Anvil Empires is in pre-alpha at the time of writing. Pre-alpha is not a single window: it is an ongoing series of scheduled tests that the studio uses to validate new systems, gather feedback, and play out competitive wars under live conditions. Pre-alpha access is free and there is no NDA: results, screenshots, and feedback may be shared publicly.
Test Cadence
The first pre-alpha test ran in April 2023. As of late May 2026, more than forty numbered pre-alpha tests have been completed. Pre-Alpha Test 43 (the MS 64 release) ran from 16 to 23 April 2026 and hosted War number fifteen. Most early tests lasted about five to seven days, with the world running continuously for the duration. Recent tests have framed the same window as a single persistent war, with the world state preserved within the test and reset between tests.
Wars
A war is the competitive frame inside a pre-alpha test. Each war has a number, a start and end date, the test version it was played on, and a recorded outcome by faction. The war system was introduced alongside victory conditions in early 2025; since then, more than fifteen completed wars have been played to a conclusion and a sixteenth is currently underway. Outcomes are tracked per faction, with categories of victory, stalemate, and defeat. Wars are the primary unit by which the studio compares balance changes between tests.
Victory Conditions
See the Victory Conditions article for the full rules. In brief, a war ends when any one faction satisfies one of three paths:
Military victory: Capture a defined number of enemy Town Centers or Keeps. The exact count has changed across wars; recent wars have required three Town Centers, while earlier wars demanded all of them.
Cultural victory: Build and hold Temples for a sustained period. Cultural victory requires a large pool of faction resources and cooperation, since Temples are expensive and must survive the war.
Religious victory: Earn enough influence through worship and faction-cultural play. Religious paths overlap with cultural play but track a separate metric.
How to Join
Pre-alpha access is free. The official path is to wishlist Anvil Empires on Steam and join the studio's community channels for test schedules and pre-alpha keys. Spots can be limited at first, but the stated goal is to onboard as many participants as possible, with no payment required and no pre-order. Once granted access, players install through Steam and connect on the test windows announced by the studio.
What Carries Over
Persistence in Anvil Empires is per-test, not per-account. Settlements, homesteads, avatars, and inventory are scoped to the active war world; once a war ends and a test wraps, the world is reset for the next test. Account-level achievements and progress systems are still being designed and may change before early access.
Recent Test Highlights
Each pre-alpha test ships a named build that pairs to the wider war. The most recent tests are summarised below.
Test | Build | Window | War | Headline Changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pre-Alpha Test 43 | MS 64 | 16 April 2026 to 23 April 2026 | War 15 | Bounty boards in Taverns; bandit camps and forts added to the map; incapacitated avatars; charging mechanic when guard is held above sixty percent stability; fifty percent reduction in tool and weapon durability loss; Call to Arms requires three attackers to unlock public inventories. |
Pre-Alpha Test 42 | MS 63 | 5 March 2026 to 12 March 2026 | War 14 | Avatar visual overhaul (skin tone, hair, facial hair, sex); new clothing and ammunition slots; faction-specific armour in four tiers (Auxiliary, Light, Medium, Heavy); Superior weapon tier introduced; Underworld level two added; Homestead specialisation into Town and Wild branches; player muting controls. |
Pre-Alpha Test 41 | MS 62 line | 18 December 2025 to 21 December 2025 | War 13 | Avatar food consumption inside structures; stagger on enemy collision; House Manager alliances; fifty percent increase in upkeep; tripled starvation rates; smoother layout snapping for homestead structures. |
Build numbers are the studio's MS series tags; war numbers reference the persistent war that the test hosted. New systems shipped in a given test may be balanced or replaced in the next, so values quoted on the live wiki always describe the most recent observed test rather than a fixed launch state.
Upcoming
The studio’s most recent development update, posted at the end of May 2026, previews the next round of changes without committing them to a dated test. Highlighted additions include the return of the Aranic Pagans as a fuller faction presence, two new weapon families (the two-handed longsword and the bolt-firing crossbow) built to counter Heavy Armour that is being reworked to deflect arrows, an expanded bounty system with new creatures such as the Mánadýr and Stonwulfe, recruitment tiers for avatars, and quality-of-life changes to vehicle trading, barrels, and homestead renting. These are described as in development and subject to change, so they are not yet reflected as live build behaviour elsewhere on this wiki.
Caveats
Anvil Empires is in pre-alpha. Every system on this wiki is subject to change between tests; mechanics that are currently in builds today may be reworked or cut before the early-access launch. Wiki articles describe the most recent observed state and should be cross-checked against the current test before treating them as final. When the studio publishes a devblog or patch summary that contradicts an article here, the live build wins.
Related Pages
Factions
Victory Conditions