[ Update: Anthem's developer, BioWare, promised a great story for Anthem after Mass Effect Andromeda did not live up to fans' expectations. Writing in a blog post studio general manager Casey Hudson emphasized the importance of the world, the character and the narrative and promised that they would be part of Anthem, "a game designed to create a whole new world of history and character that you can experiment with friends in a series of ongoing adventures. " Hudson goes on to say that although it will be different from "anything you've ever played," if it's done as planned, it will still be "very distinctly BioWare."
Hudson said he plans to continue using the blog to update fans in the game development process. ]
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E3 is always full of surprises, and an announcement we did not expect at E3 2017 was a completely new game from BioWare, called Anthem.
Of the short trailer shown in the key note of EA Play, we could take a look at the world of the game that is the only thing that separates the civilized world from a dangerous and wild animal. The Exosuits also seem to play an important role in surviving in the desert, and a player could jump inside them as part of the game.
But while EA gave us our first taste of the game and what we could find in its Pandora-esque world, Microsoft gave us our first real look at its main presentation.
BioWare describes Anthem as "a new game from EA's BioWare studio, explore a landscape of primordial beauty, face the dangers you encounter and grow in power with each step".
It is the first game that BioWare has presented since its creation, polarizing Mass Effect Andromeda, and seeks to build on the legacy of great science fiction games from BioWare.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The newest BioWare IP
- When can I play it? 2019
- What can I play? To be announced
Publication date
When it was first announced at E3 2017, Anthem was scheduled for the fall launch of 2018. However, in January 2018 a Kotaku report emerged that the game it will be delayed until early 2019.
Kotaku's report is based on the word from three sources closed to the project, one of which said that the 2018 release date was "never realistic." According to the report, there is now a feeling in BioWare that the future of the company is tied to Anthem and its success.
It is for this reason that work on other studio titles, Star Wars: The Old Republic and the next Dragon Age, is now being done by much smaller teams.
There is, according to the report, no accuracy date set for 2019 and "Anthem developers must also plan a beta version, an EA Access release and a continuous calendar of patches and updates."
It is unlikely, however, that the EA will allow the game to be delayed beyond March 2019, when the fiscal year ends.
Subsequently, EA confirmed that the game would be launched in early 2019, but denied that Kotaku's claim about the delay of the game was accurate.
EA fulfills its Destiny in Anthem
The premise that we know so far is that humanity is locked in a bastion, isolated from the outside world. It seems that venturing requires armor that will help defend against the jungles of the planet Pandora.
EA describes it as "an action RPG in a shared world where freelancers challenge the wild lands beyond the wall, exploring a vast world full of wild beasts and ruthless marauders, but also full of amazing technology and forgotten treasures " If this sounds like Destiny, you're not crazy.
"Players can join their friends to unravel the mysteries of the world and defeat the forces they plot to conquer humanity."
Well, this is Destiny.
"Throughout their travels, players can equip their freelancers with powerful Javelin ex-compounds, each of which is equipped with unique weapons and abilities." Freelancers can customize their Javelin with the team they earn and create during the adventure, and leave a lasting mark on the world ".
It's true that the word Freelancers makes the game sound a bit more like a Borderlands game than Destiny, but considering that your class is determined by the Javelin you have, we still see Destiny written everywhere.
When Anthem was announced for the first time, taking on Destiny 2 seemed a difficult task, but now that Destiny 2 seems to be having some growing pains, Anthem could take advantage of a base of dissatisfied players.
Life after Andromeda
Anthem will be the first BioWare title after the somewhat polarizing Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Anthem will be, apparently, a more scientific fantasy game in the line of Star Wars and offerings of the Marvel universe, instead of the hard core science fiction title as revealed by the general manager of Mass Effect BioWare Edmonton, Aaryn Flynn.
In a recent interview with CBC, Flynn said that, like these franchises, Anthem will be a game in which "you see many incredible things happening, but we do not worry too much about why they are happening or how they are happening, science of this. "
BioWare has been immersed in the scientific fantasy genre before with titles such as the role-playing game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the multiplayer online game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Anthem will, apparently, be much more along these lines and "much more about simply having fun in a game world that is really exuberant and exotic and really catches you". Unlike Mass Effect, which Flynn says was a "tougher, real sci-fi IP." [19659010] Keeping this in mind, along with the more multiplayer online inclinations of the game, and it seems that BioWare is certainly trying to enter a space currently dominated by games like Destiny. It will be exciting to see what else a developer with such an advanced history in a single-player story can contribute to this genre.
