BioWare’s looter-shooter endeavorAnthemwas one of the most anticipated games of 2019, but its launch sent its Javelin suits crashing back down to the ground.Anthemwas messy from the moment players got it, whether it was from the downsized graphics to the lackluster story to the fact that it would crash consoles during use. After a year of patches and trying out a post-launch “Cataclysm,” later replaced by seasonal updates,Anthem’s developer finally announced that it would be revisiting and changing the game’s core aspects to make for more in-depth gameplay.
Since the announcement, there have been a few different updates on BioWare’s blog, mostly from the former director Christian Dailey, about the different changes that the team has been making to the game.More unique Javelin buildsand loot worth working for have been chief focuses so far, but there’s reason to believe thatAnthem 2.0’s development may be in trouble. Other than a few blog posts, players haven’t seen much else about what is supposed to be a massive reboot of the entire game. A few key reasons may meanAnthem 2.0is a lot further away than fans may realize.
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Anthem 2.0 Has a Small Team
The incubation team ofAnthem 2.0was already small, about 30 people, and became even smaller now thatChristian Dailey has taken over as director forDragon Age 4. Inconsistent leadership and vision have led to the ill-reception of many different BioWare games, includingMass Effect: Andromeda. It’s not impossible for small teams to get things done, of course, but having the leader step down to take on a different role can have dire consequences for the overall visionAnthem 2.0may be trying to achieve.
It’s obvious thatAnthem 2.0is trying to avoid the mistakes of its past, which definitely means no longer relying on “BioWare Magic” during crunch time to start and finish an entire game. RebootingAnthemmay be slightly easier because the foundation of the game is already there, but it’s still not a small task by anyone’s standards. On the BioWare blog, Dailey discussed how the loot system is being restructured to be more meaningful, along with revamping Javelin gameplay, builds, and skill trees. However, not much has been discussed outside of those aspects.
Among the decision to reboot and releaseAnthem 2.0is the COVID-19 pandemic, too. Lots of video game development took a hit during the last year of battling the virus, leading to many major titles,like the infamousCyberpunk 2077, continually delaying game releases.The Sims 4’s developer managed to complete theNifty Knittingstuff pack while in quarantine, but that’s definitely not the standard for every game team. Working from home is hard, especially as a video game developer, and a game likeAnthemneeds proper play-testing, which cannot be done to its fullest extent in a pandemic.
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Anthem 2.0 Has a Long Way To Go
It’s obvious that a lot of time and energy went into the original development ofAnthem—it just missed the mark when it finally landed in players’ hands. If the developer didn’t think there was something worth saving, it would haveabandonedAnthem 2.0a long time ago. It hasn’t, though.Anthem 2.0may take a lot longer than players initially realized, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be worth the wait when it finally releases.
Though the E3 trailer made it seem a lot more polished and put together than it was, the graphics inAnthem’s end result were still absolutely stunning. It’s a beautiful game, though it wasn’t rendered the same way the gameplay trailer made it seem like it would be.Hope is not lost forAnthem 2.0, because even though it’s a small team, many developers have gotten used to working from home amid the pandemic, and in some places working in the studio is permitted. As long asAnthem 2.0has a clear vision of what it needs to change, fix, or do away with entirely, the end result could make up for its disastrous launch, even if it takes longer to get to players.
Anthemis available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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