Hold The Mine News

[p]Hey everyone! Yes, I have an official release date to share. Hold The Mine is set to launch into Early Access on February 17, 2026. [/p][p][/p][p]In just a few weeks, you’ll be able to begin your digging adventure into the mine and protect it from monsters! I hope you all are as excited as I am! [/p][p]While you wait for launch day, be sure to check out our new release date trailer:[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]The game will have a lot of content to experiment with from the start: [/p]

• [p]12 unique heroes[/p]
• [p]45+ buildings[/p]
• [p]40+ relics and gems[/p]
• [p]30 quests to complete[/p]
• [p]20 types of blocks in the mine[/p]
• [p]7 types of enemies[/p]

[p][/p][p]And keep in mind this is just the beginning: a proper roadmap will be revealed soon after launch![/p][p][/p][p]I can’t wait to share the game with all of you soon! Don't forget to wishlist the game and spread the news! Thank you everyone for the amazing support![/p][p]Paci[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]--------------------------------------------------[/p][p]Come be a part of the Hold The Mine community. Join us on Discord to talk with other players, share your tips, heroes composition and see what others are building underground. You can also find updates and discussions on Reddit and follow news and posts on Bluesky.
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[p]Hello miners,[/p][p]I’m still working on new things but I have not a lot to show right now. Most of the progress we made over the past week is still not ready to be shown. For this reason, I thought it could be a good opportunity to talk a bit more about how the project Hold The Mine started, the different gameplay I experimented with and how it became the game you’ll be able to play really really soon.[/p][p][/p][p]Hold The Mine was at first a concept with a very big fantasy component: what if you play a group of dwarves digging in the mine during the day and defending it during the night? The first thing I ever drew for the game was this image, showing this group defending the entrance of a mine, a very easy to pick up concept. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]My main inspiration for this game idea was not Dome Keeper back in the day, even if I believe it inspired me nonetheless. The idea came from a specific scene in the movie Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where Gimli and Aragorn are holding an infinite group of Uruk-hai in front of Helm Deep key access.  [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]That’s how this project started back in December 2023. No prototype, just this concept. It took me less than a month to prototype this image into Unity but it wasn’t that great. The game was just a clicker, and a terrible one. The battle aspect was not really the issue here; the mine gameplay (or lack of gameplay) was the reason I pivoted to different ideas. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This process took most of the first 12 months. One of those experiments was an incremental clicker version, similar to Minesweeper but the one that became the main focus was a version where you could mark blocks and dwarves try to dig those blocks. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The mining phase was in real time back then: the day was 120 seconds long and you could mark any block you want, the dwarves would automatically find the best way possible to reach and dig them. [/p][p]The battle also changed during this period, but it was not really a gameplay rework, more like a new way to present things: enemies would not come from one side but from both sides, and the mine entrance would be at the center. That was a great change and made the battle more epic and dramatic. I also introduced spells the player could trigger to help the dwarf heroes holding the monsters during this phase. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Early 2024, the game evolved quickly. This is where I introduced the buildings: like now, you had to find blueprints down the mine and collect ressources to build them. This is also when I did some experimentation with the art direction. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]I was still struggling with the visuals and the project was too big for me alone to handle. Two artists (Camille Coq & Jeanne Prigent) joined the project in September 2024 and it helped a lot shaping Hold The Mine visuals into the version you know today. [/p][p][/p][p]The jump in quality was insane, but the game was still in a messy place.[/p][p][/p][p]The last part of 2024 was really hard for me. The mine gameplay had a lot of issues, and I did my best to try to find solutions that would make it much better to play. [/p][p]Since the beginning of the project, I did a lot of playtesting. But whatever I tried with the mine, something was clearly not working with the gameplay. A radical change was inevitable to get me out of this: pivoting from real-time to turn-based digging gameplay…[/p][p][/p][p]This is only the first part of the story, but next week I’ll talk about what followed. 2025 was definitely the year Hold The Mine became really promising. Thanks for all the support and feedback! [/p][p]Paci[/p][p][/p][p]--------------------------------------------------[/p][p]Come be a part of the Hold The Mine community. Join us on Discord to talk with other players, share your tips, heroes composition and see what others are building underground. You can also find updates and discussions on Reddit and follow news and posts on Bluesky.[/p]

[p]Hello miners,[/p][p]This is a very small update of the demo, mainly focused on bug fixing and performance improvements.[/p][p][/p][h2]Patch Notes v0.6.16[/h2][p][/p][h3]Performance[/h3][p]The way most of the in game visuals load have been improved, which should lead to at the very least a slight improvement in performance during a run. More improvements will be made upon the game release.[/p][p][/p][h3]Settings[/h3]

• [p]Vsync (new!): you can now toggle VSync in game.[/p]
• [p]Max FPS (new!): you can set the maximum FPS in game which can greatly impact performance (keep in mind this limit only works if the VSync is disabled).[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed unnecessary long loading times when the game language is set to Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese. [/p]
• [p]Fixed several issues with some characters in Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese not being displayed correctly. [/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with the save system, preventing the data from correctly being loaded in some situations. [/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with the relics not being displayed on the UI after a certain amount of relics found.[/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue where finding a chest could prevent you for playing. [/p]

[h3]Known issues[/h3]

• [p]Game Quality, VSync and Max FPS setting names are not translated.[/p]
• [p]Some characters in the Leaderboard are still not displayed correctly.[/p]

[p] [/p][p]Thanks for all the support and feedback, see you in a few days for a new sneak peek of the things we are working on for the release of Hold The Mine![/p][p]Paci [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]--------------------------------------------------[/p][p]Come be a part of the Hold The Mine community. Join us on Discord to talk with other players, share your tips, heroes composition and see what others are building underground. You can also find updates and discussions on Reddit and follow news and posts on Bluesky.[/p][p][/p]

[p]Hello miners,[/p][p]I've got new, exciting things to share with you regarding the game, with things never seen before: a sneak peek at new environments and some insights on the brand new upgrade system for heroes that will be available at launch. Let’s dive in! [/p][p][/p][p]Tired of playing every run in the same environment over and over? We've got your back. At launch, the game will feature 3 unique regions, each with its own atmosphere and aesthetic differences. [/p][p][/p][p]Each region has its own main weather event you are guaranteed to experience at some point (the others have less chance of happening). For example, the Eclipse event is always guaranteed in a run that takes place in the Volcanic Region. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]We might expand the differences each region brings during Early Access even further, like the type of special blocks you can encounter or the type of enemies.[/p][p][/p][p]In the demo update, some heroes received 2 new alternative powers (compared to the 3 they always had in the previous versions), which give more replayability to each one. But because only 3 powers were available each run, your options were still limited. That’s something I wanted to address before the launch of Early Access.[/p][p][/p][p]The goal is simple: I want to give more flexibility to players so they can experiment and try different things with each hero. [/p][p][/p][p]To do that, I’m working on some kind of skill tree, with all powers always available if you invest in a certain path. Players will also be able to invest their extra runes into bonus nodes that provide extra stat points. One big important change that comes with that is that the UI will be much less packed with texts. Powers will have unique icons and moving the cursor hover them will reveal their effects.[/p][p][/p][p]In the sketch above, letters are powers and numbers are bonus nodes. This is still a work in progress change, but I’m confident this will be a net improvement of the current system. This will also open more interesting combos. [/p][p][/p][p]Another thing I’m working on concerns the panel you have whenever you find a prison in the mine. The issue with this panel is that it provides unclear and misleading information on each hero available (especially with the synergy icons, since they are not unlocked from the start). [/p][p][/p][p]The reworked version should allows players to see each power that can be unlocked and what it costs. And because all powers will be accessible in every run (if the player invests their runes during the run), no bad surprises can happen. I’ll share more about this rework in another time.[/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for all the support and feedback, see you next week for a new sneak peek of the things we are working on for the release of Hold The Mine![/p][p]Paci [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]--------------------------------------------------[/p][p]Come be a part of the Hold The Mine community. Join us on Discord to talk with other players, share your tips, heroes composition and see what others are building underground. You can also find updates and discussions on Reddit and follow news and posts on Bluesky.[/p][p][/p][p]A special thanks to Angory Tom who covered the new demo this week! It was a real pleasure to watch his video. [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[p]Hello miners,[/p][p]I am very happy to see that many of you have discovered or rediscovered the game since the demo update. The reception of all the additions, changes and improvements have been amazing and be sure this is only the beginning, there is so much more coming![/p][p][/p][p]I know you are eager to know when the game will release but I’m not quite ready to share the exact date yet, all I can say for now is that the early access will launch early this year. I’ll make a proper announcement really soon.[/p][p]For now, I highly recommend that you try out the new demo if you haven't already. You can download it here:[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]With all the content already in the demo, many of you have raised legitimate concern about the lack of new content upon release. Let me be clear: the game will have a lot of new content: new heroes, buildings, relics and even some blocks with unique effects.[/p][p]Giving players more builds and runs variety is key, and heroes play a big role here. Today, I’d like to share more details about one of them : the Berserker.[/p][p][/p][p]As a great warrior, the Berserker is ruthless and fearless. She’s capable of dealing massive damage to an entire group of enemies with her axes. In fact, she’s so strong she’ll be able to throw a giant rock on enemies. Simple as that![/p][p]I can’t wait to showcase all of her powers as she’s already one of my favorite heroes in the game.[/p][p][/p][p]Speaking of dealing massive damage, the early access launch will include a revamped leaderboard to allow players to check the build used to reach the top! [/p][p]It will be a cool addition to understand how people are able to gain so many points and see which are the best combos out there. [/p][p][/p][p]Yes! As I’d love to share more with you, it’s important to keep some stuff for later and even some surprises for the game release. In a few days, I’ll talk about the new biomes we’ll have in the game, and it’s not just an ice biome![/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for all the support and feedback,[/p][p]Paci [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]--------------------------------------------------[/p][p]Come be a part of the Hold The Mine community. Join us on Discord to talk with other players, share your tips, heroes composition and see what others are building underground. You can also find updates and discussions on Reddit and follow news and posts on Bluesky.[/p]