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ANVIL

Anvil: Vault Breakers is a solid, stylish sci-fi action shooter that does roguelike gameplay right.
ANVIL Game Cover
70%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
grinding, optimization
68% User Score Based on 690 reviews
Critic Score 80%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

Xbox Series X|SPCXbox OneXboxWindows
ANVIL Game Cover

About

ANVIL is a single player and multiplayer hack and slash game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by ACTION SQUARE and was released on July 26, 2023. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

Take on the role of a Vault Breaker in search of alien artifacts called “Vaults” and fight against monsters and powerful bosses, you can strengthen your Breakers to explore the farthest galaxy that no one has ever reached.

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68%
Audience ScoreBased on 690 reviews
gameplay66 positive mentions
grinding28 negative mentions

  • Fast paced, fluid, and engaging twin-stick shooter gameplay with a variety of unique characters (Breakers) and weapons.
  • Good roguelike elements with build variety and relics that allow for different playstyles and strategies.
  • Developer is responsive to community feedback, actively patches and improves the game.
  • Poor game balance, difficulty spikes, and bullet sponge bosses can lead to frustrating and unfair gameplay, especially for solo players.
  • Progression resets every few months due to a seasonal system, removing relics and skill upgrades, leading to grind and frustration.
  • Multiplayer issues including dead servers, long matchmaking times, shared loot and relic pools among players, and instability with connection and bugs.
  • gameplay
    160 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay is generally praised for its fast-paced, fluid combat, diverse characters and builds, and engaging roguelike mechanics, offering solid replayability and a satisfying core loop. However, common criticisms include repetitive grind, overly punishing one-shot boss mechanics, balance issues, and a heavy reliance on monetization via season passes and multiple currencies that can hinder progression. While the combat and boss mechanics can be fun and challenging, the difficulty scaling and grindy progression often lead to frustration, especially for solo players.

    • “There's decent boss mechanics, lots of interesting builds and what appears to be an interesting speed run scene which I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into and seeing if I can compete.”
    • “The variety and challenge led to dozens of hours of great co-op gameplay.”
    • “Good game design and core gameplay loop constantly bringing you back for more.”
    • “The gameplay is an identical 15 second skill cycle from the time you enter the season challenge to the time you die.”
    • “I really expected the developer team to focus on refining their product since it is early access but they just made a season with season pass that gives you an edge in performance if you pay an extra 20 bucks. On top of that, the content is copy-paste choose and play a mix of the last bosses with same mechanics and graphics but with new color on them. Oh and sometimes you get a copy-paste of the same boss three times in the same arena.”
    • “Spending 20-40 mins to get to a boss and get their HP down to 10-15%, only to be one shot by cheap mechanics, and then receive almost no reward and no progress feels awful.”
  • graphics
    59 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's graphics are widely praised for being impressive, detailed, and visually appealing, with solid effects and support for ultra-wide displays. While some users note that visuals could benefit from further polishing or refinement, overall the graphics hold up well within the roguelike/shooter genre and contribute positively to the gameplay experience. A few mention minor issues like resolution scaling and animation smoothness, but these don't substantially detract from the generally strong visual presentation.

    • “The graphics and visual design are superb; the speed and pacing of the gameplay is excellent; the character and build diversity is good; I highly recommend you jump in now!”
    • “Best graphics twin stick roguelite shooter in the market to date.”
    • “Game has updated greatly and showcases great arcade top-down hack and slash, hammer and smash, shoot and shift gameplay with amazing visuals, great boss fights with an easy to learn system.”
    • “Default graphic settings look terrible because they turned on resolution downscaling for some reason.”
    • “I didn't see any change from high graphics to all-low, apart from the lessened strain on my card.”
    • “I've seen far older games with better graphics.”
  • story
    42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game lacks a traditional story mode or meaningful plot, focusing instead on repetitive mission grinding with randomized loot and roguelike mechanics. Many users find the absence of narrative, character development, or deeper content disappointing, which limits engagement for casual players seeking a story-driven experience. The gameplay revolves around mission progression and build creation rather than storytelling, resulting in a sense of shallow, cyclical content.

    • “Best game for a rogue like but I think this game should've at least a proper story.”
    • “That's fine, but a story mode would be really cool.”
    • “Great game for an early access, back story is like Warframe and there's potential if they kept it simple.”
    • “Best game for a rogue-like but I think this game should've at least had a proper story.”
    • “My only gripe would be the lack of a story mode.”
    • “It is deeply flawed in terms of execution, the connectivity of the group play is abysmal and it lacks any form of story, plot-line or basic characterization to make single play worthwhile.”
  • grinding
    28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is extensive and often tedious, with players needing to repeatedly farm currency, relics, and complete the same missions to progress. While some enjoy the challenge and leaderboard competition, many find the grind overly repetitive, especially with seasonal resets erasing progress and monetized battle passes that reduce grind but create pay-to-win perceptions. Overall, grinding is a core but divisive element, making the game rewarding for dedicated players but potentially frustrating for newcomers.

    • “The game is now incredibly repetitive on top of what was already an extremely grindy progression system.”
    • “To add insult to injury they reset all existing (mostly tedious) achievements and called it an inconvenience (~100 hours of nonsense grind).”
    • “You just keep grinding the same missions over and over again!”
  • optimization
    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization receives mixed feedback, with some praising its generally smooth performance and seamless co-op, while others report significant issues like high CPU/GPU demands, stuttering, frame drops, and overheating—even on high-end hardware. Ray tracing notably impacts performance negatively, and overall optimization improvements are strongly recommended, especially to prevent hardware strain and improve stability.

    • “Anvil, a gorgeous top-down shooter with incredible performance/optimization and plenty of content to keep you busy, featuring co-op up to 3.”
    • “This game nails so many aspects-- the bullet hell, twin stick shooter, challenging difficulty (agreed, tweaking needed), the seamless/easy co op, great optimization (runs like a dream), randomized loot, persistent progression within a rogue-like frame.”
    • “I do however wish the game were a bit more optimized as far as CPU/GPU demands which seem a little high from what you experience in game, but it runs well anyway.”
    • “Performance is not great, with stuttering when someone dies, random loss of 70 fps in the lobby, and I'm using RTX 3080, CPU 5600X; my GPU runs at 79°C idle in the lobby, which doesn't happen in other games.”
    • “The new RTX features do nothing but tank performance.”
    • “Sadly, I have noticed terrible performance issues with my GPU overheating and fans going full airplane turbine mode within just a few minutes into the game.”
  • monetization
    17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's monetization receives mixed feedback, with some appreciating the lack of intrusive ads and a fair currency earning system, while others criticize planned or existing microtransactions as greedy or predatory cash grabs. Despite its solid gameplay, concerns persist over aggressive monetization strategies potentially undermining the overall experience.

    • “I understand that adding microtransactions may be planned, but if they keep it similar to the setup of Heroes of the Storm, where you can still earn currency just by playing the game and completing daily quests, that's just fine with me.”
    • “The developer responded to my old review about their scummy monetization strategy, which they did improve.”
    • “The game has one of the greediest implementations of cash grabbing I've ever seen.”
    • “Microtransactions are already ruining games and at this point every developer should know that, yet this developer has the audacity to put microtransactions for better progress into an early access game.”
    • “Honestly this game feels like an overpriced cash grab that has an identity crisis if it wants to be a pretend Diablo, Risk of Rain, Binding of Isaac, and Touhou.”
  • stability
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is a major concern, with frequent random disconnects, boss glitches, and various bugs that disrupt gameplay and progression. Despite some promise and developer assurances, the current buggy state significantly hampers the experience and makes it difficult to recommend.

    • “Not bad, but if it wasn't plagued with random disconnects during the run (usually at the final planet), nullifying any reason to play the game at all, along with many random boss single-hit glitches and game bugs, I could recommend it.”
    • “Save your money until the game developer can handle even the most basic things like friend groupings, reconnections, boss glitches, and rebalances properly.”
    • “Literally spent 45 hours on this game and the moment I'm about to respec on my season tree, it glitches and doesn't let me.”
  • music
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is generally appreciated for adding a special vibe and featuring a solid heavy metal/doom soundtrack, but it is also criticized for its limited variety and repetitiveness. While the score enhances the overall experience, some players wish for more diverse tracks to keep the audio fresh throughout gameplay.

    • “On a technical level, the game looks great, has good audio, and a really nice music score which gives the game a special vibe that just ties it all together.”
    • “Heavy metal doom Andrew Hulshult OST and Starcraft vibe 10/10, fluid animation and variety in bosses and mobs 9/10.”
    • “Amazing game, love the defense mode where music lets you know when you just made it, adding to the challenge and atmosphere.”
    • “I really wish the music was not so generic and easy to ignore.”
    • “Music isn't the strongest side of the game; it has very few tracks and very soon you will learn all of them.”
    • “The music is okay, but I wish it had more variety.”
  • replayability
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers strong replayability through its goals, core gameplay loop, and challenging twin-stick mechanics, with many players enjoying its clean design and fun experience. However, the potential for enhanced replay value, such as adding PvP, remains uncertain due to balance challenges. Overall, the replayability is praised but some question the longevity of engaging content beyond the current offerings.

    • “I had a great time with this game... it's a clean twin-stick shooter with great replayability and is plenty challenging.”
    • “Has all the qualities I look for in a game: good graphics, fun, and lots of replay value.”
    • “The core loop makes sense, and it's got a ton of replayability.”
  • humor
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is generally appreciated, described as funny and relaxed, though some users find the overall experience less amusing due to grind-heavy progression. Despite technical issues like multiplayer crashes, players commend the indie developer's ability to deliver humor effectively compared to larger companies.

    • “Funny game, very relaxed, you must try.”
    • “This game is so funny but I often got crashes when playing in multiplayer mode.”
    • “Funny to me that billion dollar companies can't get this formula right but indie devs can.”
  • character development
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development features interesting and well-designed characters, but progression is hindered by grind-heavy mechanics and reliance on battle passes, making growth feel tedious rather than rewarding.

    • “The character design is amazing but having to grind them out and buy them using a battle pass is a lame cop out.”
    • “At first the game seems promising, the character design is interesting and the gameplay mechanics seem fluid at first glance.”
  • emotional
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users express frustration with the emotional impact of the game's progression system, feeling disappointed and undervalued due to rewards being locked behind premium access and limited uses for in-game currency, which diminishes their sense of achievement.

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9h Median play time
19h Average play time
6-33h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 8 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

ANVIL is a hack and slash game with science fiction theme.

ANVIL is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Xbox One, Windows and others.

On average players spend around 19 hours playing ANVIL.

ANVIL was released on July 26, 2023.

ANVIL was developed by ACTION SQUARE.

ANVIL has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

ANVIL is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Killsquad, Gatekeeper, Temtem: Swarm, Ember Knights, Dungeon Souls and others.