Last Play - Anthem [2019]

It's actually my first play, but I felt it was more significant an event for saying "Last Play" as by the time this is being read, Anthem, Bioware's failed attempt at a live service game is permanently offline and unplayable forever.

A significant amount has been written about Anthem, specifically it's monumental failure for both Bioware and EA Games and I don't feel it necessary to delve too deeply into it but what I do believe was that Casey Hudson (then General Manager of Bioware) pitched the idea to EA as a departure from the Mass Effect and Dragon Age IPs to merge a live service service looter-shooter with Bioware's classic storytelling. As Bioware only had experience with the latter and the team had no experience with Frostbite - EA's engine of choice, the writing was on the wall for an unmitigated disaster.

Reviews were not as bad as they could have been averaging 6/10. Praise was heaped on the combat mechanics with particular attention to flying. But criticisms were levelled against it's mostly unfinished state, boring loot, repetitive game play loop and lacklustre endgame, the death sentence of a live service title. Most egregiously slighted however were the die hard Bioware fans who showed up for a new sci-fi story but were met with a half-baked plot that didn't hold much water after 30 hours of game with no traditional companions (romanceable or otherwise) for your nameless, unmodifiable!!! character. It was the latter issues that I picked up on in the reviews and decided then that it just wasn't something I would be devoting time to.

I didn't miss much. The first (delayed) post-launch content Cataclysm, the first of three acts of a story was released in August 2019. By September this was canned and instead "seasonal updates" were promised which would address the game's massive problems instead. By February 2020 this was also cancelled in favour of a complete 'reboot' of the entire game similar to FFXIV's A Realm Reborn. By February 2021 Bioware announced that all future work on Anthem had ceased. In July 2025 EA announced that the final nail in Anthem's coffin was to be hammered in on 12th January 2026 as the game's servers, essential to deliver the game's online-only content to the game clients, were to be sunset, so last week I installed the game I picked up from a sale that appeared after it ceased support.

An hour in the game gave me a look inside the vision for this new IP. As expected from Bioware the lore was laid on thick but clearly open to be expanded upon as one would progress. A plethora of proper nouns were introduced in a way that you would know that this was going to be your lingo for your foreseeable future. The opening cutscenes lasted more than 5 mins before you were given control of your Javelin (exosuit), the narrative being you crashed and have to reinitialise each "new" system one by one.

Once you have full control and all of the abilities you were going to get for the prologue though, I will say that the gameplay was thoroughly enjoyable. The Frostbite engine was made for shooters as opposed to RPGs so I think it looked far better here than when EA forced Bioware to leverage it for Mass Effect: Andromeda. Shooting, jumping and of course the flying all felt amazing and I found myself disappointed not that the game would be shutdown in a few days but because even if it wasn't, the game from all accounts would after a a few hours offer no incentive to progress.

 

Hudson's folly was the original pursuit of a live service game. Had he pitched the same setting and mechanics but as a traditional Bioware RPG, EA may have greetlit it based on the success of both the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises as story-rich choice-driven RPGs. In the aftermath some have suggested that a reworking from it's live-service to single player RPG model may have saved it but after seeing the failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard to do the same (as that was originally also set to be a live-service game) I doubt it would have worked. With Anthem and Dragon Age's failure the entire future of Bioware now rests on the next Mass Effect.

Final Verdict: Some great ideas were woven in to some impressive early gameplay and story that reportedly dies as one progresses towards an unremarkable endgame. We can only be left wondering if EA had given Bioware the time and resources to fix or reboot the game, could it have seen a revival like FFXIV, No Man's Sky or Cyberpunk 2077? Sadly we will never truly know.

Availability: You're too late, it's gone forever. Review copy obtained from the EAStore for €1.99 in December 2022. 

 

10 Future Games on the General's Radar (2026 edition)

Following on from last year's list, DOOM: The Dark Ages, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 were all released; so here is a new list of 10 games that caught my intention in alphabetical order. Only the first is actually expected this year with others between 2027 and 2029 if we're lucky.

 

007: First Light (IO Interactive)

Last year, all we knew was that Hitman developers IO Interactive were working on a James Bond game under the working title of Project 007. Now we know everything and have seen it in action. 007 First Light will depict Bond as a rookie agent in third-person action much like Hitman. We'll know if it's any good in May this year.

Blade (Arcane/Bethesda)

 

Returning from last year's post, everyone's favourite daywalking dhampir is getting his own 3rd person action game with lore from the Marvel comics as opposed to Wesley Snipes' movies. I predicted last year that we'd hear something about this game this year after its reveal in late 2023.

The Blood of the Dawnwalker (Rebel Wolves/Bandai Namco)

 

It just so happens that the next game on the list is about another 'daywalker' a Dawnwaker - human by day, vampire by night from former Witcher developers who founded  Rebel Wolves. The Blood of the Dawnwalker will be a dark fantasy action RPG. 

Exodus (Archetype Entertainment)

Still on the list since last year, from Archetype Entertainment who were formed by ex-Bioware personnel, Exodus is being advertised as sci-fi action adventure RPG which looks to the the spiritual successor to the older Mass Effect games with a heavy dose of concepts explored in Christopher's Nolan's Interstellar. They even have Matthew McConneghy on board with some voice work. The promotional work being done here is some of the best I've seen. Release is currently scheduled for early 2027.

 

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn (Owlcat Games)

 

 

A new entry to the list, an upcoming ARPG developed and published by Owlcat Games who have entries in both the Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K franchises. Apparently Osiris Reborn's plot will run parallel to the events of the first two books and first two-and-a-half seasons of the television series The Expanse. 

Iron Man (Motive/EA)

We still know next to nothing about Motive's Iron Man game since the time of last year's post. As a major fan of the armoured avenger, I hope they use lore from the Marvel comics as opposed to the MCU. If there was a side game mechanic to manage Stark Enterprises, prevent your heart stopping and battling alcoholism as well as being a superhero it just might be perfect.

Mass Effect 5 (Bioware/EA)

Again, no news since the post last year but all reports suggest Bioware remain committed to working on the next Mass Effect which will be developed with Unreal Engine 5. If we see this before 2028 I'll be shocked.

Star Wars: Eclipse (Quantic Dream/Lucasfilm Games)

 

PR embattled Quantic Dream's games have always intrigued me by how different from other games they are. I'm fascinated by how this could be applied to Star Wars even though it's set in the High Republic era. 

 

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic (Arcanaut Studios/Lucasfilm Games)

 

 

The final new entry is another Star Wars game from former Bioware honcho Casey Hudson's new outfit Arcanaut Studios. This will apparently be a game set in the time period at the end of the Old Republic era. Hudson's involvement suggest it's (hopefully) an RPG. This is expected to be on this list through 2029 now.

The Witcher IV (CD Projekt Red/CD Projekt)

Last year I mentioned that the reveal of a Witcher IV trailer reminded me that I need to play The Witcher III before this comes out in - I expect late 2027. I still do!

There's are of course a few other projects that I'm following but not enough is known yet or they could be too far into the future to get hyped for yet. These include Larian Studio's next projects, one of which is Divinity, a CRPG set in one of their own original IPs, likely some time out before it's early access period. Another is a Knights of the Old Republic remake currently with Mad Head Studios and Saber Interactive that's been sooooo long in the development that I fear for it outright. A Cyberpunk 2077 sequel from CD Projekt Red which is barely in pre-production. And Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine game and GTA VI from Rockstar for which PC versions aren't even announced yet.