Anthem is More Star Wars, Less Mass Effect, Says Bioware

At E3 2017, Bioware unveiled their new open-world Destiny-like title Anthem. Although its release window is in the far future, EA's Patrick Söderlund is already quite excited and confident in the game's future, stating that it could launch a ten-year journey for the team.

Despite a long time before release, Bioware's Aaryn Flynn stirs up the excitement for Anthem in a recent interview with CBC.

“[Anthem] is in a genre we call science-fantasy, very much like Star Wars, very much like the Marvel Universe, where you see a lot of amazing things happening, but we don’t worry too much about why they’re happening, or how they’re happening, the science of it."

“Mass Effect is more our real hardcore science fiction IP. This one is much more about just having fun in a game world that is lush and exotic and really sucks you in.”

He also states why they went with a co-op experience for the game: He wants to play games with his sons.

“Ever since I’ve had two sons, I’ve always wanted a game I can play with them, and this is my chance to build [it]…and I know [a lot of other people at the studio] are finding themselves in that life situation too, so it’s sort of an evolution of the studio as we all get a little older, a little more mature. This represents a chance for a lot of us to build that game we can play with our families.”

While Destiny was very weak in terms of story (although Destiny 2 promises to remedy that), Bioware is known for their epic storytelling. Fans of their single-player RPGs may need a bit more convincing before hopping into an online, multiplayer title. But with one of Flynn's closing statements reading, "It’s really nice for us to be able to tell a story that’s going to have cooperative elements and that you can experience it together," Bioware may just break the mold that Destiny started with.

Anthem is set to launch in Fall 2018 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.