Shades of Europa

Shades of Europa is just the boss fights.

You and up to three friends play the Ignis, flame spirits sent down through the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa. Under the ice sleep the Shades, and their ruins are the arenas. Every fight is a raid boss tuned for four players, with its own tells, adds and phases. Learn them, call them out and kill it. Or wipe and go again.

I made the first version of this as Boss Battles, a Dota 2 custom game for my mates and me, because the boss fights were the part of raiding we liked best. The biggest influence is Impossible Bosses, the Warcraft III custom map.

Five bosses so far

A gyrocopter strafing the arena from above. A lumber machine sawing through a forest that a druid keeps regrowing. A beast tamer with a bear, a bird of prey and a pack of boars. A bomb-maker and his minefield. A clockwork engineer with furnaces and turrets. More are designed and coming during Early Access.

Read the floor

Every big hit is marked on the floor before it lands. Most deaths are a mechanic you saw coming.

Four classes

A Frostbinder who builds Shatter and spends it on burst. A Paladin with party auras and a split heal. A Ranger whose arrows hit harder the farther they fly. A Rogue built on bleeds.

Switch class at the shrines in the Hearth between fights, and try your rotation on the frozen giant in the practice room while you wait for the others.

Bring friends, or bots

Bots take any slot without a human. Learn a fight with three bots, then bring your friends for the kill. The boss never changes with the number of players.

Online co-op over Steam with friend invites. No dedicated servers: the game runs in lockstep on everyone's machine.

About the art and sound

The art in this build and on this page is AI-generated, made with PixelLab. The sound effects, music and boss voice lines are AI-generated too, made with ElevenLabs.