Anthem - Thoughts on the End
Story spoilers will be clearly marked.
Overall: I enjoyed it and there seems to be plenty of post-game content (not counting the forthcoming DLCs either). If I had to give it a grade, I’d say a solid B+. Better than Destiny, in my opinion. I didn’t feel like I was going to the same places and the mechanics of flying are incredibly fun. The plot (more below) was also interesting, though not on the level of DA or ME... yet. I think it shows a lot of promise.
I don’t think BW has a new Dragon Age or even a new Mass Effect with Anthem, but I do think at the moment it is a solid mid-list game that could probably be a good background earner for them. Anthem’s characters and dialogue have that typical BW charm we’ve come to expect and even with the lack of romances, you still feel like you have some deep friendships (but I would definitely not say no to a romance DLC, especially if it featured a certain charmer named Kassian <3).
Facial animations and voice acting are incredibly top notch--they really stepped up their game here (motion capture instead of hand-animation maybe??), and the scenery is beautiful. No complaints about these aspects at all. In fact, I hope the next DA game is as beautiful.
I saw someone else say that going on missions with randos speeds up the game, and that’s an absolutely spot on observation. If you do the missions solo, you can explore a little bit, take your time with some of the objectives (depending on how many baddies are shooting at you!) and actually listen to the story that’s going on via dialogue. When playing with randos, though, there’s always at least one person that’s flying toward the next marker without pause. I always felt rushed in them. That being said, soloing missions is hard. I don’t think I’d be able to do the big ones by myself, like strongholds, but the smaller ones here and there are doable. And I think this rushed feeling contributes to a big thing about the game: it feels short. The game came out on Friday the 22nd and I’m already done here on the 25th. I didn’t spend a lot of time in freeplay but I did all the side quests (the contracts with agents in Fort Tarsis), spoke to everyone, and I still reached the end of the main storyline in a couple of days. I wonder if partly this is to highlight the ongoing story that Anthem the game hopes to create instead of a onetime event that creates a happily ever after type ending? Not sure. But part of this also feels like a big missed opportunity for one character in particular. Spoilers below cut.
