Though the hype continues to rise steadily since BioWare first announced their new IP found in Anthem, it seems that the studio can’t seem to shake those pesky Destiny comparisons. “Destiny clone,” “That looks like Destiny,” and other similar comparisons have been made countless times since the big reveal and now Lead Producer Mike Gamble is taking them on head-on.
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In a video interview with French publication JeuxVideo, Gamble discusses the “funny” thing about all of those Destiny comparisons: They just aren’t accurate. In a translation courtesy of MP1st, Gamble mentioned “It’s interesting because Anthem has been in development since before Destiny even came out … and talked how games these days are influenced by the games out in the market to a certain degree.”
As far as why the two games keep getting compared, the futuristic online style play does seem a bit similar aesthetically – but that was by coincidence and about where the similarities end. He went on to mention, “What we really tried to do is tell a captivating story for people who want to have fun with other players. So we racked our brains to try to understand how we could make people play together and give them the feeling of being part of a group.”
I mentioned in my hands-on coverage from earlier this year how I was sick of people calling it a Destiny clone because at that time, we actually didn’t have much to judge the title by. We had a small clip and a grudge left over from Andromeda, that was it. A lot of the earlier slander came on the heels of the Mass Effect Andromeda controversy, with many die hard Mass Effect fans blaming the lack of attention on the upcoming online title. Since the majority of the original Mass Effect team was pulled from Andromeda to work on Anthem, the concern is noteworthy but it does lay down a breeding ground for maybe not the most helpful critique. Since I’ve been able to play the title, I had hoped to discourage the knee jerk comparison in hopes of showing that there seems to be much more to this game than just a Bungie copy.
From my own time with the game, it didn’t feel like Destiny. Sure, there were a few similarities, but it didn’t feel like the “rip-off” many kept claiming it to be. This was also a project years in the making, something the original Mass Effect team had on their minds for awhile. Hearing Gamble say that it was in development long before Destiny was launched does make sense – that and inspiration can be found everywhere. It’s not crazy to see games evolve into something that can be likened to another experience, but that doesn’t make that experience any less than what it is.
Luckily, with the VIP demo coming up soon and the open beta following shortly after, players will be able to see for themselves what the game feels like and make their own comparisons based off of their own experiences.
As for the game itself, Anthem will be dropping on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on February 22nd.
