Hold the Core

Hold the Core is a roguelite tower defense game about trading safety for power. Between cycles, you draft Risk Cards that can bring greater rewards and gold while increasing the pressure on your run. You shape enemy routes, evolve towers into specialized weapons and defend against escalating enemy waves and bosses.

Risk Cards and routes

Risk Cards let you steer a run toward greedier builds, stronger rewards and harsher pressure. You can also alter the paths enemies take by extending routes and bending their flow, then create choke points and kill zones for your defenses.

Towers and evolutions

Each tower addresses a different combat need, and its evolutions specialize it further. You can build around control, burst damage, range or sustained damage.

Enemies and relics

Enemies include fast units, shielded units, splitters, support units and Rifted variants, each attacking different weaknesses in your defense. Bosses also challenge your build, and key fights can reward relics that add combat twists and open up new build directions.