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BioWare is talking up the possibility of completely reinventingย Anthem, but is the IP beyond saving at this point?
Remember whenย Anthemย stole the show at E3 2017, and that rush of excitement and optimism you felt as the big screen faded to black? Now, three years on, do you recall the exact moment that optimism was shattered and superseded by an overwhelming sense of shame for having been hoodwinked by another overambitious and bug littered game? I do.
We may have said it before, butย Anthemย was the actualย actualย last time, for reals.
Whenย Anthemย launched around this time last year, the title was instantly panned by the majority of its player base thanks to a hodgepodge of poor decisions. An EA game you say? Surely not.
On day one (at full retail price btw),ย Anthemย dropped with a confusing and randomised loot system, a distinct lack of any overarching purpose or endgame, repetitive gameplay and mission types, and a convoluted, unfocused structure with shoehorned features from multiple genres. And if that didnโt sound bad enough already, those issues were compounded tenfold by constant screen tearing, pop in, and dashboard crashes.
Granted, as with any other creative industry, games are usually all about player preference. But in this case, the general view was pretty unanimous.ย Anthemย was an absolute mess.
Since then several press releases have been released by the EA-owned studio giving updates, apologies, and everything in between. Whileย Anthemย has, to put it mildly, failed both in its design and financial success, the development team seem reluctant to throw in the towel and move onto pastures new.
That doesnโt mean theyโre looking at their AAA brainchild through rose tinted glasses though. They have at least acknowledged that thereโs โfundamentalโ work and โreinventionโ to be done to bringย Anthemย back from the dead. And that merits some credit, I guess.
Itโs refreshing to hear that BioWare isn’t just planning to fixย Anthemโs issues with a few GB hungry updates or aย Destiny-style expansion likeย The Taken Kingย orย Forsaken. Instead, theyโve sensibly opted for a complete rework akin to the likes ofย Final Fantasy XIV (A Realm Reborn)ย andย No Manโs Sky to maximise its chances of redemption. As a wise guru once said: โyou canโt polish a turdโ.
