Bioware’s much-discussed Anthem was hinted at yesterday, although EA would rather, unsurprisingly, talk about Star Wars. but on Sunday, Microsoft got in-depth with showing it off. And it looks much like Mass Effect meets Destiny meets a lot of Iron Man suits.
Anthem is a vast open world, set in a far-flung future where you play a freelancer, who owns a bunch of exosuits called Javelins that look suspiciously like Tony Stark’s. The game play and style feels quite a bit like Mass Effect, which is no bad thing, and the setting is suitably futuristic. The idea, of course, is you team up with your buddies, blow up aliens, collect loot, and modify your suit and loadout to better blow up your enemies. Currently it appears you won’t be able to romance any aliens, but hey, give it time.
More seriously, it certainly looks good, especially as you have to dodge your way through superstorms and high-powered monsters to get at your objectives. But it does raise the question of just how unique this game will feel, even with all the goodwill BioWare has earned over the years. Still, what’s most important is that it looks like a lot of fun, and any game you can play with your buddies is a welcome addition. We’ll find out when it arrives in fall 2018.