Guide updated
Start playing in three steps
The game interface offers English and Spanish. This guide’s language does not change the language inside the game.
- Open the community edition. It creates this site’s anonymous game identity automatically; you do not need to fill in a login form.
- Use the recommended owned partner or choose one yourself. Start a run, move with WASD or the arrow keys, or use the touch joystick.
- Keep automatic assistance on, or adjust it in Settings → Controls. Protect your save with the optional Google account link before changing devices.
Automatic skills and card choices
Skill assistance switches between the move slots you already have, maintains useful temporary buffs such as defense, then returns to an attacking slot. It respects cooldowns, Choice Band and Bond rules. It does not make every slot attack at once.
Card assistance recommends a card from the actual level-up offer and selects it after a 1.5-second preview. It weighs survival, useful upgrades and evolution requirements; at very low health it can prefer healing over an evolution. You can choose a card yourself during the preview.
The in-run AUTO button turns skill and card assistance off together. Settings → Controls provides separate skill, card and partner options. Selecting an attack manually gives you the active slot for five seconds of combat. With assistance off, the selected slot still casts automatically under the original attack rules.
- You still move, dodge, choose held items and choose Bonds. Assistance does not spend permanent coins or tickets.
- Assistance waits while the game is hidden or unfocused, during settings and item or Bond choices, and in portrait touch mode. This is not unattended play.
Automatic evolution, when the requirements are met
This feature evolves moves, not Pokémon species. A move must reach its maximum level, you must take its required stat card in the current run, and a valid gold evolution card must actually appear. Permanent shop upgrades do not replace that run card.
With card assistance enabled, the evolution card can be chosen from that offer and uses that level-up choice. The requirement hint appears before maximum level so you can plan ahead. Assistance cannot create a missing card or promise an evolution on every run.
A recommended partner from your own collection
Before a run, partner assistance compares only Pokémon you already own, using their current permanent upgrades and opening move to estimate survival and growth. Rarity alone earns no bonus. It recommends one starting partner; it does not optimize a whole party or claim a universal strongest Pokémon.
Choosing a partner yourself turns automatic partner selection off and keeps your choice. Enable it again in Settings → Controls when you want a fresh recommendation. The in-run AUTO button does not change this separate partner setting.
Your saves and accounts stay separate
No manual login does not mean no account: this edition uses its own automatic anonymous Firebase identity. Permanent progress has a local browser copy and attempts cloud sync. Check the save status after a completed run or important purchase; temporary mode does not keep progress.
Optional Google linking provides a recovery route before you clear browser data or move to another device. A nickname alone cannot recover an unlinked anonymous identity. Reloading ends the active battle; the current run is not a resumable save. Original-game accounts, saves and rankings do not migrate automatically to this edition.
Current version and how updates work
As checked on October 15, 2026, the live community build is fc32e6d984. It began from upstream a9b21f091d7e2e0b10bc9ef94836447bf63cddeb; ten later commits through c31715d183c0fd0b357e5ebc10fd85606132865e have been reviewed and applicable changes selectively adapted. This independently maintained edition preserves its no-manual-login flow and local QoL features; it is not an identical copy of the original’s latest version.
A scheduled check looks for upstream updates every six hours while the maintenance environment is available. New changes are reported for individual review. We preserve the local QoL features, integrate applicable changes, validate the resulting build and publish an independent release after publication is authorized. The scheduled check does not merge or deploy changes automatically.
Separately, the game checks this edition’s own version.json about every five minutes. Returning to the tab triggers a check when the previous check is more than 60 seconds old. Once we publish a new build, the client refreshes after a five-second countdown at a safe menu; an active run delays refreshing and pending progress is saved where possible. Refreshing cannot resume a battle or guarantee cloud-save completion. The main menu’s book / What’s new button shows this edition’s release history.
Original author, licenses and community relationship
Based on JPTER78’s open-source PokéSurvivor. The original author’s official game is pokesurvivor.com. This community edition is a separate QoL route, not an official server or an endorsed successor. It is free and non-commercial, with no ads, purchases or configured donations in this release.
Upstream code through b297089 is available under MIT. This release also includes later upstream changes under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0; both license notices and the required JPTER78 attribution are published with this edition. Sprite artwork has separate CC BY-NC 4.0 terms and artist credits. This edition remains free and non-commercial.
Our YouTube and Discord are operated by the Atlas/community-edition team. They are not the original developer’s official channels. Send this edition’s bugs and feedback to us, and original-game issues to the original project’s support channels. We credit the original and welcome respectful coexistence; we do not claim its endorsement.
Related pages
Game data & sources
The linked game files show where these stats, costs and rules come from. Updates to the game may change them.
Data version: a9b21f09
- https://github.com/JPTER78/pokesurvivor/blob/a9b21f091d7e2e0b10bc9ef94836447bf63cddeb/LICENSE
- https://github.com/JPTER78/pokesurvivor/blob/main/LICENSE
- https://github.com/JPTER78/pokesurvivor/blob/c31715d183c0fd0b357e5ebc10fd85606132865e/LICENSE-NONCOMMERCIAL.md
- https://survivorpoke.com/LICENSE
- https://survivorpoke.com/LICENSE-NONCOMMERCIAL.md
- https://survivorpoke.com/credits
- https://survivorpoke.com/version.json
- https://survivorpoke.com/guides/how-to-play/
- https://survivorpoke.com/guides/controls/
- https://survivorpoke.com/guides/move-evolutions/
- https://survivorpoke.com/guides/save-and-sync/