Anvil Empires is a massively multiplayer war and conquest game set in a medieval-fantasy world, developed and published by Siege Camp. Thousands of players share a single persistent world where settlements grow from small hamlets into towns, supply lines feed armies of hundreds, and entire campaigns of conquest play out over weeks of real time. The game is currently in pre-alpha and does not have a confirmed release date; everything described below reflects the state of the most recent pre-alpha test and is subject to change before launch.
Setting
The game takes place in a medieval-inspired sandbox where three factions fight for control of a shared continent. Players create avatars within a chosen alliance, claim or join homesteads, and contribute to a faction war that runs until a victory condition is met. The world supports up to a thousand players in real-time melee combat in a single battle, powered by the studio's r2 server technology.
Core Pillars
Pillar | What It Means in Play |
|---|---|
Persistent world | Pre-Alpha Tests run 5-7 days each, with a single world state shared by all participants for the duration of a war. |
Three-faction war | The Factions each pursue military, cultural, or religious Victory Conditions, competing for control of the map. |
Massive battles | Up to 1000 players can fight in one melee, supported by ranged, siege, and Logistics and Supply Lines play. |
Player-built towns | Settlements begin as homesteads and grow into shared towns with Crafting and Resources production chains. |
Sandbox conquest | Battles are organically instigated by players in an open world; goals like Sieges emerge from player initiative rather than scripted quests. |
Current State
Anvil Empires is in pre-alpha. The most recent test was Pre-Alpha Test #43, which ran for one week in mid-April 2026 and was the fifteenth scored war since the alliance and victory-condition systems were introduced. Pre-alpha access is free and granted via the Steam wishlist and the Siege Camp community channels; the studio has stated that no payment is required to participate during this stage of development.
Studio
Anvil Empires is the second persistent-world title from Siege Camp. The studio designed its r2 custom server technology specifically to support the kind of crowd density Anvil targets in its battles. Anvil shares the studio's faction-war framing in spirit with the studio's earlier work but is a separate game with its own setting, factions, and systems.
Where to Start
New players should read the Getting Started guide before joining a homestead.
Returning testers should check Pre-Alpha Tests for the next test window and the latest patch summary.
For combat fundamentals, see the Combat, Weapons, and Armours articles.