The first time we saw Anthem was at last year’s E3 with a trailer that featured fake friends and what looked like incredibly staged gameplay, but it was still gameplay. This year, we got more.
EA showed us a new cinematic trailer and we also got to see some gameplay. After watching both videos a through very carefully, we are able to get some more details about Anthem.
As shown in the original gameplay trailer from last E3, you play as a Freelancer piloting a suit of powered armor called a Javelin. You can work with friends to explore an open world full of things to kill and items to loot.
Starting with the cinematic trailer, we can gleam more of the story. Shapers, being referred to as gods, created the world, but left it unfinished. As they disappeared, they left behind their tools, artifacts and giant machinery that can be seen scattered around the world.
An unknown evil is threatening the city and it is up to the Freelancers to explore discover what wishes for their extinction.
Then we also have a video that was sent out to several games journalism sources such as IGN and Outside Xbox. In this video, we don’t get any story, but we get to see more proper gameplay that feel more genuine than the original gameplay trailer.
For starters, we get a look at the HUD and what it tells the player. We can see things like a navigational compass with some locations on it. We can see the objectives posted in the upper right side of the screen. And we can see weapon and ability information on the lower right of the screen.
We also got to see some gameplay mechanics, such as the flight of the Javelin suits. The flight is limited by overheating, but we saw that you can reduce the heat by flying through things like waterfalls.
Later, we saw the main enemies of the game, Scars. They are hostile invaders that have some sort of connection to the Shapers. From what was shown, they appear to be mostly cannon fodder while large wildlife takes a sort of boss role.
We then see something called an Ash Titan and are told that it is an event that occasionally appears in the world, meaning there are likely going to be a variety of public events for people to participate in.
As we watch the combat, we get to see a range of weapons that can be used. Things like assault rifles, flamethrowers, railguns, and machine pistols.
We also get to see the kinds of abilities that each Javelin has available. Like how one has a shield and another has lightning hands and can teleport. There are also some common abilities such as an explosive ordnance like a frost grenade or a multi-mortar.
This video is courtesy of IGN.
Then there was also a sort of panel for Anthem featuring Casey Hudson, a general manager, Mark Darrah, an executive producer, and Cathleen Rootsaert, the lead writer. The said a fair amount about the game, but two things that caught me as rather important.
Firstly, that the story, the memorable characters, and the choices that you make, will all take place in the city. This will give players the story they’ve come to expect from Bioware games while giving people the open world multiplayer that makes up most of the gameplay.
But this worries me slightly. It may be that nothing truly dramatic can happen in the story or the player’s choices will have little effect on the overall story. I think this may be the case because it will create too large of a divergence between players’ games, so they wouldn’t be able to play together.
Secondly, they said that they have designed that game so that they can continue to add story for years to come. This immediately rings the warning bells. This means that there is most likely going to be DLC for this game.
I just hope they don’t cut off important events and charge large amounts of money.
Anthem is slated for release on February 22, 2019. Which is a bit of an odd time for such a big release, but I’m sure sales won’t be affected.
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