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Accidentally deleted my old post oops! Just was thanking you for playing I really appreciate it.

Just wanted to follow up on two of the points you brought up specifically:

The freeze issue appears to be tied to right-clicking the browser window during gameplay in the web build. I’m also planning to put up a downloadable build soon, which should avoid a lot of the browser-specific issues and limitations entirely.

Also regarding leveling and hero progression, patrols are intended to be the primary source of XP potions and stronger rewards, so they’re designed as high-risk/high-reward expeditions where losses can happen. That said, I agree the game still needs to communicate that risk/reward structure much more clearly, and I’m continuing to rebalance progression and hero investment based on feedback like yours.

Wow! First off, thank you for taking the time to play this much of the demo and write all this up. Seriously. Even through the frustration this is incredibly valuable feedback for me.

You were absolutely right about the freeze/save issues. The procedural decoration generation and map state were not properly persisting between reloads, which caused adjacency bonuses and map layouts to reshuffle after continuing a run. That issue has been addressed along with the end-of-day freeze problem and a new build is going up now.

A lot of the other feedback here also directly aligns with changes I’ve already been making:

pre-battle formation/equipment management has been improved

stationing and hero management have been expanded significantly

the overall village/map flow has been reworked heavily

run persistence and save behavior are much more stable now

I also completely understand the frustration around losing geared units. I’m still actively balancing the tension between permanent loss and player investment, especially for longer runs and stronger heroes.

Again, genuinely thank you for pushing so deep into the demo and taking the time to break all this down. Feedback like this has directly shaped the current redesign and improvements.

New build is going up soon!

Hi everyone! I'm a solo dev and I just released my first public game Hold the Gates — a roguelike strategy game that mashes up light city-building with an auto-battler, inspired by games like Loop Hero, He is Coming, and a little bit of Idle Heroes.

Play Hold the Gates

From my first commit to now I'm genuinely excited to share it! The demo has 6 day/cycles with two boss fights, 15 recruitable heroes, patrol expeditions, and equipment crafting — ~25-45 min per run. Actively collecting feedback to guide what goes into the full Steam version, so any thoughts, criticism, or bug reports are very welcome!  Thank you all!