Action · New game
HELLBREACH: TARTARUS
A cybernetic mercenary, a mining station overrun by demons, and no regenerating health: what to expect before pressing Play on Expedox's browser shooter.
#40 this weekAI-assisted: Code, ai.graphicsgemini for graphics, ai.claude for code
The game runs in this tab. No install, no account.
The short answer
HELLBREACH: TARTARUS is a free 2D action shooter for the browser in which a Void Strider fights through a demon-infested mining colony split into three connected sectors. Health never regenerates, so the loop is to stagger demons with gunfire and then tear them apart at close range to refill health and ammo. Four named bosses wait at the end of the road.
What is HELLBREACH: TARTARUS?
The comms are dead and the miners dug into something that should have stayed buried. HELLBREACH: TARTARUS casts you as a Void Strider, a cybernetic mercenary sent into a mining colony that a demonic rift has torn open, and the station now answers to hell rather than to its owners. Developer Expedox builds the campaign as one continuous 2D stronghold instead of a row of separate stages.
Three sectors join that single map. The Labs hold clinical corridors patrolled by corrupted security cyborgs. The Maw is the stretch of station that living flesh has swallowed, right down to doors made of teeth. The Crucible sits deep at the core, where forges and lava lakes share space with fire demons.
The boss roster is named rather than anonymous: AEGIS-PRIME, the Brood Mother, the Forge Lord and MOLOCH, a four-hundred-metre drill fused with a demon. Tags describe the result as a fast-paced sci-fi horror shooter with Metroidvania structure and a heavy gore streak.
It is still in development and runs in a browser through HTML5, with a release set for 3 November 2026.
How to play
Survival starts with the health bar, because nothing refills it passively. Damage sticks until you earn it back, and the only reliable source is violence at close quarters: pour fire into a demon until it staggers, then close the gap and rip it apart. That finisher returns both health and ammunition, so each kill feeds the next fight.
Movement is the other half of the equation. Dash, slide and wall-jump are available from the very first second, and standing still is a death sentence in every sector. Rooms are built to be crossed rather than defended from one corner.
Each of the four named weapons doubles as a key. The meathook shotgun hauls you into a demon or swings you over a chasm. The plasma caster melts shields and overloads power nodes. The gauss cannon punches through crowds and its recoil throws you upward. The cryo thrower freezes enemies and solidifies lava so you can sprint across the surface.
Touching a gore nest seals the room and starts waves of enemies you have to outlast before the doors open again. Progress saves at maintenance bays, and three difficulty settings cover the range from a first visit to a serious challenge run.
Controls
Input is deliberately flexible: keyboard and mouse or a gamepad, with every binding remappable. That covers the whole move set, from dash, slide and wall-jump through the four weapons to the close-range finisher that turns a staggered demon into health and ammo.
No default key map is published, so spend the first minute in the options instead of in the Labs. Since the game expects dash, slide and wall-jump from the opening seconds, place those three where your hand already rests; most deaths in an early gore nest come from movement, not from damage output.
The same applies to the weapon tools. The meathook shotgun and the gauss cannon recoil both move you as much as they hurt enemies, so map them to buttons you can reach while already pressing a direction.
Gamepad players get the identical set of actions, and the choice is really about grip and comfort over a long run. Rebindings are worth revisiting after the first sector, once traversal routes start depending on a specific weapon.
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Keyboard and mouse | One of the two supported schemes; every binding can be remapped |
| Gamepad | The alternative supported scheme; bindings are remappable too |
Tips for your first run
The first run rewards aggression in combat and patience with the map. Nothing regenerates, so a scratch taken in a corridor follows you into the next fight; trade damage only when a finisher is available to pay it back.
Read each room before committing to it. Chasms, lava and sealed doors all have answers, but the answers come from different weapons. Bullets: Stagger first, then close the distance; a demon still standing is not a health pickup. Treat the meathook shotgun as a movement tool, not just a shotgun, when a chasm has no other crossing. Freeze lava with the cryo thrower before walking onto it, not while standing on it. Use gauss cannon recoil for vertical routes that wall-jumps cannot reach. Save at a maintenance bay before touching a gore nest, since the room locks down the moment you do. Sweep for secrets, logs and the six dog tags if the secret ending is the goal.
Content and replayability
Four bosses anchor the campaign: AEGIS-PRIME, the Brood Mother, the Forge Lord and MOLOCH. Between them sit three connected sectors and the gore nests that turn ordinary rooms into wave arenas where the doors seal until everything inside is dead.
The collectible layer adds a second pass over the map. Secrets, logs and six dog tags are scattered through the station, and finding the whole set opens a secret ending rather than a slightly different credits crawl.
Repeat value comes from the timing tools. A speedrun timer and a rank sit alongside three difficulty settings, a full map and saving at maintenance bays, so a cautious exploration run and a timed run pull in different directions. The browser build also keeps the barrier to a second attempt very low.
If you finish a run and still want more, raising the difficulty and chasing a cleaner rank is the obvious route back in, and the dog tags give a reason to slow down and search instead of sprinting.
Presentation and performance
The look is two-dimensional and openly grotesque, leaning on gore, horror and science fiction at once. AEGIS-PRIME and the tooth-lined doors of the Maw set the tone early: clinical machinery on one side, living meat on the other, with the Crucible's lava lakes and forges waiting underneath.
Audio follows the state of the room rather than the sector. Dark ambient textures carry exploration, then industrial metal takes over the moment the doors seal and a fight begins, which makes the gore nest lockdown audible before it is visible.
HELLBREACH: TARTARUS is built in Godot and ships as an HTML5 build, so it plays inside a browser window with no separate install step to arrange. Four screenshots are on show. The stated language is German.
Expect the gore and horror tags to be literal rather than decorative; this is a game about tearing demons apart at close range, and the art does not soften that.
Who should play it
Anyone who likes fast 2D shooting with a movement ceiling to climb should find plenty here. Dash, slide and wall-jump are all live from the first second, the four weapons are asked to solve traversal as well as combat, and the no-regeneration rule keeps every encounter tense.
Boss-focused players get four named encounters, including the four-hundred-metre MOLOCH, and speedrunners get a timer plus a rank to chase across three difficulties. Explorers get secrets, logs, six dog tags and a secret ending for a full sweep of the station.
Players who bounce off resource pressure may want to start on the easiest of the three settings, since health has to be taken from staggered demons rather than waited for. And anyone hoping for a mobile session should hold off: browser play with keyboard and mouse or a gamepad is the announced setup.
If a horror-tinged sci-fi Metroidvania with a gore streak and an industrial soundtrack sounds like your evening, this one is worth a look on day one.
Screenshots
How we tested it
The build was loaded from games.debutplay.com in a headless Chromium session on ; the canvas started and no request was blocked. The guide was last checked on .
From the developer
The comms went dark. The miners dug too deep. Now Tartarus belongs to hell. You are a Void Strider: a cybernetic mercenary sent into a dead mining colony where a demonic rift has torn the station apart. There is no regenerating health. Shoot demons until they stagger, then rip them apart up close for health and ammo. Stand still and you die. THREE SECTORS, ONE CONNECTED HELL • The Labs: clinical corridors, corrupted security cyborgs • The Maw: the station swallowed by living flesh, doors made of teeth • The Crucible: forges, lava lakes and fire demons, deep down at the core EVERY WEAPON IS A KEY • Meathook Shotgun: yank yourself into demons, swing across chasms • Plasma Caster: melt shields, overload power nodes • Gauss Cannon: pierce hordes, blast yourself upward with the recoil • Cryo Thrower: freeze enemies, freeze lava and run across it • Dash, slide and wall-jump from second one • Gore Nests: touch one and the room locks down.…
Frequently asked questions
Is HELLBREACH: TARTARUS free?
Yes. It costs nothing and runs in a browser through HTML5, so the first drop into the mining colony is a click away rather than a purchase.
Does health regenerate between fights?
No. Damage persists until you take health back by shooting a demon until it staggers and then ripping it apart at close range, which also restores ammunition.
How many bosses are there?
Four are named: AEGIS-PRIME, the Brood Mother, the Forge Lord and MOLOCH, the last being a four-hundred-metre drill fused with a demon.
Can you save anywhere?
Saving happens at maintenance bays rather than at any moment, so plan a route back to one before chaining a gore nest or a boss attempt.
Is there a secret ending?
Yes. Secrets, logs and six dog tags are hidden through the station, and finding the full set unlocks the secret ending.
Do you need a controller?
No. Keyboard and mouse or a gamepad both work, and every binding is rebindable, so the choice comes down to comfort.
What games are similar to HELLBREACH: TARTARUS?
The closest matches on DebutPlay are Gulp Worm, Tidy Tornado, Shadows of the Arcane. They share the same genre, so the controls and the pace carry over.
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