BioWare is trying something new this go around, dipping their toes once more into online play since their Star Wars entries. Though Anthem has been met with confusion and a little anger from the Mass Effect community, from what we’ve gotten our hands on ourselves this past month – it was way more fun than any of us expected. The Co-op shooter promises fun for both friends and solo players, with of course that RPG flare they are most known for. But apparently the road wasn’t as smooth as many of originally thought. According to BioWare‘s Casey Hudson, their ideas were a melting pot of creativity, not just one core mindset.
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In a recent sit down interview with Game Informer, Casey Hudson recently opened up with the long and laborious journey that Anthem underwent to get to where they are now. He recently told the popular magazine, “We had people from all around BioWare and throughout the team pitching ideas. We did 20 or 30 different original [pitches] during the first pass. We’d all go off, and you’re inspired by something […] and you’re, ‘Hey, I think I know how everything should be” and you write that all out and you pitch it. It’s really interesting, because […] you get a value system around what you like and what feels right, but then you start to say, ‘We liked this one part of [this pitch], but the rest of it didn’t work, but we like this other thing and the two sit really nicely together.’ That was the process we used to get off of the blank page.”
The good news is that BioWare has a lot more freedom this time around than they did with Mass Effect Andromeda. EA has stated numerous times in the past that they are aiming for longevity, and that longevity can’t happen if an evolutionary mindset isn’t in place.
BioWare has assured fans that Anthem will “live and breathe with the fans,” which assuaged many of the worries long-time fans had that BioWare was losing what felt very distinctly “them.” Though, as mentioned previously, this isn’t their first run-in with the online gaming experience, it is very much still new territory for the studio and does come at a time where this genre is under fire following the Destiny 2 debacle with Bungie, and EA’s own controversy with Star Wars Battlefront II.
Anthem officially launches for Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC on February 22nd of next year! To hear about my hands-on impressions of the game, you can check out the video below with some epic 1080p gameplay action also available:
