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Pixel Pulse: Score After Dark

Stack it, dodge the patrols, bank it before dawn.

Arcade

Pro

Roll Pip through the aisles with the arrow keys, WASD or a stick. Space fires the Pulse.

A night parcel depot seen from above: neon-edged shelving rows, a small cyan sorter bot with a tall stack of boxes, a ring of light spreading from it through the aisles and a patrol drone swinging a flashlight round a corner.

Arcade

Pixel Pulse: Score After Dark

Stack it, dodge the patrols, bank it before dawn.

About Pixel Pulse: Score After Dark

Pixel Pulse: Score After Dark is a night shift in a neon parcel depot, seen from above in pixel art. The shelving rows are the walls and the one-tile aisles between them are the maze. You are Pip, a small sorter bot with a lamp, and the depot closed hours ago.

Parcels turn up in the aisles all night. Every one you pick up goes on the stack on Pip’s back, and the stack ripens: the longer it rides, the more it is worth, up to two and a half times. Two docks sit in the outer wall. Roll into one with a stack and it is banked, once and for all. Until then the whole stack is at risk. Night patrols walk the aisles with flashlights and raise the alarm when they see you, a forklift sometimes sweeps a long aisle after a warning, and anything that catches Pip takes the stack and a strike.

Every bank charges the Pulse, a ring of pixel light that blinds the patrols nearby for a few seconds, so a big stack can buy its own way home. The night is five hours long and each hour has its own rule: a quiet stock run, a shift change, forklift lanes, a blackout where every parcel pays half as much again, or priority freight. Three strikes, or dawn, end the shift, and a stack still on Pip’s back at dawn is lost. Each shift draws one rule variation; the daily shift is the same depot for everyone that day and your best run comes back as a ghost to race. Pace and Assist are in the settings, and your records stay in this browser.

How to play

  1. Roll Pip with the arrow keys, WASD, a stick or the on-screen stick. Pip keeps rolling, and a turn asked for just before a junction still happens.
  2. Pick up parcels to build a stack. It ripens while it rides, up to two and a half times its worth.
  3. Roll into a dock in the outer wall to bank the stack. Patrols, forklifts and dawn take whatever is still unbanked.
  4. Press Space, Ⓐ or the Pulse button once it is charged to blind every patrol nearby. Banking charges it.
  5. Read the banner each hour: it names the hour’s rule. Three strikes end the shift.

Controls

  • Arrow keys, WASD, left stick, D-pad or the on-screen stick — roll Pip
  • Space, Enter, E, Ⓐ or the Pulse button — fire the Pulse
  • P, Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

What does banking do?

Banking turns the stack on Pip’s back into score for good. You bank by rolling into one of the two docks in the outer wall. The longer the stack rode before you bank it, the more it is worth, up to two and a half times.

What happens when a patrol catches me?

The whole stack is lost, the multiplier drops back to ×1 and you lose one of your three strikes. Pip is back at the left dock with a moment of grace, and the patrols return to the office. A stack still on Pip’s back at dawn is lost too.

How do patrols notice me?

A patrol that gets close along an aisle turns its flashlight red, honks and gives chase for a few seconds, then needs a short rest. Standing still for a few seconds tips one off as well, so keep rolling.

What is the Pulse?

A ring of pixel light that blinds every patrol within about six tiles for nearly three seconds. It charges when you bank: a small stack gives part of the charge, six or more parcels charge it fully. It does not stop forklifts.

Is there an easier way to play?

Yes. Open Settings: Relaxed pace runs Pip, the patrols, the forklifts and the clock at three-quarter speed, Assist widens Pip’s pick-up reach, takes a little speed off the patrols and leaves a breather between hours, and Patrol lights draws every flashlight cone on the floor.

Does the game save?

A shift you leave is kept in this browser and picks up at the start of the hour you were in. Best scores, the ghost of your best run, the daily result and badges stay in this browser and are never uploaded.

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