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Holdfast: Nations At War News

Vive L'Empereur! Releasing 17.01.2024



"To have good soldiers, a nation must always be at war." - Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon's Rise DLC
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2692480/Holdfast_Nations_At_War__Napoleons_Rise

The Plight of War OST
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2692500/Holdfast_OST__The_Plight_of_War

Rally the Old Guard and raise the banners. The Emperor himself will soon set foot upon the battlefields of Holdfast. Here's a sneak peek at what's to come. Napoleon's Rise, a cosmetic DLC for Holdfast: Nations At War will release on January 17th 2024 alongside free content themed around the Emperors rise to power.



There's plenty more coming with this update including an entire graphical overhaul and important optimisations drastically reducing the game's file size. Here's one more peek at what we've been working on.



The orchestra are tuning up! Releasing alongside this update will be the official sound track of Holdfast 'The Plight Of War'. Charge forth with some classic songs ranging from the Napoleonic Era to the Great War.



There are many more changes, features, bug fixes and quality of life additions being introduced in this update so be sure to check out the change log when it releases! Thank you for your support and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:

discord.gg/holdfastgame






- Anvil Game Studios

Refleax, Rycon, Dreas, Walki, Jackson, Rejenorst, Harper, Storey, UberJuice, Stan, Gest, Matt, Grandayy, Charles:Cute_Rat: & Winston (The Cat).

Celebrating 6 Years Of Holdfast!

Celebrating 6 years of Holdfast! September 21st 2023 marks 6 years since Holdfast initially released into Early Access way back in 2017. Since then Holdfast has seen multiple evolutions of the game including, new classes, factions, customisation, a free WW1 total-conversion DLC, the regiment registry and most recently the Howitzer artillery piece just to name a few.


The best thing about it all is that we’re not done yet… Anvil Game Studios are committed to further bettering the experience of this game we all love so dearly. Our development efforts for the remainder of the year and the year to come will continue to be focused on bringing the game into the new era and revolutionise this genre of Roleplay Shooters with new features and mechanics for players new and old. Development on more optimisations making the game increasingly more accessible is also currently ongoing.


Celebrating this remarkable feat, Holdfast and all its DLC’s can now be purchased at a discounted price for a limited time. Gather Holdfast on sale at 60% off and all of its cosmetic DLCs up to 55% off.

Base Game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/589290/Holdfast_Nations_At_War/

Collectors Edition
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/13424/Holdfast_Collectors_Edition/

Napoleonic Pack
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/25822/Napoleonic_Pack/

Great War Pack
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/25824/Great_War_Pack/

These past 6 years have truly been a blast! The community has grown and evolved in ways that we could never truly have imagined. Your ongoing support and dedication are very much appreciated and we look forward to expanding the great Holdfast community even more.



We wholeheartedly thank you and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:

discord.gg/holdfastgame






- Anvil Game Studios

Refleax, Rycon, Dreas, Walki, Jackson, Rejenorst, Harper, Storey, UberJuice, Stan, Gest, Matt, Grandayy & Winston (The Cat).

Holdfast Updated! Soldier Medals



Following suit with the previous update to the game this one too has a focus on optimisations, quality of life and bug fixing. However, this time this update will bring with it the return of the soldier medals with a whole new design ready to be displayed at your will on your playercards. Head over to the barracks to check these out.



Soldier medals are back! Now that we’ve tested the robustness of the new playercard system we’re pleased to announce the reintroduction of the class medals into the game. These medals have undergone a complete redesign and to better reflect the class they are associated to so you can display your skill as your favourite class with pride.


You can now also apply previously earned medals onto your playercard, display up to 4 medals from the same class medal on your playercard to showcase your veterancy.



The spectate system has also undergone a rework to make transitioning between player specific spectating and freecam easier, now you can easily swap between the two modes seamlessly by simply pressing ‘E’ (this can be rebound). Swapping to freecam from spectate on a specific player will enter freecam on the players position allowing for easy movement between the two modes.



In-game interaction icons have also been redesigned to compliment the latest UI overhaul and make for more distinguishable and understandable calls to action.


On the game optimisation front we've specifically taken a look at map loading times with this release. Our team will continue dishing out more improvements on this front in more Holdfast updates to follow.

Part of this change is an experimental new option for a reduced main menu which can be accessed by inputting -hddMode as a Steam game launch parameter. This lightweight version of the main menu currently in BETA is intended to aid individuals that have the game installed on a hard drive.



Be sure to take a read of the full change log to see the list of optimisations, bugs and quality of life features that have been addressed in this update. Thank you for your support and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:







Changelog 88 - Game Version 2.14.8661.23780

Count 3 new features and improvements.
11 quality of life additions.
4 optimisations.
3 graphical additions.
23 bug fixes.

Click here for the full change log.





- Anvil Game Studios

Refleax, Rycon, Dreas, Walki, Jackson, Rejenorst, Harper, Storey, UberJuice, Stan, Gest, Matt, Grandayy & Winston (The Cat).

Holdfast Updated! Optimisations & Bug Fixes


Holdfast has been updated! Following the release of the Howitzer and UI update we’ve been hard at work fixing bugs, optimising and introducing some requested quality of life features to compliment the update.

Important Notices Individuals having issues launching the game on Steam Deck are advised to use Proton 8.0-3.
Be sure to let us know in #bug-reports on discord.gg/holdfastgame if you experience further issues.

Known Issues We're aware of the chat not unfading when other players type in a chat.



Although extensive BETA testing was undertaken now and again things can slip through the gaps and getting the update into a stable state has been the priority the last few days as a result. Namely, optimisations have been implemented to return the game’s performance back to on par with previous iterations of the game.

Two crosshairs have also been introduced into the Nations At War selection, the 'Nail’ and the ‘Fixate’ crosshairs can now be applied from the game tab in the settings menu.



In addition to this, further customisation of the games UI can now be accessed via the settings, now players can change the colour of the health bar to either a solid red, gradient or dynamic bar.



Be sure to take a read of the full change log to see the list of optimisations, bugs and quality of life features that have been addressed with this hot fix. Thank you for your support and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:







Changelog 87 - Game Version 2.13.8650.21866

Count 2 new features and improvements.
6 quality of life additions.
3 optimisations.
1 server configuration additions.
35 bug fixes.

Click here for the full change log.





- Anvil Game Studios

Refleax, Rycon, Dreas, Walki, Jackson, Rejenorst, Harper, Storey, UberJuice, Stan, Gest, Matt, Grandayy & Winston (The Cat).

Holdfast Updated! Howitzers & UI



The time has come to announce the release of this long anticipated update. For some while now we have been hard at work rejuvenating both Holdfast’s frontend and backend in order to lay the foundations for the updates to follow.

Our goal is to make Holdfast more accessible to a wider audience while staying true to its core. This will prolong Holdfast’s shelf life so that you can continue enjoying Holdfast for many more years to come! This update will be the first big step in that direction.

[h2]Introducing The Howitzer[/h2]

This long requested artillery piece now makes its way to the battles of Holdfast. With its skilled based air burst and flying shrapnel this new disrupter of organisation will change the way engagements play out across the game.

Load a shot and set the fuse timer on the fuse interface then fire away and watch as chaos ensues from afar. Those wanting a more precise fuse timer can hold down 'Shift' by default and make smaller timing changes.



The Howitzer’s primary attack is the air burst, timing the fuse and judging the distance correctly will allow skilled artillerymen to burst the shell above the enemy causing the most damage and killing those closest.

Shells that land near or at the floor of the enemy will cause damage but will not kill unless they are directly on top of the shell.



[h2]Holdfast’s New Look[/h2]

One of the biggest changes to come to the game with this update is a complete redesign of the games user interface.

From the moment you launch the game and all the way until you finish a match you’ll see a whole new UI that has been designed and created to further improve the user experience and provide much needed modularity for future updates that the old UI simply didn’t allow for.



This is indeed a big change but comes with a whole new slew of features such as the new playercards, regiment leaderboards, barracks and customisation, in-game regiment registry and much more. There’s plenty to explore so hop on Holdfast and check out everything this new interface has to offer.



This initial introduction of playercards should be considered as a beta version of the full implementation as in updates to follow once we have tested and confirmed the robustness of the new systems, more portraits, banners, medals and unlocks will be available for players to complete specific challenges for.



All of the games DLC has been updated with this update to include unlocks for these and as the systems in place for this have long been in the game.

We’ve also taken appropriate measures to ensure that you can customise the in-game UI exactly to your liking by visiting the games settings menu. Want your minimap smaller or the chat in the bottom left? Simply set it in the settings as shown.



A new option has also been included for the end of round map voting screen. The selection has now been reduced to 3 maps with the 3rd of the options being a random map. This will load a random map from the servers rotation that is viable for the gamemode available in the vote.



Leaderboards have been completely redesigned and now regiments can compete for the top spot in their very own regimental leaderboards. These are seasonal leaderboards that will determine your regiment's position in the game's regiment registry during that season based on XP earned from public servers and official public events.



Another feature of the new user interface is the games in-game cosmetics only store. This new storepage will make purchasing and rewarding DLC's far simpler and enables us to introduce additional cosmetics such as portraits and banners alongside the other content found within the DLCs.


Each of the game's DLC's has been upgraded to include a unique portrait that can be applied in the barracks, some DLC's also include additional banners. You can preview everything you get by heading over the store and selecting a DLC.



[h2]Battlefield Forger Winners[/h2]



Holdfast’s modding competition came to a close a few months back and we’re now ready to announce our winners. The art team took a look at each and every entry into the contest considering not only design but also execution. The level of quality compared to the previous forger contest truly showed how far the modding community has come and made the contest all that more difficult to judge.



Starting with the mapping contest in 1st place we have Spammy McJunkmail with their map Martense Point. This well crafted train yard village features plenty of height variation, close quarter fighting opportunities and flanking routes that all come together to produce a very splendid Frontlines battlefield.

A big congratulations to Spammy, we look forward to implementing this map into the game in the future.

(Martense Point by Spammy McJunkmail)

In 2nd place follows Kill’em with the map Port LeMerc. Set within sporadic islands this naval coastal siege map stood out as a very well designed battlefield for both ocean and siege engagements with its rocky cliff faces offering up a natural defence against the incoming invaders.

(Port LeMerc by Kill'em)

Finally, in 3rd place is Mattrobes and their map Little Map. A quaint little village sits within grassland and trees, segregated by broken fencerows this small map offered up a unique blend of urban and plains combat with plenty of cover within its overgrown outer fields for ambushing the enemy.

(Little Map by Mattrobes)

Now to announce our uniform contest winners, although there were less entries for this side of the contest, those we did receive were of some excellent quality. The attention to details and general execution of work was very impressive.

Kicking things off in 1st place with their entry to be added into the game is Binghampton and their Frontlines WW1 Winter Uniforms. In their dashing winter coats and fingerless gloves these uniforms will offer up some warmth and comfort for those engaging in combat in snow and rain.

(Frontlines Winter Uniforms by Binghampton)

Coming in 2nd place is ApexPhantom with his Napoleonic Winter Uniforms. Once more these fellows look incredible in their long-coats and shako coverings with plenty of variations to pick from. A truly splendid job well done.

(Napoleonic Winter Uniforms by ApexPhantom)

A big thanks to everyone who submitted entries into the contest; Father Merrin, Toonu, Kill’em, Binghampton, CevCon, El Presidente, NPC Charles, Ragnar, thiccpoot, MiSFiT77, Mattrobes, Meal, Maggot, jklirr, Spammy McJunkmail, Banana, Masdock, ApexPhantom, Arsen and AMBLCO


While the road has been long we're committed to bringing Holdfast into the new era and ensuring the game continues to thrive for many more years to come.

Work on the games next update already began some months ago and we're making good progress towards a BETA release in the not too distant future. There’s a whole lot more in store for Holdfast and beyond.

There are many more changes, features, bug fixes and quality of life additions being introduced in this update so be sure to check out the change log! Thank you for your support and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:


discord.gg/holdfastgame







Changelog 86 - Game Version 2.12.8647.22926

Count 18 new features and improvements.
6 quality of life additions.
28 gameplay additions.
7 optimisations.
6 graphical additions.
25 server configuration additions.
24 SDK additions.
45 bug fixes.

Click here for the full change log.





- Anvil Game Studios

Refleax, Rycon, Dreas, Walki, Jackson, Rejenorst, Harper, Storey, UberJuice, Stan, Gest, Matt, Grandayy & Winston (The Cat).