What is Outhold?

Outhold is a newly released minimalist Tower Defense game that combines Incremental (Idle) and Roguelite elements. This game was developed by Tellus Games and released on Steam in December 2025.

Outhold differs from traditional Tower Defense games where players restart from scratch after losing. The game focuses on Meta-Progression mechanics. Outhold combines strategic tower placement with permanent upgrades, creating a satisfying loop where "defeat" becomes a step towards becoming more powerful.

The visual style is clean and vibrant. Outhold offers a satisfying "bullet hell" aesthetic as your defenses grow stronger over time.

How to Play

The gameplay loop consists of four main phases:

Defend

  • Objective: Protect your central base ("Holdout") from waves of incoming geometric enemies.
  • Build: Try to place various types of defensive towers strategically across the map.
  • Manage: You must balance your economy between building new towers and upgrading existing ones during each run.

Active Collection

  • Resource Gathering: Enemies drop resources (Gold) when destroyed during combat.
  • Interaction: This is where you must actively collect these resources by moving your cursor or using unlocked automation to fund your defenses.
  • Active Skills: You could use abilities like the "Coin Cannon" to shoot your collected gold at enemies as a last-resort weapon.

The Reset

  • Inevitable Defeat: Eventually, the enemy waves will overwhelm you. This is expected and part of the core design.
  • Retain Progress: When you lose, you keep the "Research Points" or meta-currency earned during the session for future upgrades.

Meta-Progression

  • Skill Tree: Use your earned points to unlock permanent upgrades in a massive Skill Tree system.
  • Evolve: Try to unlock new tower types, passive income buffs, and special abilities over time.
  • Experiment: You could respec (reset) your skill tree for free at any time. This allows you to try completely different strategies for each run without penalty.

Start playing at sprunkishifted.com – Play directly in your browser with no downloads required. Perfect for quick gaming sessions and relaxing anytime you need a break.