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BioWare is talking up the possibility of completely reinventing Anthem, but is the IP beyond saving at this point?
Remember when Anthem 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 Now, three years on, do you recall the exact moment that optimism was shattered and superseded by an overwhelming sense of shame for having been hoodwinked by another overambitious and bug littered game?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, but Anthem was the actual actual last time, for reals.
When Anthem 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), Anthem 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 didn’t 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. Anthem was an absolute mess.
Since then several press releases have been released by the EA-owned studio giving updates, apologies, and everything in between. While Anthem 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 doesn’t mean they’re looking at their AAA brainchild through rose tinted glasses though. They have at least acknowledged that there’s ‘fundamental’ work and ‘reinvention’ to be done to bring Anthem back from the dead. And that merits some credit, I guess.
It’s refreshing to hear that BioWare isn’t just planning to fix Anthem’s issues with a few GB hungry updates or a Destiny-style expansion like The Taken King or Forsaken. Instead, they’ve sensibly opted for a complete rework akin to the likes of Final Fantasy XIV (A Realm Reborn) and No Man’s Sky to maximise its chances of redemption. As a wise guru once said: ‘you can’t polish a turd’.
