World of Anterra Party, Gear and Customization

Party, gear and customization in World of Anterra

In World of Anterra you build party members out of the items and gear you equip. The game's official store description says you "build your party members with a vast array of items and gear," and that a custom animation layering system makes all of that equipment visible on the character. That same layering system is also applied to NPCs and creatures. World of Anterra is developed and published by 81monkeys, and its Steam listing gives a release date of 2026 for Windows.

Building a party from what you equip

The official store description describes party members as being built from a vast array of items and gear.

• Party members are described as being built from a vast array of items and gear.
• The game is described as featuring deep progression systems, though the specific mechanics of those systems are not officially documented.
• The interface is designed around tactile items and icons rather than menus and text, so it reads as part of the world rather than a separate screen.

An independent guide makes the point about classes explicitly: according to World of Anterra Guide, the game does not hand you a class list but a party and a pile of gear, and no published class roster or skill trees appear in the announcements — what has been described is a system where the items a party member carries define what they can do. That framing comes from the guide, not from the official store description, which does not discuss classes at all.

The animation layering system

The official store description credits a custom animation layering system with bringing equipped gear to life, and says that party members built from a vast array of items and gear "come to life" through it. The store description does not detail how the layering works technically, or what the character display looks like outside of that description.

Palette swapping and customization variety

A March 2026 official Steam announcement explains palette swapping, a technique where the game engine swaps all of the colours of an asset for new ones. The studio notes it was originally used when computers lacked the resources to manage large amounts of assets, but that in World of Anterra the aim is different: to extend the asset library without requiring the art team to redo assets every time.

The announcement states that any number of the hundreds or thousands of hand-animated assets in the game can be scaled up to 2, 3, or even 10 times the amount, and that this means the game will have many more options for player customisation.

The same system across NPCs and creatures

The animation layering system is not limited to your party. The store description states that it also applies to NPCs and creatures, creating what the studio calls a truly diverse and unique experience. Beyond that, the official material does not explain whether the customisation applied to your own characters works in exactly the same way as the layering used for the world's inhabitants.

What is not yet officially documented

Several details remain unannounced or unconfirmed:

• No US store price is listed for the game.
• The specific mechanics of the game's described deep progression systems are not officially documented.
• According to The World of Anterra website, the Kickstarter campaign ended on September 23, 2022 at over 300% funded, and pre-orders are open for Desktop & Console — details from that site, while the Steam store listing currently shows Windows only.
• Steam lists extensive multiplayer features, including online co-op and shared/split screen co-op, but how those modes interact with party building and gear is not officially documented.

For the current feature list and system requirements, see the Steam store page.

Related guides

• World of Anterra Controller Support and Steam Input
• World of Anterra Demo: Kickstarter Backer Demo Status
• Who Makes World of Anterra? 81monkeys Explained
• Is World of Anterra AI-Free? The 100% Human-Made Claim