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Holdfast: Nations At War — muskets, bayonets and 150 players on one battlefield
Holdfast: Nations At War is a massive online first- and third-person shooter that values the discipline of a firing line and live voice communication over personal KDA. Up to 150+ players form ranks on a single server, load their muskets, charge with bayonets to the beat of a drum — all carried by proximity voice chat where you hear both the officer's orders and the panic of the soldier next to you a heartbeat before the volley. The game was developed and published by the Maltese studio Anvil Game Studios; after Early Access from 2017, the full 1.0 release landed on March 5, 2020. Here you buy it as a Steam gift sent straight to your account.
What the game is and why it grabs you
Holdfast is nothing like a fast twitch shooter. Musket accuracy depends on distance and aim time, reloading is slow, and alone you accomplish almost nothing. The strength is in the line: the officer commands, the musician plays, the infantry delivers a volley, and only then comes the bayonet charge. Every battle becomes a small piece of theatre where your role and teamwork matter more than raw aim. There are 27 classes to play — from line infantry and riflemen to artillery crew, cavalry, sappers and ship captains.
Three eras in one game
The base game is set in the Napoleonic Wars, but it ships with major free expansions that change the setting entirely:
- American Revolution — the US War of Independence: new factions, uniforms and maps.
- Frontlines WW1 — World War I: trenches, machine guns, gas and bolt-action rifles in place of muskets.
- Age of Sail — the age of sailing ships: full naval battles where crews work the cannons, sails and boarding actions.
All of this is included in the base game — you don't buy the expansions separately. Only cosmetic packs (uniforms, heads, gestures) are paid, and they have zero impact on combat.
Naval battles and land warfare
The fleet is a special point of pride in Holdfast. Sail-of-the-line warships and dreadnoughts aren't run by one person but by a whole crew: someone steers, someone loads the broadside guns, someone patches hull breaches. Miss with a broadside and your ship is already under return fire. On land everything rests on coordination: artillery supports the infantry, cavalry flanks, and musicians literally lift the team's morale with their tunes.
What you get
You buy the full version of Holdfast: Nations At War as a Steam gift. Once you place the order, the gift is sent straight to your account and the game — with all its free expansions — lands in your Steam library, ready to play on Windows 10/11 or through the GeForce Now cloud service.
How the gift arrives
Delivery runs through our bot. You provide your Steam friend invite link and your account region — then the bot adds itself as your friend, sends the gift and removes itself automatically once delivery is done. You don't need to accept the friend request manually, and Steam Guard isn't required either. The whole process usually takes a couple of minutes from checkout. Two conditions matter: your Steam account region must match the gift region, and you must not already own Holdfast — otherwise Steam won't let you accept the gift.
Region and compatibility
The gift is tied to your Steam region: enter it exactly as it is set on your account. Get it wrong and Steam simply won't accept the gift. The game runs on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11; there is no native macOS or Linux build, but GeForce Now is a handy option for anyone without a powerful PC.
Similar games in our catalog
If you enjoy the scale and historical military atmosphere, also check out Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord with its medieval line battles, the uncompromising knightly action of Mordhau, and the gritty World War II tactical shooter Hell Let Loose. All of them are about teamwork and large-scale battles, just like Holdfast.
The short version
Holdfast: Nations At War is a rare game where victory goes not to the fastest, but to the most disciplined line. If you ever wanted to feel what it's like to stand shoulder to shoulder under a drumbeat and fire on the officer's command, grab the gift, enter your region and invite link, and the game will be in your Steam within a couple of minutes.