Anthem’s public beta begins today. Why are so many people excited to jump in?
In many ways, BioWare’s Anthem is a perfect representation of what it means to play PC games in 2019. We’ve come a long way since the MUDs of the ‘80s and ‘90s, in which the presence of other online players was a novelty and often merely represented by text on the screen. Nowadays, we can choose from a number of multiplayer games. The world of connected play has never felt so wide and promising.
Yet by and large, when it comes to games with lengthy, elaborate narratives, we usually turn to single-player titles to get our fix. We often have to make a choice between one or the other: our own private adventure or a shared experience with the masses. Games rarely promise both at once.
Anthem seeks to change all of that. In Anthem, players follow their own personal story, replete with moral choices and complex characters. At any time, however, they have the option to hit up a friend or join a matchmaking queue to take on a mission together — all while seamlessly controlling the same character and never straying too far from their own narrative. This is the kind of game that the early game developers of the ‘80s and ‘90s dreamed about.
BioWare is known for being a studio of masterful storytellers. Series like Mass Effect and Dragon Age feature branching narratives that are heavily influenced by the player’s moral decisions. Anthem promises to follow similar conventions, allowing players to control the fate of their own story through dialogue options and actions. The major difference, however, is that other active players inhabit the world of Anthem — not just NPCs.
So how did BioWare do it? Striking the balance between a rich solo and multiplayer experience wasn’t easy. “We understand that telling a story in a multiplayer context is really difficult, especially when that story comes to choices”, Lead Producer Mike Gamble said. “What we decided was to split the game into what we've coined as ‘Our World, My Story.’”
The “My Story” half of the player’s experience mostly takes place in Fort Tarsis, a pioneer town on the fringes of Anthem’s world. It’s here that the player has the opportunity to meet NPCs, browse the town’s bustling marketplace, and, most importantly, exert their own influence over the game’s story.
“When you're in Fort Tarsis, you're not really grouped up with other folks,” Gamble explained. “Although you might [be grouped with other players] in a party, it is your personal space. Fort Tarsis is full of characters, cutscenes, story, and choices that you can do on your own without any social pressure.”
Further, the player will be able to form relationships with the many factions that make up Anthem’s elaborate society. Forging stronger relationships with different factions — by having favorable conversations with them or doing missions for them — will unlock different parts of the game. Though optional, doing missions to improve these relationships is key to uncovering more content. “It's a choice of how you want to do it,” Gamble said. “If you really want to play the game for a very, very long time, you can do all of them.”
The “Our World”, half of “Our World, My Story,” on the other hand, is what players see when they leave Fort Tarsis to embark on missions, whether alone or with others. “Our World” is where all of the social and cooperative play takes place, and where players will participate in much of the game’s action.
However, the storytelling doesn’t simply end once you’ve left Fort Tarsis. “There's environmental storytelling, [and] there's obviously storytelling that happens between you and your friends dynamically,” Gamble said. BioWare also plans on continuing Anthem’s story through community-wide events that affect every player’s game at once. “We have complete control over the world state, so we can change it to storming, day/night, and a bunch of other awesome things that we have planned for live service,” Gamble said.
It’s an ingenious system that allows the player to carry on with their own personal story without fearing that it’ll be affected by the presence of friends or strangers. Conversely, it also means that you’ll be able to join friends on any story mission they choose without it being inconsistent or interfering with your own narrative. Thus, Anthem doesn’t sacrifice continuity for playability.
BioWare also used a lot of other clever devices to make sure the “Our World, My Story” dichotomy felt just right. One of them is “the Forge”, an area in Fort Tarsis that functions as an online matchmaking hub. Players can set their matchmaking preferences in the Forge, opting either to embark on missions solo, with friends, or with strangers. Once you begin the mission, everyone is taken to a dedicated server.
Another thoughtful design choice is the way the game controls the player’s perspective. For example, you automatically enter a first-person perspective while in Fort Tarsis, which extends to the many role-playing conversations you have with NPCs. This makes interactions feel intimate, and allows Tarsis feel like your own personal town.
However, when you leave Fort Tarsis to complete missions, the camera switches to a third-person perspective. This is in large part because BioWare would like to draw the player’s attention away from their Pilot’s avatar and instead have them focus on their Javelin, the mech suit that players uses to traverse the world outside of Tarsis. “We want players to feel as though their Javelin exosuit is their primary place for customization, personalization, and their self-expression,” Gamble explained.
A game like Anthem could only have come out in 2019. As our gaming diet skews more and more towards play in shared environments, Anthem is the perfect answer for those of us who want it all: To play both solo and co-op at once. If Anthem is any indication of what the future of multiplayer games might bring, then there are sure to be some impressive experiences just on the horizon.
Anthem will be available on PC on February 22, 2019.
If you’re eager to get your hands on it and try it for yourself, you’re in luck: The public demo starts on February 1, 2019 and runs until February 3, 2019.