01
Find the hit zone
Watch the moving pulse approach the fixed outer hit-zone ring around the reactor. Tap when the pulse reaches that ring—not the center circle.
PULSE Field Guide
How to Play
Read the ring, protect the streak, and build a living composition. Accuracy drives the score. Consistency reveals the music.
02
Build the run
Every accurate hit adds score, protects your combo, and opens new musical layers. Before the first tap, the core audibly counts 4-3-2-1 in time with the song.
03
Reach Euphoria
Survive the build through Tension, face DROP IN 4, then release the full composition in Euphoria. The music is the reward.
Timing and Score
Closer timing earns more.
The game measures how close your tap is to the moment the moving pulse reaches the hit-zone ring. Each judgment has a fixed base score before streak and Euphoria multipliers are applied.
| Judgment | Window | Base score |
|---|---|---|
| PURE | ±15 ms | +100 |
| PERFECT | ±35 ms | +70 |
| GREAT | ±60 ms | +45 |
| GOOD | ±95 ms | +25 |
| EARLY / LATE | ±130 ms | +10 |
The Layer Ladder
Your combo reveals the track.
The kick is the foundation. Hold accurate streaks to bring the rest of the composition online one layer at a time.
Run start
Kick
Foundation
Combo 2
Hats
Texture
Combo 5
Bass
Harmony
Combo 9
Snare
Groove
Combo 12
Pads
Chords
Combo 18
Melody
Lead line
Combo 26
Fills
Flourish
Adaptive tempo
The game listens back.
PULSE reviews your rolling accuracy every 8 bars. At 70% or better rolling accuracy, tempo rises by 3 BPM up to that seed’s ceiling. After Euphoria, 2 BPM is banked for what comes next.
Pattern language
Learn how pulses mutate.
Standard
Solid ring on the beat
Double
Two rings in quick succession
Offbeat
Ring on the eighth-note offbeat; the judged target never swings
Ghost
Ring fades as it approaches—trust your ears
Musical Seeds
Six genre families. No fixed song to memorize.
Every seed establishes a musical foundation. Your performance determines how far it develops and which parts of the composition are revealed.
Deep Trap
Halftime swing, syncopated hats
Synthwave
Four-on-floor, shimmering pads
House
Fast, sidechain-driven, groovy
Techno Drive
Relentless, high-energy percussion
Halftime Dub
Sparse, deep-sub, ethereal
Ambient Glide
Minimal drums, pad-forward
Survival Rules
Know what ends the run.
During DROP IN 4, misses reset the combo and lower Euphoria quality, but they do not end the run.
Outside the countdown, a tap beyond ±130 ms, an expired pulse, or a tap when there is no claimable ring ends the run.
Stray taps before the first claim window are ignored. When a run ends, you can restart immediately and build a new PULSE.
One More Run
The score measures the run. The music rewards it.
Read the ring, find the groove, survive the drop, and hear what your performance becomes.