Gigantic RTS game is like Age of Empires 2 but with 1,000 actual players

Everyone loves the trebuchet, the Hassar, and the stoic, impervious Teutonic Knight. But do you know who's the true hero of Age of Empires 2? The humble villager. The villager gathers your wood, farms your food, and digs up your stone and gold. Without them, you're totally helpless. The same is true in other RTS classics. Where would you be in Command and Conquer without the diligent Harvester? How far could you get in Homeworld if you didn't have a carrier and a cargo barge? This is what real strategy is about, the combination of both logistics and hubristics. With Foxhole, Siege Camp has already changed the game. Now, the developer is back with a gigantic new RTS and medieval MMO hybrid. This is Anvil Empires, and you'll be able to play it soon.

Let's get straight to the point here: like Foxhole, Anvil Empires presents a huge, ongoing battle where every single soldier and worker is a real player. Build settlements, cultivate production, and manage supply lines to make sure knights and archers are armored and fed. In turn, those frontline players need to hold the battlements, operate siege weapons, and wade into open warfare to defend your territory from the gigantic attacking team. Part RTS game and part MMO, Siege Camp says that every battle in Anvil Empires will take weeks to fully play out, and that the initial server tests will allow for 1,000 players.

Put more simply, this feels like Foxhole but with swords instead of rifles and battering rams rather than tanks. It's Age of Empires, except you're the villager, the Paladin, and the Champion, and you're wading into battle with hundreds of human comrades. I pride myself on remaining collected and sober when writing about videogames, especially videogames which haven't even been released yet, but even I have to say, this sounds extremely good.

And you'll soon be able to try it for yourself. The first ever Anvil Empires playtest will run from Monday June 9 to Monday June 16, as part of Steam Next Fest. In the meantime, you can already find the game and wishlist it right here.

Otherwise, try some of the best medieval games, or maybe the best grand strategy games available on PC.

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