Raise the black flag, capture and plunder ships or take a break with some ranting and roaring by singing along with the new accordion instrument in this massive expansion coming to Holdfast’s naval front. Welcome to the Age Of Sail.

Holdfast: Age Of Sail will release for free as a show of thanks for the outstanding response to the games console release. Players across all platforms will be able to crew up and set sail before the year ends. We’ll be teasing more out in the coming months so be sure to stay up to date on our socials.

Before taking a deep dive into some of what this massive expansion will offer below, have a watch of the Holdfast: Age Of Sail announcement trailer for a first glimpse of these new ‘sea dogs'.

Ahoy! Privateers are coming. Based on real sailors under the black flag the new Privateer faction makes their way to Holdfast’s Naval front. With instantly iconic uniform variety and entirely new voice lines this mixed bunch of rag tags will be a fearful sight for any distinguished British captain.

It wouldn’t be fitting to introduce Privateers without a bit of piracy now would it? The Age Of Sail expansion will enable chancing crews to board enemy ships and capture them claiming it as their own and removing the ship from the enemies spawn list and adding it to their own. 

Keeping with the theme of capturing, a new Naval Conquest gamemode will be introduced into the game and feature a whole slew of new maps specially curated for the mode. Capture and hold fortified islands and command the open seas with your firepower.

(Work in progress development build example of the conquest system)

Captains will also now be able to issue orders with well timed buffs akin to the land infantry Officer class. Simply press the ability bind and begin issuing orders to the crew. When an order is issued they’ll call out your instruction throughout the ship to ensure everyone gets the job done.

The following orders are a work in progress and might not reflect their final design on release.

• Load Ship Guns - Instructs players aboard the vessel to ready the guns.

• Fire Ship Guns - Instructs players aboard the vessel to fire the guns. This will increase damage by 1.5x if fired within 2 seconds.

• Repel Boarders - Gives all crew members a small melee resistance boost while standing on a friendly ship. Lasts for 10 seconds.

• Wet The Sails - Increases speed of the vessel temporarily.

• Hoist Flag - Hoist the enemy flag on your naval vessel becoming representative to that of the enemy faction temporarily.

• Board Enemy Vessel - Gives all crew members a small melee attack boost while standing on an enemy ship. Lasts for 10 seconds.

None of these new systems would be any good however without somewhere to make use of them, on top of reworking and in some cases entirely redesigning original naval maps, we've also gone ahead and created a multitude more of new naval battlefields, coastal siege maps and now of course unique naval conquest maps.

Here's a sneak preview of one of the new coastal siege maps and naval conquest maps that'll be releasing with the Age Of Sail expansion.

This is just a small taste of what’s to come, there’s a whole load more that’ll be introduced to both the naval and land side of the game. We’ll be announcing more maps, new mechanics and a boatload more in the coming months so be sure to join us over on the official Holdfast Discord server.

https://discord.gg/holdfastgame

We thank you for your continued support and look forward to sailing the seas with you all and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:

- Anvil Game Studios Refleax, Rycon, Dreas, Walki, Jackson, Harper, Storey, UberJuice, Stan, Gest, Matt, Grandayy, CharlesCute_Rat, Winston (The Cat) & Nelson (The Other Cat).

Holdfast heads to Gamescom 2025! Come join us at Gamescom in Cologne, we’ll be located at Hall 10.2, Stand D023 with plenty of fanfare and exclusive reveals, if you’re passing through be sure to drop by you can even hop on Holdfast for a few games while you’re there too..
Being able to attend events like these has always been something we’ve wanted to do for some time now, interacting in person with the community and spreading the good word of Holdfast is a pleasure for us all. 

For those attending on Thursday, August 21st you’ll also be able to join us for an exclusive first time reveal of the next major update coming to the game before the year ends. More on that further down the blog.

If you’re unable to be there fear not, we’ll be premiering the reveal on our YouTube shortly after it has been broadcast at Gamescom.

The team has been hard at work on the next major update coming to the game since the console release. As we mentioned in previous posts we’ve put on our seafaring legs for this next update as it will focus around a much beloved section of our game, naval warfare. 

Holdfast first started out as solely a naval game so finally being able to come back to this is a real full circle moment for us and one we’ve been wanting to do for some time now. Thanks to the console release reception and the continued support of the great Holdfast community we’re pleased to announce that this ‘major update’ has now become a ‘major expansion’ for the game.

A boatload of new content is just over the horizon, we’ve even gone as far as introducing an entire new faction... While you’ll have to wait until August 21st to find out more, here’s a preview of just some of what is landing ashore with this update.

WIP - Balancing Ongoing

Have an idea of what the next faction might be? Why not share it in our official Discord it's a great place to get involved with all things Holdfast, maybe you spotted a clue no one else did... As always, we thank you for your generous support, and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:

- Anvil Game Studios

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