Disclaimer: Features discussed in this post reflect what is currently under development and not necessarily what will be shipping with the next test. Anything mentioned below may change at any time due to the experimental nature of Pre-Alpha development. Nothing mentioned here should be taken as a promised feature or addition to the eventual game.


The Keep will replace the Town Center as the core structure at the center of Towns moving forward. This change was made for two reasons. First, during playtests it was observed that players would surround their Town Center with Fort walls and structures which looked incredibly unnatural. Having the center structure be a Keep thematically and visually fits more organically.

Second, with the new Fort building system, there was an opportunity to integrate Forts with the core structure of the Town. To that end, Keeps can be attached to expanded upon using Fort modules. This means players can effectively design a larger custom Keep or heavily integrate them into their surrounding fortress layout.

There will be three tiers of Keeps as seen in the concept art above. In addition, Keeps have full interiors with several floors, making it implicitly useful for making a last stand during a siege.


The world is finally being expanded to the scale that Anvil Empires is intended to be played at. The previous main island has been broken up and several other land masses have been added. This scale paves the way for not only longer term, persistent world gameplay but for systems like trade and naval to exist in the future.

While the size of current tests are not entirely appropriate for this scale, the foundation of the world needs to be built and tested as early as possible which is why this expansion is happening. In the initial rollout, the expanded parts of the world will be basic in terms of environmental features but detail will be added in over time.


As part of the current phase of development, many aspects of combat are being heavily worked on. In addition to the combat updates from the last Devblog, a new set of weapons and weapon features are being explored. Keep in mind that many of these features are designed to work within a larger framework of changes coming in future development.

First of all, every weapon now has a movement modifier and a chance to penetrate guard. For example, the Sword now has a Thrust as it's secondary attack mode, which has a higher chance to penetrate guard when compared to the primary Slash attack.

The Javelin is being introduced, as a lightweight version of the Spear. The Javelin can be throw in quick succession, can be carried with other primary weapons like Swords, and can also be thrown from horseback.

The Spear has also received several upgrades to make it more distinct from the Javelin. The Spear can now be used in tandem with a Shield and has distinct melee and throw modes of attack that can be toggled with the F key.


Some important changes are being made to deployment. Food items instead of Reinforcement Supplies are now required to deploy to a location. This will be required to deploy at all locations, including Homesteads and pledged Towns. If no food is available, then deployment won't be possible. This removes the ability to infinitely spawn at a location and enables future scenarios for "starving out" towns under siege.

When a specific type of food is selected to use for deployment, the player will spawn with the benefits of that food automatically applied. This includes health, stamina, and hunger replenishment.

Be sure to add Anvil Empires to your wish list on Steam. If you want to join the community, head over the to official Discord server[discord.gg] or Subreddit.

Disclaimer: Features discussed in this post reflect what is currently under development and not necessarily what will be shipping with the next test. Anything mentioned below may change at any time due to the experimental nature of Pre-Alpha development. Nothing mentioned here should be taken as a promised feature or addition to the eventual game.


This phase of development introduces the Underworld, the subterranean part of Anvil's persistent world. The Underworld is where new threats, resources, and a new mining game will reside in the future. Not only will the Underworld be a big part of gameplay in future, but it will play a key role in Anvil's lore and overall universe.

This next test will include an initial bare bones version of the Underworld in the form of underground caves that can be accessed from various entrances on the surface of Calligo. Entrance locations are randomized and will lead into small isolated underground areas containing Iron, Stone, Coal, as well as elite animal threats. The longer term plan is to build this initial version into a larger network of interconnected caves subterranean mines.

Small structures like Firepits and Storage Chests can be built underground. Some vehicles like Hand Carts can also be brought down to help transport resources. The Underworld is completely devoid of light, so carrying or building Torches is essential for traversing these areas.


The Catapult will be the second siege weapon in the game. While the Battering Ram is a close quarters weapon, the Catapult will serve as ranged artillery when assaulting a Fort.

The Catapult will require four players to move. The reloading process is similar to the Scorpion, requiring a player to carry and place a projectile into the bucket. One player operates the crank for rearming, while another player operates the lever for firing. The Catapult fires at a fixed range and is relatively inaccurate, requiring multiple shots to successfully hit a target.


The next steps towards improved combat are being taken in the form of attack chaining, weapon modes, equipment hotkeys, and other changes. Note that these are work in progress prototypes that on their own won't have a big impact, but are small steps towards a larger plan.


Multiple distinct attacks can now be performed in sequence. Up to three attacks can be chained together in this manner, with each subsequent attack having a unique hit pattern and damage values. Initially, this will only be available on the Sword weapon.


Support for alternate weapon modes has been implemented. Pressing the F key will change modes, which is a process that will take time and isn't instantaneous. Most weapons in the future will have a unique alternate mode. Initially, alternate modes will only be available for the Short Bow. Players will be able to switch between direct and indirect fire modes using this system.


With the constant need to equip items into the primary and secondary hand slots during gameplay, a new equipment hotkey system has been added. Number keys 0-9 will be used to swap an item in the inventory into it's associated hand slot. To assist in this, an abridged version of the inventory will be rendered on the HUD, indicating which keys correspond to which slot. Under this new system, the R key will now be used to arm primary weapons and CTRL-R will be used to arm secondary weapons.

There are a few other experimental changes being developed for combat. The melee system has been upgraded with more sophisticated hit patterns that are made up of multiple collision points that are triggered over time as a weapon moves through the air, as opposed to the previously basic system that used a single collision point triggered at one point in time. In addition, the speed of attacks scale with total stamina and Shield guard drops when attacking. Once again, these features are only implemented on some weapons and much of it is still in an experimental stage of development.


The concept of friendly and enemy territory has been added. This was done to resolve several issues identified by players and to evolve the PvP game to the next stage of development. The map is now divided into territory based on Starting Deployment Points and Tier 3 Towns, with the latter having a stronger weighting. To expand into enemy territory, players must built Tier 3 Towns. Certain structures like Beacon Towers and Homesteads can only be built in friendly territory. This is to address the player feedback that Beacon Towers and Homesteads were being used offensively, which is against their intended roles. In addition, this addition should help make Towns more significant in general again. Expect the rules around Territory Ownership to be iterated on several times before it's working as expected so the team is eagerly looking forward to feedback on this one.

Be sure to add Anvil Empires to your wish list on Steam. If you want to join the community, head over the to official Discord server[discord.gg] or Subreddit.