Questions & Answers

Yes. PixelKin plays free in your browser — no purchase, no subscription, no ads. Just open it and start your Wayfaring.

No. The whole game runs inside your web browser. There's nothing to install and no account to create — head to Play and you're in.

PixelKin is built web-first and plays on desktop and mobile alike — any reasonably modern browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) will do. On a phone or tablet you get on-screen touch controls; on a computer you play with the keyboard.

Not yet — for now PixelKin is a browser game, and it's built to play beautifully on a phone or tablet straight from the web, with on-screen touch controls. You can add it to your home screen from your browser for a quick, app-like shortcut.

We may consider a dedicated mobile app version down the line. If we do, it would be a paid version — the browser game stays free to play.

On a keyboard:

• Move — Arrow keys or W A S D
• Confirm / talk / enter a door — Enter, Space or Z
• Cancel / back — X or Backspace
• Menu — Esc (or Enter when no dialogue is open)

On a touch screen the same actions live on the on-screen pad and buttons. You can hide or show the touch controls from the in-game Settings menu.

Nothing's broken. Browsers won't let a page play audio until you interact with it, so the game waits for your first tap or key press on the opening screen before the music starts. Press a key (or tap) to begin and the sound will come in. You can also mute or un-mute any time from the in-game Settings menu.

Yes. PixelKin autosaves whenever you enter a new area, so Continue always picks up close to where you left off. You can also save deliberately at any time: open the menu and choose Save.

Your progress is stored locally in your own browser, on your device — it never leaves it, and we can't see it. That means there's no login and nothing to sync, but it also means a save belongs to the specific browser you played in.

Because the save lives in your browser, clearing your browser data (history, cookies, site storage), playing in private / incognito mode, or switching to a different browser or device can leave it behind. To keep a copy safe, use Export save (below) now and then.

Yes. In the in-game Settings menu choose Export save to download your progress as a small file. On the other device, open the game, go to Settings and choose Import save to load that file. It's also the simplest way to back up before clearing your browser.

In a wild encounter, choose to throw your vesperlamp — your lamp is also your catching device, and a plain throw is always free. Wearing a wild kin down first, or leaving it dozing or chilled, makes it far easier to catch. For tougher kin you can spend a charge (Glow, Beacon and others, bought or earned) for a single, stronger throw.

Rest. Inns and your own home restore your whole party to full — talk to the keeper or step into bed. You can also use healing items (gathered, bought, or found) from the Items menu during your travels.

They kindle — the genre's "evolution", reimagined. Most kin kindle into a stronger form once they reach a certain level; some kindle only when the bond between you has grown warm enough. When a kin is ready, the game asks if you'd like it to kindle, and you can always say "not yet" and be offered again later.

Over 150 original kin, across ten elements — ember, tide, verdant, stone, storm, frost, solar, lunar, light and dark. Every one is original art and design. You can browse the first fifty on the Kin page.

Every kin and every move belongs to one of the ten elements, and some elements beat others. When you attack, the game multiplies your damage by how well your move's type matches the defender's type:

• ×0 no effect — it can't be hurt by that type
• ×½ resisted — half damage
• ×1 normal damage
• ×2 super-effective — double damage

Many kin have two types, and the multipliers simply multiply together. So a move that's super-effective against both of a kin's types lands a huge ×4, while one that's strong against one type but resisted by the other cancels back to a normal ×1. You don't have to do the sums in your head — the game tells you "It's super-effective!" or "It's not very effective…" after each hit.

The two mirror axes

Most matchups run one way — water beats fire, and so on. But four of the elements are tied to the sky, and two pairs of them strike each other super-effectively both ways. These are the mirror axes, and they make for fast, knife-edge battles:

Normally a type that hits hard also takes hits hard back, but each side of a mirror axis can flatten the other in a single turn — so these fights swing wildly, which is exactly why the game saves them for rare, late and legendary kin. Want it in one sentence? Solar and Lunar wreck each other; Light and Dark wreck each other — bring the right answer and hit first.

They're the heart of the journey. A Lumenary is a valley's warden-hall; best its Lampwarden and you earn a Gleam — a constellation relit, which blooms back into the night sky for real. Along the way you gain Lantern Gifts: field powers that open new roads as you travel. There's a fuller glossary on The World page.

The Hearth is a warm keep where your kin rest when they're not travelling in your lamp — the genre's storage box, made cosy. You carry a party of up to six; the rest wait safely at the Hearth, tended by the Hearthkeeper, ready to swap in whenever you like.

No. PixelKin is an original creature-collecting adventure — inspired by the genre, a copy of nothing. Every creature, name, sprite, piece of music and line of story is our own. It shares the warm, nostalgic feeling of handheld-era monster-collecting, but its world, characters and lore are all new.

Night has fallen over the valleys of Vesperholm and won't lift. You play a lamp-tender's apprentice setting out to relight the sky, one constellation at a time, with the kin who walk the dark beside you. It's a cosy, slightly melancholy tale — read more on The World page.

PixelKin is in active development. The world, story, creatures and soundtrack are designed and locked, and more of the journey opens up over time. Because saves live in your browser, a major update can occasionally reset progress — exporting a save keeps a copy you can re-import.

Yes — it's family-friendly. The story is gentle, the conflict is never cruel (even the opposing Hollowing are weary, not wicked), and there's nothing to buy or sign up for inside the game.

PixelKin is designed and built by Scorchsoft, app, web and game developers. For licensing, partnership or press enquiries, see the Licensing page.