iPad · Arcade Shmup

Hold the line.

A neon shoot 'em up for iPad. Protect the mainframe and prevent enemies from reaching the core and corrupting it.

Your ship is tethered to the mainframe, and the tether is its power: the further you chase, the weaker you fire. Overload it, and the tether itself becomes the weapon.

Ten stages and ten bosses, in English and German. iPad with iPadOS 18.6 or later, Apple TV support coming soon.

Coming soon to the App Store

A stage in full flow on an iPad in portrait: neon wireframe enemies in orange, magenta and red coming down from the top, missiles bursting among them in rings of light, and the cyan ship below, tethered to the green circuit of the mainframe at the bottom of the screen. The score, the firewall and core gauges, the scrap and the energy run along the top.

The overload: enemies stuck in the glowing firewall above the mainframe, bursting in red rings, and the ship's tether turned white-hot beneath it. — Overload your tether to get rid of those pesky enemies trying to breach the firewall!

A boss fight: the Vanguard, a red wireframe craft of hexagonal pods, under its health bar near the top of the screen, the ship's laser fanning up into it and a missile on its way. — Vanguard, one of ten bosses, each fought in phases.

The dock between stages 5 and 6: the ship large on the mainframe's rim, and above it two lists of upgrades, one for the ship and one for the mainframe, each row with its level and price, beside a hull report and the LAUNCH button. — The dock: Repair your ship and buy upgrades between levels.

The tutorial: Relay's panel in the corner reading HOLD TO FIRE LASER. WEAPONS CONSUME YOUR ENERGY., a single enemy ahead of the ship, and a ring closing in on the laser's pad. — Your companion: Relay will guide you through the first steps and give you hints in the game.

Stage 8 in landscape: the mainframe along the left edge, the ship tethered to it firing to the right, into Leeches, Weavers and Carriers coming in from the right. — Landscape or portrait: Turn the iPad mid-run to play how you like.

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Enemies

Ten stages and ten bosses

Eight kinds of enemy, elites from stage 9, and a boss at the end of every stage: fighting in phases, each with its own tricks.

Weapons

Your arsenal

Lasers, homing missiles and the ability to turn your energy link itself into a weapon.

Energy

Life line to the core

Every shot drains your energy; this isn’t a problem when you’re close to the mainframe. The further away you dare to go, the quicker your guns brown out.

Scrap

The dock

Kills drop scrap. Between stages, spend it on upgrades for your ship or the mainframe, and on repairs.

Relay

Someone on the line

The mainframe's operator talks you through your first run and keeps you posted in every run after it.

Who is on top of the leaderboard?

Game Center Support

A leaderboard featuring your friends’ records and ten challenging achievements.

Privacy Policy

H.T.L. collects nothing. There is no account, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking of any kind.

Your settings, your best score and a run you put away stay on your iPad. When you are logged in to Game Center, your scores and achievements are transmitted to Apple.

Read the full privacy policy