comments for Outhold
sort: go back
axew • 2025/05/28 May 28, 2025 +92comment score: 92
Whats with all the demos!?
The only thing that could make this game better is if it never ended
pretty fun. a bit laggy. i love tower defense games. :p
wishlisted.
wishlisted.
lags
game seems decent, but not that unique (similar to a p popular game on android, forget the name but has huge skilltree as well)
game seems decent, but not that unique (similar to a p popular game on android, forget the name but has huge skilltree as well)
I'd suggest making difference between upgrades you can afford and upgrades that are maxed a little more visually distinct. It took me quite a while to realize there was a visual difference and was spending a fair bit of time hovering over different blocks.
My game keeps freezing whenever i use a fire tower
developer response: This should be fixed now!
very smooth gameplay and animations, i love everything casting a shadow. definitely wishlisting this!
I wish you could upgrade towers by rightclicking.
The QoL upgrade of "upgrade cheapest tower" actually annoyed me a bit with how it frequently prevented me from placing a new tower because it just spent my money on an upgrade. Maybe it'd be better if it also had a function like "lets you place a tower blueprint, this tower will be placed when enough money is available"?
The QoL upgrade of "upgrade cheapest tower" actually annoyed me a bit with how it frequently prevented me from placing a new tower because it just spent my money on an upgrade. Maybe it'd be better if it also had a function like "lets you place a tower blueprint, this tower will be placed when enough money is available"?
when the fire attacks my browser freeze ()google chrome).
I was loving it tho.
I was loving it tho.
developer response: This should be fixed now!
Bought it, thanks for the mac version!
Fire tower completely crashes browser Im on opera gx
developer response: This should be fixed now!
@Graepix you can "unlearn" things by right clicking.
Nice, only lags a little on the tree, also great concept
Really good but it crashes for me a lot
not the webgl2 :(
Positive
Where and how you deal damage really matters in this game — both your thinking and your build are key.
For example, the “stun” system of the Lightning Tower starts with a 5-hit requirement, then increases to 10, 20, and so on. This isn’t just a mechanic to prevent infinite stuns — it also means that the boss stays fixed at the point where it first gets hit by a Lightning Tower.
Using that, you can decide where the boss will be pinned and strategically place as many Arrow Towers as possible in that zone to break through the boss.
Additionally, since upgrades increase not only DPS but also range, they add another layer of strategy when designing your dealing zone.
Neutral
The game features a rather unique goal called Build Specialization, which deserves praise for encouraging diverse builds.
However, in the three demo stages, every Build Specialization objective focused solely on skill tree planning rather than in-game tower construction or strategy.
For instance, the first Build Specialization, “300 damage in a single hit,” can be cleared easily by going full Multicrit and investing heavily in critical hit and basic tower skill nodes — leaving little to do in actual gameplay.
In the second stage as well, you just pick Coin Cannon, invest a bit in Bank Tower and Pulse Tower, and that’s basically it.
This direction isn’t necessarily bad, but considering that the game’s greatest strength lies in how every placement and upgrade order truly matters, I wish there were more in-game challenges that require refining your build through actual play, not just pre-planning.
The boss is always a single high-HP unit. As mentioned in the positives, I actually enjoyed figuring out how to take down such a durable enemy, and since this is only a demo version up to stage 3, it doesn’t feel repetitive yet. Still, I hope later stages will introduce more variety and unique mechanics to the bosses.
Negative
The skill tree UI is somewhat inconvenient. Even assuming a preset system will be added later, there are still many small usability issues.
For example, when you’ve invested in a multi-step upgrade that consumes hourglasses, it looks visually identical to a normal upgrade once you’ve spent some of them and run out of resources. So when I just want to refund a single hourglass, I often can’t tell where I spent it and end up pressing “refund all” instead.
Also, the balance between limited resources (stars, hourglasses, and crowns) feels off — the consumption rate is too high compared to supply, and their roles overlap so much that the system feels cluttered. Aside from the fact that stars are used to unlock new towers, I couldn’t find a clear distinction between the three currencies in the skill tree, and even stars aren’t limited to tower unlocks.
Overall
This game best captures the core appeal of tower defense: experimenting through trial and error to optimize your build’s damage potential and achieve a satisfying clear.
In fact, it’s the most fun I’ve had with a tower defense game recently. Since Infinitode, I haven’t found one this engaging — and I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing whether this title can surpass it when it fully releases.
It might look like I wrote more about the negatives, but please understand that the positives hide countless subtle design details — the kind that seem obvious but are incredibly hard to get right.
Where and how you deal damage really matters in this game — both your thinking and your build are key.
For example, the “stun” system of the Lightning Tower starts with a 5-hit requirement, then increases to 10, 20, and so on. This isn’t just a mechanic to prevent infinite stuns — it also means that the boss stays fixed at the point where it first gets hit by a Lightning Tower.
Using that, you can decide where the boss will be pinned and strategically place as many Arrow Towers as possible in that zone to break through the boss.
Additionally, since upgrades increase not only DPS but also range, they add another layer of strategy when designing your dealing zone.
Neutral
The game features a rather unique goal called Build Specialization, which deserves praise for encouraging diverse builds.
However, in the three demo stages, every Build Specialization objective focused solely on skill tree planning rather than in-game tower construction or strategy.
For instance, the first Build Specialization, “300 damage in a single hit,” can be cleared easily by going full Multicrit and investing heavily in critical hit and basic tower skill nodes — leaving little to do in actual gameplay.
In the second stage as well, you just pick Coin Cannon, invest a bit in Bank Tower and Pulse Tower, and that’s basically it.
This direction isn’t necessarily bad, but considering that the game’s greatest strength lies in how every placement and upgrade order truly matters, I wish there were more in-game challenges that require refining your build through actual play, not just pre-planning.
The boss is always a single high-HP unit. As mentioned in the positives, I actually enjoyed figuring out how to take down such a durable enemy, and since this is only a demo version up to stage 3, it doesn’t feel repetitive yet. Still, I hope later stages will introduce more variety and unique mechanics to the bosses.
Negative
The skill tree UI is somewhat inconvenient. Even assuming a preset system will be added later, there are still many small usability issues.
For example, when you’ve invested in a multi-step upgrade that consumes hourglasses, it looks visually identical to a normal upgrade once you’ve spent some of them and run out of resources. So when I just want to refund a single hourglass, I often can’t tell where I spent it and end up pressing “refund all” instead.
Also, the balance between limited resources (stars, hourglasses, and crowns) feels off — the consumption rate is too high compared to supply, and their roles overlap so much that the system feels cluttered. Aside from the fact that stars are used to unlock new towers, I couldn’t find a clear distinction between the three currencies in the skill tree, and even stars aren’t limited to tower unlocks.
Overall
This game best captures the core appeal of tower defense: experimenting through trial and error to optimize your build’s damage potential and achieve a satisfying clear.
In fact, it’s the most fun I’ve had with a tower defense game recently. Since Infinitode, I haven’t found one this engaging — and I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing whether this title can surpass it when it fully releases.
It might look like I wrote more about the negatives, but please understand that the positives hide countless subtle design details — the kind that seem obvious but are incredibly hard to get right.
"Short, minimalistic...with deep meta-progression"
It's my favorite genre, the deep/shallow, simple/complex game!
It's my favorite genre, the deep/shallow, simple/complex game!
The coin conversion works even on failed runs. Max starting coins, max conversion, new run, end run, play again, end run, play again, repeat ad nauseum for 4 upgrade tokens a pop.
could prolly use some more nuance with different levels, maybe a lil balancing but it's still great in its current state
So you cant get artifacts as of now because of the three level limit? That's reasonable but pretty sad :( hope they get added in a later update