persistence - level, inventory, gold, quests, equipped skills, ascendancy progress, stat points. Saves to browser storage, loads automatically on return.

🔗 PLAY FREE RIGHT NOW

👉 https://tehbofis.itch.io/empire-2-rise-of-xu

Zero download. Zero install. Click the link, it loads in your browser tab, and you're in.

Looking for feedback on:

• 🐛 Any bugs, especially in multiplayer or the Necropolis
• ⚖️ Balance at Lv.80-100 - the endgame zones are brand new
• 🌐 Multiplayer stability - it's improved a lot recently but more testers = better data
• 💡 Anything you'd like to see added

Drop your race/class combo below if you play - genuinely curious what people gravitate toward. First person to clear the Bone Colossus gets bragging rights. 👇

Built solo as a single HTML file. Yes, the entire game is one file. Yes, really.

Action rpg adventure game. coded 100% in html. multiplayer coming soon.

https://tehbofis.itch.io/empire-2-rise-of-xu

EMPIRE 2: THE RISE OF XU

Isometric Action RPG · Single Player · Online Co-op

SHORT DESCRIPTION

A brutal isometric action RPG set in the war-torn world of Aethon. Fight through 11 hand-crafted zones — from Xu military outposts to the towering steel metropolis of Xumen — alongside AI companions or online co-op squadmates. Level to 100, build your character, and bring down the Xu Dominion from the inside.

ABOUT THIS GAME

General Vorrakh betrayed his own people to seize control of the Xu Dominion — a militarised empire that has occupied the continent of Aethon for decades. You are a pilot of the Resistance: one soldier, one city block at a time, pushing back.

Empire 2 is a fast, deep, handcrafted isometric action RPG built for players who want combat that rewards skill, a world that rewards exploration, and a progression system deep enough to sink hundreds of hours into.

THE WORLD OF AETHON

Aethon is a continent under occupation, divided into zones of increasing danger and story weight. Every zone is a distinct environment with its own visual identity, enemy faction, ambient sound design, original music, unique boss, and legendary loot pool.

11 Zones — Each a Different War:

• Xu Outpost (E2 · Safe Hub) — Your base of operations. Vendors, crafting stations, quest givers, the bounty board, and the Resistance council all operate here.
• Xu Patrol Zone (E2.5 · Lv.5+) — The front lines. Soldiers, snipers, berserkers, and the first elite mini-boss encounters.
• Void Wastes (E3 · Lv.15+) — A destabilised dimensional corridor. Void stalkers, eye horrors, and things that walk between dimensions.
• Xu Citadel (E4 · Lv.25+) — The Xu military command complex. Iron guards, citadel mages, and General Vorrakh himself at the centre.
• The Ashlands (E5 · Lv.35+) — Volcanic wastelands. Lava golems, fire demons, and the Magma Titan lurking in the depths.
• Fungal Depths (E6 · Lv.42+) — Bioluminescent underground caverns. Fungal shamblers, void spores, and the Mycelium Queen.
• Frostveil Tundra (E7 · Lv.50+) — A frozen wasteland. Frost wraiths, iron guards frozen mid-march, the Frost Colossus.
• Ancient Realm (E8 · Lv.58+) — A lost pre-Xu civilisation. Ancient guardians, forbidden magic, the Elder Architect.
• Sanctuary of Aelun (Safe Zone · Lv.40+) — The last elder refuge. High-tier vendors, Sanctuary crafting, and the only place in Aethon that feels safe.
• Rift Vale (E10 · Lv.65+ · Raid) — A dimensional breach. Rift stalkers, psyche horrors, void colossus. The Rift Sovereign. Come prepared.
• Xumen (E11 · Lv.80+ · Raid) — The Xu capital. A full military metropolis — barracks districts, factory blocks, command towers, elevated highways, power stations — all patrolled by Titan mechs, Enforcers, Annihilators, and Supreme Commanders. The Xu Supreme Overlord waits at the centre.

COMBAT

Empire 2 combat is direct, responsive, and punishing at endgame. You fight in real time with a full weapon system, skill tree, and status effects.

Weapon Types:

• Melee — swing arcs with class-specific animations, melee range stats, dual-wield for Rogues
• Ranged — precision projectiles, tracking, range falloff
• Magic — triple-shot arcane, INT-scaling, beam abilities

Skills: Every class has a unique set of active skills — charge attacks, AoE pulses, shadow blinks, arcane barrages, healing surges — with a 5-level upgrade system and mana costs that increase challenge at higher tiers.

Status Effects: Burn, Freeze, Poison, Stun, Slow — both applied to and by enemies. The Xu Titan's EMP can slow your movement and hit you for thousands of damage if you're caught in the pulse radius.

Combo System: Chain hits without breaking to build a combo multiplier — x3 for 15% bonus damage, x6 for 30%, x10 for 50%. Miss a beat and it resets.

Boss Fights: Every zone culminates in a hand-built boss encounter with unique mesh, phased attacks, and zone-specific legendary loot drops. From the shambling Mycelium Queen to the 4-armed Xu Supreme Overlord on a tracked command platform, no two bosses fight the same way.

PROGRESSION

Character Building:

• 8 Races — Xu, Human, Gnome, Ogre, Centaur, Minotaur, Elf, Vampire — each with unique passive bonuses, stat spreads, visual design, and lore
• 4 Classes — Warrior, Mage, Healer, Rogue — each with their own skill set, talent tree, and playstyle
• Level 1–100 progression with stat points on every level-up
• Prestige System — reset at Lv.100 for permanent stacking bonuses and exclusive badges

Talent Trees: Five deep talent trees — Warrior, Shadow, Magic, Support, and Void Architect — with branching nodes across 8 tiers. Plan builds around lifesteal, melee range, critical damage, AoE radius, mana efficiency, and more.

Equipment:

• 5 rarity tiers — Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Boss
• 8 gear slots — Weapon, Shield, Helmet, Chest, Legs, Boots, Ring, Amulet
• Gem Socket System — every equippable item rolls sockets (1-4 based on rarity). Socket gems for ATK, DEF, VIT, INT, SPD bonuses. Use Socket Punches to drill additional slots into any item.
• Crafting — 4 crafting stations (Weaponsmith, Armourer, Alchemist, Jeweller) with 22 recipes using zone-specific materials

Gem Harvesting: Gem nodes scattered across every combat zone yield Cracked, Regular, Flawless, and Void-tier gems. Boss drops guarantee high-tier gems. The Xumen nodes yield nothing but Void-tier.

WORLD SYSTEMS

Fog of War: Every zone starts shrouded. Combat exploration reveals the map tile by tile. Your minimap fills in as you push deeper.

World Events: Supply crate drops, elite bounty targets, and zone-wide alerts fire dynamically while you're in the field. React or miss the window.

Bounty Board: Rotating contracts with kill targets, material collection, and boss hunts. High-reward, time-limited objectives that scale to your current zone.

Quests: 40+ quests across all zones, from Resistance war missions to personal character arcs with individual NPCs — each with voiced dialogue pools, objectives, and item rewards.

Mini-Bosses: Named elite enemies with tripled stats, unique titles, and guaranteed rare loot spawn throughout every zone. The Citadel Warden, Iron Widow, and others respawn on timers.

AI COMPANIONS (BOTS)

Four AI squadmates fight alongside you in every run. They are persistent, reactive, and named — Kai, Vex, Mira, and Sable. They:

• Attack enemies independently and react to the boss spawning
• Comment on what's happening around them with zone-specific dialogue
• Revive-race to your position when you go down
• Adapt to your combat range and zone type

Play alone and the bots cover you. Play co-op and they fill gaps in your squad.

CO-OP

Empire 2 supports online co-op for up to 4 players with a lobby system, race/class selection, and shared zone progression. The full game is playable in co-op — all 11 zones, all bosses, the full loot system.

MUSIC

Every zone has an original procedurally-generated score composed in-engine:

• The Outpost — tense resistance march
• The Void Wastes — deep spatial drone with alien harmonics
• The Ashlands — heavy percussion and fire motifs
• The Ancient Realm — distant ceremonial melody over stone resonance
• Rift Vale — psychedelic alien dissonance
• Xumen — 155 BPM cold industrial siege: machine-gun snare, grinding Dm bass riff, staccato command lead melody

No licensed tracks. No placeholder audio. Every note was composed for the zone it plays in.

WHAT MAKES EMPIRE 2 DIFFERENT

• One file. The entire game — all 11 zones, 30+ enemy types, 100 level progression, music, UI — runs from a single HTML file. No install. No launcher. No DRM.
• Handcrafted, not generated. Every zone, every boss, every enemy type has a unique Three.js mesh built from scratch. Nothing is a placeholder.
• Zones feel different. The Ashlands is hot and oppressive. The Fungal Depths is alien and wrong. Xumen is cold, industrial, and designed to kill you.
• The difficulty curve is honest. The Xu Outpost is approachable. Xumen is designed for Lv.80+ pilots with endgame gear. The game tells you the recommended level. It means it.

KEY FEATURES

• 11 hand-crafted zones across a continuous world map
• 8 playable races × 4 classes = 32 unique race/class combinations
• 100 level progression with Prestige system
• Full talent tree with 5 branches and 8 tiers per branch
• Gem socket system with Socket Punch crafting
• 4 crafting stations with 22 recipes
• 40+ quests with unique NPC dialogue
• Dynamic world events and rotating bounty contracts
• Fog of war and persistent minimap
• AI squad companions with reactive dialogue
• Online co-op for up to 4 players
• Original procedural music per zone
• Boss fights with unique meshes and phased attack patterns
• Zero install — runs in browser

THE XU DOMINION AWAITS

General Vorrakh turned the Xu Dominion into a machine for conquest. You are going to break the machine — one zone at a time, one boss at a time, until there is nothing left of his empire but the name.

Enter Aethon. Join the Resistance. Take Xumen.

https://tehbofis.itch.io/empire-2-rise-of-xu