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RIPOSTE: the lightsaber-style browser game where you cannot strike
Bolts come at you. You have no attack. Put your blade in their path and they fly back at whoever fired them. Swing hard and it is a riposte.
RIPOSTE is a free 3D action game that runs in your web browser. There is nothing to download and no account. It plays on desktop and mobile, with a mouse, a finger, a gamepad, or your phone held like a sword hilt.
Trailer
Eighty-seven seconds, every frame captured from the real game, scored by the game's own adaptive music and sound.
A game about one moment
Most action games hand you a weapon. RIPOSTE hands you an answer. Every sword fan knows the scene: a hovering training orb, a blaster bolt, a blade that turns it aside. This game is built around making that one moment feel as good as it does in your head: the hum of the blade, the crack of the bolt, the orb bursting when its own shot comes home.
How it plays
- Read the ring. A closing ring shows where and when each bolt will land. Be there.
- Riposte. Swing through a bolt fast and it returns at double strength.
- Three guard. A bolt that gets through costs one. Clear a bout and one comes back.
- Tempo. Every return fills it. When it is full, time bends and each return echoes to a second target.
- Endless. Bouts grow faster and denser until you fall. Ranks run from Novice to Légende.
- Five blades. Azure, Verdant, Violet, Ember and Blanc.
The masters
Every fourth bout, a master descends out of the eclipse. Then they return, harder.
Ways to hold the blade
| Mouse or touch | Your pointer is a point on the blade and the hilt trails behind it, so the blade leans the way you move. |
|---|---|
| Phone as the saber | Choose Use your phone as the saber, scan the code, hold your phone like a hilt. The blade follows the phone's long axis; in menus the phone is a remote. Peer to peer over WebRTC. |
| Gamepad | A stick aims, A confirms and sheathes, B goes back, Start pauses. DualSense motion aiming is experimental in Chrome and Edge. |
| Keyboard | Space sheathes and ignites, Esc pauses, M mutes, F goes fullscreen. |
Graphics and sound, all in the browser
RIPOSTE is a showcase of what a web game can look like. The flooded court, the eclipse, the orbs and the hilt are generated in code and rendered with three.js on WebGL 2: HDR bloom, a planar mirror reflection on the water, rain, lightning, shockwaves and film grain. Every sound effect is synthesised live with the Web Audio API, and the orchestral score is adaptive: the game's state picks the piece and its intensity brings layers in and out, with drums locked to the music's beat.
It installs as an app (a progressive web app) on phones and computers and then works offline.
Who made it
RIPOSTE is an indie game by Amaan Syed, co-founder of Dawnlight Labs, written with Claude Fable 5.2. The source is on GitHub.
Questions
Is RIPOSTE free?
Yes. Free to play in any modern browser, with no download, account or ads.
Is RIPOSTE a Star Wars game?
No. It is an original game inspired by the classic lightsaber training scene. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Lucasfilm, Disney or Star Wars.
Can I use my phone as a lightsaber?
Yes. Open the game on a computer, choose Use your phone as the saber, scan the QR code and hold the phone like a hilt.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes. Play with your finger, or install it to your home screen to play fullscreen and offline.
Does it support controllers?
Yes. Any gamepad your browser recognises works. DualSense motion aiming is experimental in Chrome and Edge.
What was it built with?
three.js and WebGL 2, the Web Audio API, PeerJS and Vite. Written by Amaan Syed with Claude Fable 5.2.
Does the game end?
No. It is endless arcade survival: a master arrives every fourth bout, and the run ends when your guard breaks.