CORE//LINK
CORE//LINK key art: a red Agent and a blue Agent face off across a glowing hexagonal Server board.

Two Operators. One Server. Nothing left to chance.

CORE//LINK is a two-player tactics game where every outcome comes from the moves you make. Direct seven Agents across the Server, install Programs into their Memory arms, and take control before your opponent does.

  • Online, same screen or vs AI
  • 61-node hex board
  • No dice, no card draws
  • Plays on any screen
Play in your browser Free playtest build · desktop, tablet and phone

Two ways to take the Server

Every Server is built around a single Core. Whoever holds it holds the Server, so each game becomes a race between breaking the enemy line and slipping past it.

Extract the Core

Send an Agent through the enemy Security zone, seize their Core, and carry it back to your own Core Node. If that Agent is Disconnected on the way, the Core drops and returns home.

Disconnect five Agents

Push enemy Agents off the edge of the Server. Once five of their seven are gone, their network can no longer defend itself and the Server is yours.

Red and blue Agents clash across purple, cyan and protected nodes on the Server.

How a turn works

Turns are short. The depth comes from what each one sets up.

  1. Activate one Agent

    Pick any of your Agents except the one you used last turn.

  2. Move or run a Program

    Make a plain move or push, or use one Program the Agent has installed. It must change nodes and can't step back to the node it just left.

  3. Install on landing

    Land on a Purple, Cyan or Protected node with a plain move or push and you can install a Program into the matching Memory arm.

Freeze: an Agent displaced by an enemy can't be activated on its owner's next turn. Last stand: an Operator's final online Agent loses all Program abilities.

Twelve Programs, two Memory arms

Each Agent carries one Purple Program in its right arm and one Cyan Program in its left. Purple Programs move the enemy. Cyan Programs move you.

right arm

Purple

PUSHDrive an adjacent enemy two nodes straight back and take its node.
EJECTThrow an adjacent enemy to the empty node behind you.
PULSEShove an unbroken line of enemies one node each.
SWAPTrade places with an adjacent enemy.
TETHERPull an adjacent enemy onto your node as you fall back one node.
VECTORPush an adjacent enemy one node off-axis and take its node.

Cyan

left arm
BOOSTMove two steps through an empty node in one turn.
JUMPVault over an adjacent Agent to the empty node beyond.
WARPTeleport beside a friendly Agent up to four nodes away.
RELAYAdvance through an ally, pushing it two nodes ahead.
FIREWALLPassive. Enemies can't WARP within two nodes of this Agent.
ANCHORPassive. This Agent can't be hit by an enemy PUSH.

Program nodes are scattered across the Server, and the five Protected nodes at its center offer both colors. Where you send an Agent decides what kind of Agent it becomes.

Play a friend online

Your opponent doesn't need to be in the same room. Open a match from anywhere, with no account and nothing to install.

Start a room

  1. Create a room. Choose Play online, pick a clock, and create the room. The host plays Red.
  2. Send the code. Share the five-character room code, or send the invite link straight from the game.
    K7QMX
  3. Your friend joins. They enter the code, or tap the link, and the match begins.

Play on the clock

Like a chess clock, each player gets their own bank of time, and it only runs on your turn.

  • No limit
  • 10 min
  • 20 min
  • 30 min
  • 60 min

Out of time? You get 10 seconds to make each move from then on. Miss one and your clock runs out: you're Disconnected and lose the match.

The Server Frontier

Year 21XX

Civilization no longer runs on land alone. Cities, markets, transport and defense all depend on secure Server space, protected territory built around a unique digital Core. Ordinary data can be copied. A Core cannot.

As demand outgrows the supply of trusted space, stable networks become contested ground. To settle these conflicts, Operators enter the Link and deploy teams of seven Agents into the Server.

Every node is territory.
Every Program is leverage.
Every Agent is expendable.

Choose your side

Red Agent portrait

Red Operator

Take on a friend at the same screen, face an AI opponent at the difficulty you choose, or open an online room.

Blue Agent portrait

Blue Operator

New to the Server? The built-in training sims walk you through movement, pushes, Disconnects and Programs one step at a time.

Establish the Link

The playtest build runs right in your browser, online or off. No download, no account. Finished games are saved so you can replay them move by move.

Play CORE//LINK Plays on a computer, tablet or phone. On a phone, turn it sideways.