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Bert in his orange-red hat and navy hoodie

Android · Development snapshot

Bert: Hold the Line

One dog. A whole lot of trouble.

A quiet farm. A loyal pack. An increasingly unreasonable horde. Take your place at the barricade in a portrait horde-defence game about quick decisions, well-timed Barks and the pups beside you.

Download Android APKSee the game in action ↓

v0.17.10 · 49.0 MiB · Android 7.0+ · ARM64

Bert and his pack defending the barricade against Road 6 crossfire
Actual gameplay · Road 6
Portrait · one-thumb movementAuto-fire · manual BarkOffline · no account neededNo permissions requested

Meet Bert

A home to return to.
A line to hold.

Bert: Hold the Line brings a warm, lantern-lit world together with an increasingly hectic road-defence run. Between attempts, step into Pack Home, visit Northlight Town and follow a scent into the mine. Out on the road, that quiet gives way to advancing enemies, upgrade gates and bosses with their sights on your pack.

Bert handles the shooting. You handle the position, the next upgrade and the moment to Bark. Recruit pups, improve your firepower and keep the barricade standing through the waves. The further you go, the more threats overlap — and the more the dogs behind you matter.

When the line finally breaks, the report remembers more than a score: named saves, pups brought home and Road Crests earned. Return to the farm, check on the pack and get ready for another attempt.

01 / Before the horde

Meet the world behind the line.

The farm, shelter, town and mine form the quieter side of Bert's adventure. They connect to the next defence run, rather than standing apart from it.

Swipe sideways to explore. Select any screenshot to view it full size. All ten are unedited captures from the game's development build.

Bert outside the lantern-lit starter farmhouse, with Pack Home, Defend and Town controls.

A little quiet before the chaos

Start at the farm. Visit your pack, head into town or choose Defend to take your place at the barricade.

Pack Home with pups in beds around the hearth and a prompt to follow Moss to Northlight.

Your pack has a home

Step inside Pack Home and check in with the pups you remember. Here, Moss has a trail for you to follow.

Bert and Moss in moonlit Northlight Town beneath the lit lamp, with the mine ahead.

Follow the lanterns

Northlight Town connects the farm to the mine. Follow a pack trail or spend a Road Crest to fit the whistle.

Bert and Moss at the glowing fork of Scent Mine, with Moonroot selected between Glowcap and Ember.

Trust that nose

Sniff out Glowcap, Moonroot or Ember in Scent Mine. Your preparation changes the opening of the next defence run.

02 / Out on the road

Keep your paws moving.

Simple controls, plenty to watch. Choose between upgrades while enemies close in, make room with Bark and watch for attacks aimed at your pups.

Swipe through the combat phases. Select a screenshot for a closer look at the real HUD and action.

Road 1 combat with Bert and Moss behind the barricade, enemies advancing and a pup-threat warning.

Take your place on the line

Drag to move and aim while Bert fires automatically. Watch the road, the line and the pups beside you.

A numbered Pup gate on the left and Rapid gate on the right flank the advancing horde.

Pick your next advantage

The side lanes offer numbered upgrade gates. Recruit another pup, build your firepower or repair the line as the run unfolds.

A circular Bark effect around Bert, with BARK 32 HITS feedback above the barricade.

Make your Bark count

When Bark is ready, tap to hit the horde and create breathing room. Its recharge makes timing matter.

The Thorn Marshal boss on Road 5, a boss-volley warning and a pack gathered behind Bert.

The horde was only the beginning

Bosses arrive after the waves. Read their warnings and move your pack out of danger; the Thorn Marshal is lining up a volley here.

03 / One more road

The run ends.
The pack is remembered.

Survive a boss and the defence continues onto tougher roads. Late-run crossfire asks you to watch several approaches at once, move the pack and use the tools you've earned.

Eventually, the line will break. The end-of-run report shows what happened, who made it back and what you earned. Jump straight into another game, or take the return path to the farm.

Ready to take your place? ↓

Swipe to see the end-of-run report. Tap either capture to enlarge.

Road 6 crossfire with two approaching threats, a Guard pack-command prompt and incoming projectiles.

Further down the road

Later roads bring overlapping attacks and more pressure on the pack. Keep moving, read the cues and make use of your pack commands.

Game Over report listing Sunny, Moss and Pip, the road score, an earned crest and Return to Farm.

Remember the pack. Try again.

When the line breaks, see the pups remembered, named saves and Road Crests earned. Start another run or return to the farm.

Drag to move. Bert fires.

Move along the defensive line to aim your automatic shots and line up the side-lane upgrade you want.

Tap to Bark.

Watch the Bark control, then tap when it's ready. Use it to hit a crowd and ease the pressure on the barricade.

Pause when life happens.

Use the pause control beside Bark. Unfinished runs checkpoint and reopen paused so you can resume when you're ready.

Join the pack

Take Bert for a run.

The current Android download is a development snapshot. It's playable, still being improved, and offered for feedback — not presented as a finished release.

Download Android APK

v0.17.10 · 49.0 MiB · Android 7.0+ · ARM64
Offline play · no account · no device or network permissions

Installing on Android

  1. Download the APK on your Android phone.
  2. Open the downloaded file. Android may ask whether to allow installs from your browser; only proceed if you trust this download.
  3. Choose Install, then open Bert: Hold the Line. You can turn the browser's install permission off again afterwards.

Already have v0.17.3 or older installed? Builds from v0.17.4 onward are signed with a new key, so Android will not update v0.17.3 or older: the installer just says “App not installed” (over adb, INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE). You will need to uninstall the old copy first, and uninstalling deletes that build's saved progress. If you already have v0.17.4 or newer, this update installs normally.

Build status and known limitations

v0.17.10 · DEVELOPMENT SNAPSHOT. Fixes interrupted runs on Android: earlier Android builds never kept a run they could resume, and could open with “SAVED RUN UNAVAILABLE”. A run cut short by a call or a closed app now resumes, paused, where you left it. All three bosses are animated: they walk, wind up visibly before every shot, flinch when hit and collapse where they fall. The Thorn Marshal has its own quill-backed body, and the Rootback's boulder toss, charge brace and stagger each have their own motion. Bosses still throw shots at your line (gold markers show the lanes; any Fetch knocks a shot down). Sound preference persists.

Crowded combat, small secondary text, strategy depth and writing still need work. Sustained S25 Ultra and lower-end-phone performance, speaker listening and uncoached player sessions remain unverified. This is a feedback build and is not claimed as the earned 7/10 release.

Android or Play Protect may show an unknown-app prompt. No iPhone or browser-playable build is offered here. Screenshots show real development gameplay at different portrait sizes, not a promise of identical presentation or performance on every phone.

Download checksum and build identity

Built 1 October 2026 from game source cbaf67c. SHA-256 of the Android APK:

30697dce8a88928899f45b19b23b70750d17d250dd2c3515bc2d364249b75f10

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