Planned Release Date: Dec 11, 2026

About This Game

Rip packs. Hold the line. Run it back.

Contested Space: Core Defender is a pack opening defense game with short runs and endless stages. Every stage begins by tearing open booster packs and whatever you pull deploys around your Core. Then the horde arrives. Your stations fire, your ships hold the front, and you aim your own cannon at anything that gets through.

When the Core falls, the run ends. Everything you earned becomes permanent upgrades, and the next run starts stronger.

Play with friends

Up to four players defend one Core. Everyone opens their own packs and aims their own cannon. Friends drop into a run in progress with no lobby, and guests take their earnings home to their own save. Play solo or with a full crew and waves scale to the party size. 

Hundreds of unlocks

Spend what you earn on a permanent upgrade tree: more packs per run, new Cores with their own abilities, extra station slots, escort wings, cannon upgrades, and global boosts. Unlock new regions of space, each with its own enemies and modifiers, and push stage after stage for as long as your defense holds.

Built from Contested Space

Core Defender uses the ships, stations, factions, and music of Contested Space, the sci-fi roguelike deckbuilder from Null & Void Games. You don't need to have played it, but if you have, you'll recognize the fleet.

Features

• Pack-opening defense with short 2 to 4 minute stages and endless progression

• 1-4 player online co-op with drop-in joining and host-shared progression

• Aim your own cannon while your stations and escorts fight

• Hundreds of permanent unlocks across Cores, slots, escorts, cannon, and regions

• Steam achievements for completing each alliance collection

• Everything is earned in-game: no real-money packs, ever