Pest Patrol is a free roguelite survival game for your browser: you steer a garden critter for three minutes while it fights off waves of pests by itself. Each run is new, and the petals you earn stay with you, even when a run ends early.

Why garden pests?

Survival games of this kind usually throw monsters at you. We wanted the same rush with a softer cast. Anyone who grows roses or lettuce knows aphids and snails, so they make a good crowd to push back. Nobody gets hurt here. Shooed pests drop a bead of dew and go home.

You only steer, with one thumb on a phone. Your hedgehog, bunny, frog or tortoise does the fighting with seeds, leaves, water and pollen.

A short history of the roguelike

The family name comes from Rogue, a dungeon game for Unix computers made around 1980 by Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman, students at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Ken Arnold helped finish it. The computer built a new dungeon for every game, and when your hero died, that game was over. Rogue spread with the Berkeley version of Unix, and games that copied its ideas became known as roguelikes.

From the 2000s, independent developers made shorter and friendlier versions. Players started calling them roguelites. The main difference is that a roguelite lets you carry something from one run to the next, such as money for upgrades or new characters. A roguelike sends you back to the start with nothing.

Pest Patrol belongs to a newer branch, often called survivors-like or bullet heaven. You move, your character attacks on its own, and you pick upgrades as you level up. An Italian developer’s indie hit made the style popular in 2022, and many games have followed since.

How to play Pest Patrol

1. Press Start run. Drag anywhere on the garden to steer, or use WASD or the arrow keys.
2. Your critter attacks by itself. Pests that touch you nibble your health bar.
3. Walk over the dew drops that shooed pests leave behind. A full dew bar means a new level.
4. At each level, pick 1 of 3 cards: a new weapon, a stronger weapon, or a boost such as more speed or health.
5. The Stag Beetle arrives at 1:30 and the Great Crow at 2:45. Last until 3:00 and the pests go home for the night.
6. Spend your petals in the potting shed on new critters and on boosts that help every run. Each price is shown before you buy.
7. Hard mode is optional: pests are tougher and shed boosts are switched off, and you earn more petals but keep them only if you last all 3:00.

Tips

Move in wide circles. Running in a straight line takes you into the next group. A slow loop keeps the crowd behind you and brings you back over the dew.

Grow one or two weapons. A weapon at level 5 is much stronger than four weapons at level 1. Seed Spitter and Acorn Drop reach pests from far away, which helps when you are surrounded.

Watch the red ring. Before the Stag Beetle or the Great Crow charges, a red ring flashes round it. Step to the side and let it rush past.

A short run still counts. Even a one-minute run earns petals, and Sturdy Shell is a cheap first buy.

Questions

Do I lose my petals if my critter needs a nap?

No. In normal mode, every petal you earn is kept, whether you last 30 seconds or the full three minutes, and anything you buy stays yours. Only Hard mode is different: a hard run pays more, but its petals are kept only if you survive to 3:00.

Is every run the same?

No. Each run starts from a new random seed, so pests come from different sides and the upgrade cards change. The two big pests always arrive at the same times.

What is the difference between a roguelike and a roguelite?

In a roguelike, each run starts from nothing. In a roguelite, you keep some progress between runs. Pest Patrol is a roguelite, because your petals, critters and shed boosts carry over.

Your turn

The hedgehog is waiting at the top of this page. See if you can keep the garden safe until sunset.