This is an early access impression of Anvil.

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Reviewed on Xcloud

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Anvil is the type of game I really enjoy. It’s a top down twin stick shooter. I have played a lot of these types of games over the years and some of these games become an obsession of mine but it’s been a while since that happened. The last one of these types of games I became obsessed with was Helldivers and that came out back in 2015. More recently I have been playing the Ascent but more on that one at a later date.

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For this being in early access, I was expecting some bugs but to my surprise, I have encountered zero bugs in quite a few hours of gameplay. That includes both offline and online play.

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I’m typically not an online guy. I play everything I can solo so that’s how I started playing this game. You go from planet to planet killing everything in sight and taking all the loot you can find. While in the level you will find different loot and then you also have the ability to purchase loot and unlocks. Most of the unlocks were interesting but I couldn’t fully wrap my head around the loot system.

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Guns would drop somewhat frequently but I had a hard time telling what gun was better, the one I had or the one I just found. If there is a system in place to compare it was not obvious enough where I was able to see it. Guns varied from standard machine guns and shotguns all the way to lasers. The differences all looked great visually and added a different play style.

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Online was seamless. Matchmaking was quick and gave me no connection errors or lag. I didn’t play with any friends just random players. Even though I didn’t play with people I know, surprisingly the coop aspect of the game made it more fun. It was nice to have one or two more people shooting alongside you. The game just seemed to flow better.

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Some planets have boss battles on them. They ranged from basic bullet sponges to bosses I had to think about where to run and when you take my shots. I generally found them engaging and fun.

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Verdict

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Anvil is a game I will keep on my radar and definitely check back in on. While I didn’t really get a grasp for the loot system the core design and shooting mechanics were fun and enough to keep me engaged. I look forward to seeing how this game progresses approaching its full release.

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Verdict: very likely to return