A young man raising a sword amid a horde of monsters

Survival Action RPG

Bit-Rate-Rush

Survive a battlefield flooded with monsters, armed with nothing but a knife. Back in town, the next job and the next chapter of the story are waiting.

Bit-Rate-Rush is a 2D pixel-art survival action RPG built with Pyxel. You play a lone young man who has just reached the castle town. Take a job at the tavern, cut your way through the oncoming horde, and make it back to town alive. Spend the coins you found on better gear, and as the jobs pile up, the truth behind what is eating away at the town and the world comes into view.

Download Gallery

Trailer

Two and a half minutes on where this world came from, and what is coming for it.

1920×1080 / about 2 min 39 sec / 32 MB. Subtitles are burned in, in both Japanese and English. The video has sound.

Overview

You only move. Leave the attacking to your weapons.

On the battlefield, the only thing you control is where your character moves. Weapons aim and fire on their own, and magic triggers by itself. How do you thread the gaps in the horde? Which weapon or ability do you grow on the next level up? Those two questions are all you have to think about. A single job takes about 3 to 10 minutes, so even on a handheld you can pick it up one job at a time.

Story

A calamity of monsters pouring in from every side — the people call it the Rush.

Every living thing in this world carries bits, tiny motes of light. When a monster falls, its bits scatter and fade on the wind. No human hand can gather them.

The world also has a rate — the speed at which everything flows. When the rate rises, sleeping monsters wake without end and pour toward the town in a great tide. People call this calamity the Rush, and they have feared even to speak its name.

Now, bats are beginning to darken the sky over the castle town of Lumen.

— It began the day a young man walked through the town gate.

His home beyond the mountain was swallowed by a Rush, and he reached Lumen alone. All he carries is a single knife. Without even the coin for a bed, he stands before the tavern's job board — because he has to live.

A young man passing through the town gate

Play

Take a job in town, survive the battlefield, come back to town. That loop drives the story.

Tavern

Pick your next job from the board. There are two kinds: survive until the timer runs out, or defeat a set number of monsters. The rumours the master shares point the way to the next chapter.

Weaponsmith

Spend the coins you picked up on the battlefield to buy new weapons or upgrade the ones you own. Each rank adds power and volume to your attacks.

General store

Herbs, bombs, magnets and other consumables. You can carry up to three into the field — your trump cards when things go wrong.

Inn

Wounds from the battlefield do not heal on their own when you get back to town. Pay for a bed and your health recovers. Writing in the journal saves your progress.

Castle

Finish every job at the tavern and the King entrusts you with a special mission. Succeed, and the reward is a spell passed down the royal line. As the chapters advance, so does the number of weapons you can carry at once.

Battlefield

All you control is movement. Gather the bits that fall from slain monsters to level up, then choose one of three upgrades to a weapon or ability.

Go home, or push your luck

Once the job is done, you can head straight back to town — or stay and keep farming coins. But if your health runs out, you bring back only half of what you earned.

Weapons

Combine eight weapons and six spells to meet the horde head-on.

Weapons come from the smith; spells are granted for completing the King's missions. Both attack automatically, so there is no aiming to do. Pair them with passive abilities like Duplicator or Boots and you can fill the screen with attacks and push the horde back.

KnifeStarting gear. Thrown in rapid succession like a machine gun

SpearA long thrust that pierces through enemies

BowFires arrows in a fan

ShurikenA wide spread, but short range

HammerSlams down and leaves a shockwave behind

KusarigamaSweeps the 180 degrees in front of you

BoomerangLoops in a wide arc and returns to your hand

AxeThrown in an arc, piercing every enemy it touches

Magic BoltHomes in on the nearest enemy

OrbitCircles around you and keeps enemies at bay

LightningStrikes a randomly chosen enemy

Lightning TowerPlants a rod that shocks everything around it

Fire WallLeaves pillars of flame in your footsteps

Holy WaterCreates a damaging zone on the ground

Characters

The people of Lumen who take the hero in.

Tavern master

Garld

A former adventurer who runs the tavern's job board. Loud and warm-hearted — every rumour in town finds its way to his ears.

Innkeeper

Mira

Caring, and a little nagging. She scolds the young man every time he comes home covered in wounds.

King

Leon III

The hero-king who stopped the last Rush. Bound to his throne now, he still grants the royal relics to those who earn them.

Minister

The Minister

Gatekeeper of the castle. He never trusts the stranger of unknown origin — not to the very end.

Weaponsmith

Bald

A man of few words. If you have the coin, he will forge for anyone.

Shopkeeper

Pom

Strict on prices, soft on regulars. He stocks herbs, bombs and other things that keep you alive out there.

World

Five chapters, each with its own battlefield to hold against the horde.

CHAPTER 1

Departure

The first battlefield is the meadow just outside the town walls. Under a sky darkened by bats, the young man takes on his first job with a single knife.

CHAPTER 2

The Stirring Forest

The second battlefield is a forest a woodcutter never returned from. Pale shades slip between the trees, and rumour says an old gate stands deep inside.

CHAPTER 3

Valley of the Dead

The third battlefield is the valley where the soldiers who fell in the last Rush lie. Nobody in town wants to talk about it.

CHAPTER 4

Shadow of the Castle

The fourth battlefield is the gate of the monsters' castle. The hero faces the gatekeeper — and learns the truth the King has been hiding.

HIDDEN

The Seer at the Forest's Edge

Follow the rumours from the tavern and you will find a seer living at the edge of the forest. She tells the hero: "You look like you've got two shadows."

Gallery

The game is drawn at 320×240 pixels in 64 colours.

Download

Part One (the Lumen arc) is out now — latest v1.0.2

Part One of the story (v1.0.x, latest v1.0.2) is free to download. Part Two (the Aria arc) is in development as v1.1.0 and will be released in the same place when it is finished.

GitHub Releases Source

Requirements	Python 3.10 or later and Pyxel 2.9 or later. Pyxel installs with `pip install pyxel`.
Run	Start the downloaded .pyxapp with `pyxel play Bit-Rate-Rush.pyxapp`. To run from source, execute `python3 main.py`.
Platforms	Windows, macOS, Linux and anywhere else Pyxel runs. On plumOS handhelds, drop the .pyxapp into Pyxel's ROM folder.
Languages	English and Japanese. The game starts in English; switch under Options → Language (the setting is saved).
Length	Roughly 60 to 90 minutes to finish Part One.

Controls

Move	D-pad / left stick / WASD
Confirm / Cancel	A / B (Z / X)
Pause / Return	START (Esc)
Items	L / R to select, Y to use

Feel free to stream or post videos of the game. No prior permission is needed.