Anvil Empires, developed by Siege Camp who also developed Foxhole, hosted a closed stress test, and we were invited to experience what siege play would be like. Anvil Empires is an MMO where players work hand in hand to make an empire, go to war and conquer opposing factions in a persistent world. I’ve played a few games that have involved siege combat, and coordination is usually always key to victory. In Anvil Empires that also holds true and it was pretty fun.
Anvil’s stress test lasted about 30–40 minutes, and during that time I tried to experience each part of the siege combat that I could. The setting is medieval, so don’t go expecting to sling magic. There are three factions in Anvil; the Pagan, the Ancients, and the Remnant. For the siege combat test I joined up on the attacking team, Remnant, and we were facing the Pagans.
When joining the at the start, all the gear is there in the main tent to choose what sort of role you want to take in battle. The options were to sword & board, archer, builder, and a spear. Each one has specific items they use, and I found out that I could not use both sword and bow at the same time, because the armor you choose to equip determines what weapon. However, the shield can be worn on your back with the bow. As with using a bow you have to as well carry arrows with, but they do take up inventory slots, so even though a siege I planned my inventory accordingly.
I started off the siege, seeing what the archer role. I was not good shooting from the ground. Our builders had yet to build any siege towers, so when I died and popped back up at camp, I tried going in with the sword. With my sword, shield, and food I raced to the frontline. Past the catapults someone had built. Upon reaching the front line, I could hear over voice chat someone one directing people to use the battering ram to burst through the entry. I wasn’t sure seeing as how it’s all player driven how the battle would work out. If there would be captains or knight commander taking charge, but at that moment I was reminded like in Guild Wars 2 World vs World, in a big group of players someone will step up to lead and keep people organized. Don’t get me wrong, the battlefield was chaos, but there were leaders popping up where needed.
My sword and board escapade did not last long. I climbed the ladder to the ramparts, ate my food to boost my stamina, and tried to make my way inside while they broke entry. Well, I feel in what was possibly a hole in the rampart tower and got stuck. I’m not sure why there was a hole in the corner that lead to a floor of the tower with no steps and no way out. I pretty much sat and waited for someone to come and end the solitude. There was probably an option to unstuck myself, but I figured I could bait people to come down there.
After two tries at frontline combat, I wanted to try building catapults and battering rams if needed. Our faction had already built some during my frontline soldier time, so I just hopped on a catapult that was short a person and helped out. Just like catapults in those times, there was a side of it for firing and a side to reset the catapult. Siege Camp really did awesome, keeping even the tiniest details like that. It would have been so easy to say it takes 4 people to move it, and when once it’s set a person can hope off and just reload, but they kept it historic, and I really like that attention to detail. Some time after the battle came to a close as time for the beta was almost over, so I ran back to camp, grabbed a bow and ran to frontline. I really enjoyed using the bow. I saw we did break a wall using the catapult. Ran through and immediately got pelted with arrows, We won in the end though.
At the time of the stress test, the siege battle maxed out at 200–300 players at once, but Siege Camp is hoping to increase the amount of players that can be in a siege battle to at least 1000 players. If Siege Camp can pull that off, I can see those battles getting pretty intense. Also, even though only one faction can win, factions can have temporary alliances and team up against another.
Now, battle is not the sole focus. Players start off homesteading in your chosen faction, and from there it doesn’t have to be all battle. You can take up blacksmithing, or any of the other roles that will help your faction grow and prosper, like mining and logging,
Anvil Empires, from what I’ve experienced of the siege battle is fun, chaotic, and I am looking forward to playing more and getting to experience the game from the start. Siege Camp has plans to release Anvil Empires on early access. If you are wanting to give it a try, you will be able to during Steams Next Fest, June 9th-16th.Thanks again to Siege Camp for inviting us to play. You can check out Anvil Empires over on their Steam page or website.
