Before it got showed off at E3, I wasn’t really aware that BioWare was working on a new intellectual property. After all, they just released Mass Effect Andromeda and though we haven’t beaten it, it sounds like it’s open to sequels. Meanwhile, the ending of Dragon Age Inquisition definitely sets them up for Dragon Age 4. So they have two large universes they are continuing on with, which seems like a lot to be working on.
So with those two games being similar sorts of party-based RPGs, just one fantasy and one science fiction, I suppose it makes sense that if you were to be making another game, you would try to step out of that genre a bit. Enter Anthem.
The early reactions to this game compare it to Destiny, although I couldn’t quite tell if it was an MMO or more just multiplayer up to a certain number, a la Borderlands. Unfortunately, I’ll bet it’s not split-screen like Borderlands is, meaning that the odds of Holly and I playing this one are low.
Which is sad, because this game looks great! It further pushes some of the movement elements that we’ve really enjoyed in Andromeda (and which Holly used even more in playing Re-Core). It’s a big open science fiction world. And the loot!…
Basically, it looks like you’re playing Iron Man.
Different suits, different weapon loadouts, class-like functions on them (like the big old tanky one). I mean, even multi-target targeting and shooting missiles out. Very Iron Man. But like, in the, wouldn’t it be fun to be Iron Man sort of way.
It took me a while watching the video to quite realize that what I was hearing was the players, and not the characters, chatting. Still, it sounds like the main writer from KotoR and Mass Effect is working on this one, so story should still be important. Honestly, I would expect nothing less from BioWare.
If there’s a single player campaign, we might still end up getting this one and playing it that way. If there’s split-screen, we’re absolutely getting this one. If it ends up on our Mac computers, we could play this one. But requiring two X-Box One’s (or PS4’s) for a married couple in a single household? There’s a whole host of games that we can’t play because of the multiple consoles needed. So we’ll see where this one ends up!
Anthem is currently expected late 2018, so plenty of time between now and then (or possible delays) for all these details to sort out.
Comparative Geeks 
Yeah, games are definitely trending towards being played on multiple consoles. It is hard when you want to play with someone in your own household, but without a second console (and then you have to get the second screen too!). I’m really interested to see what Anthem is like in any case.
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We won a free (though smallish) Smart TV, so we would have the second screen – though obviously in general, this is a challenge as well! And if the two people gaming are, say, siblings, where do you set the two TVs up? Yuck, yeah, so many problems.
It still feels like there’s this underlying thought that a) gamers don’t have real in person friends so that’s not a problem, and b) girls don’t play games so couples don’t have a problem with gaming. Those are both completely wrong, but this trend in gaming just seems to rely on those assumptions! If really their goal is just to sell more consoles, well, I would be interested in finding out if that has actually worked at all?
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