Zombie Biohazard Outbreak Experiment 2

A persistent online zombie survival RPG built for the browser.

zboe2 started as an IRC-based bot, named simply zboe which had no acronymic meaning, that simply informed chatters when zombies appeared, allowing them to issue a command (originally, the bot used ".shoot" and ".reload" as chat commands) to interact.

Eventually the IRC bot got a small shop where users could buy ammo, but that's about as far as it went. That was in 2012. Now, it's 2026, and zboe2 has been born (circa 2024-ish) as something new: Zombie Biohazard Outbreak Experiment. When this project started zboe became zboe2, to signify it's "rebirth" and gained an acronymic meaning. However, we started as "Zombie Biohazard Occult Experiment 2", because i was struggling to come up with what the O in zbOe could mean, but always knew that "Occult" wasn't quite right. Then it hit me: Outbreak.

The game is a persistent online browser RPG where players can shoot zombies, gather resources, craft items, complete quests, and level up their character. The game is built with Node.js, Express, SQLite, and Bootstrap 5. It is a free and open-source project that anyone can contribute to on GitHub.

The game is still in development, and new features are being added all the time. The developer is always looking for feedback and suggestions from players. If you have any ideas for new features or improvements, please feel free to reach out on GitHub or Discord.

Play Now Leaderboard GitHub Discord
📸 See It In Action
Combat and the weapon wheel in a zombie zone
🔍
Combat & the Weapon Wheel
Crafting and the Mountains forge in a safe zone
🔍
Crafting & the Mountains Forge
The in-game Playercard modal showing the paperdoll and stats
🔍
Your Playercard
The Backpack inventory modal
🔍
Backpack & Equipment
The in-game world map modal
🔍
The World Map
A public player profile card
🔍
Public Player Profiles
🌎 About the Game

ZBOE combines classic browser RPG mechanics with modern progression systems.

Players venture into dangerous zombie-infested locations, gather resources, improve their equipment, craft better gear, complete quests, and slowly rebuild humanity's chances of survival.

🎯 Core Features
✔ Persistent Online World
✔ RPG Progression
✔ Hundreds of Items
✔ Crafting & Smelting
✔ Quests
✔ Magic System
✔ Guns & Melee Combat
✔ Armor & Equipment
✔ Player Leaderboards
⚔️
Combat
Firearms, melee weapons, bows, throwable weapons and magic.
🪄
Magic
Cast spells, brew potions, and harness magical abilities.
⚒️
Crafting
Gather resources, smelt ores, repair equipment and improve your base.
🏆
Progression
Level skills, unlock equipment, complete quests and climb the leaderboard.
💻 Built With
Node.js Express SQLite Bootstrap 5
❤️ About the Developer
ZBOE is an independent passion project focused on creating a lightweight browser RPG that anyone can jump into without downloads or launchers.
Every update expands the world with new systems, locations, items, and mechanics.
📈 Development
2012 — The IRC Bot
zboe starts life as an IRC bot: announcing zombie spawns and taking ".shoot"/".reload" chat commands, eventually with a tiny ammo shop bolted on.
2024 — zboe2 Begins
The rebirth: a full Node.js/Express/SQLite rewrite as a real browser RPG, and the project finally earns its acronym — Zombie Biohazard Outbreak Experiment 2.
Drive Failure & Rebuild
A prior build was lost to a drive failure. Everything since is rebuilt from scratch — playable again, and growing faster than before.
The Zombie Location Pool & Outbreak Mode
The single global horde becomes three tiers (World, Location, Nearby) with real per-player combat, capped off by a full world-event Outbreak mode.
Public Alpha — v2.0.28-dev-rc
Where we are now: the beginning of a much larger world.