You're the Boss

Every hero in the realm has beaten the game. Every boss is dead. Except you.

YOU'RE THE BOSS: IRONBOUND is a reverse boss fight. You are the horned iron skull at the end of the dungeon, bolted to the wall of the final room. Heroes walk in, the gate slams shut, and they fight you the way players fight bosses: dodging your shots, baiting your attacks, punishing your recovery, and drinking potions at the worst possible moment.

Win, and you consume them. Every hero you eat lets you evolve one part of yourself before the next, stronger hero arrives.

FOUR ACTS, FOUR LEGENDS

Fight through the Iron Crypt, the Drowned Sepulcher, the Molten Throne, and the Void Cathedral. Each act changes the arena: floodwater slows heroes, the floor erupts in lava beneath them, and the void sends elite heroes who dodge like they've read the wiki. Every fifth hero is a Legend who enrages at half health. Defeat Elara, the Chosen One, to end the prophecy. Then keep going into the Endless Abyss.

EIGHT HERO CLASSES

Vanguards block your light fire. Duelists hunt your weakest socket. Arcanists cast behind wards. Necromancers raise thralls. Rangers telegraph their volleys. Paladins pray behind holy barriers. Berserkers leap at you and rage when wounded. Bombardiers lob bombs you can shoot out of the air. Learn them all in the Bestiary.

BUILD A MONSTER

Fit your two weapon sockets with cannons, tentacles, siege guns, corrosion, chain-lightning Tesla Coils, or Cryo Spitters that freeze heroes solid. Arm your head with a fireball, a throat beam, twin eye lasers, or the Dread Howl that blasts heroes back and destroys their missiles. Rig the floor with spikes and flame grates. Summon drones and brood spawn. Stack evolutions into combos.

TWO VIEWS, ONE BODY

Command the arena from above, then TAB to the low view to recharge, steer your tentacles, and time a defensive pulse against an incoming sword.

PERMANENT SCARS

Every hit you land becomes credits. Spend them in the Reliquary on relics that make the next run a little meaner. Heroes who kill you remember what hurt them and come back resistant to it.

CONTROLS

Mouse: aim
Left mouse: fire socket weapons (overhead) / tentacles (low view)
Right mouse: head weapon
TAB: switch view
SPACE: spikes (overhead) / defense pulse (low view)
ESC: pause    F11: fullscreen
Gamepad: right stick aims, RT/X sockets, LT/Y head, RB view, LB spikes/pulse
Practice mode lets you try every weapon with no stakes.