[2019] My impressions of Anthem after (almost) getting platinum.

As I’m nearing the platinum achievement in Anthem (the only things left to do are a couple of runes and writings), I’ve decided to express my impressions of the game. Maybe someone will find them helpful.

Disclaimer: before you accuse me of being a Bioware fanboy, I’ll just say that I am. Why wouldn’t I be? They’re awesome. I’ve been playing their games since Baldur’s Gate, and almost every one of them was at least amazing. But it doesn’t mean I can’t be objective or have an honest opinion. That said, this is my impressions of Anthem, which can be different from yours.

I really wanted to love Anthem. And I like it a lot — it’s just not that deep type of passion that games sometimes make you feel. I can’t love it, yet, because we are hardly acquainted — I can only describe vanilla Anthem as a first date. I can see that It’s pretty, interesting, and a little bit awkward. I really want to get to know Anthem better, but right now that’s just not an option. Hopefully, upcoming updates will add meaningful content and give us something to do. I plan to stick around and experience the world of Anthem as it evolves and reveals its secrets.

So, let’s talk about the good and the bad.

The good:

• Core gameplay. At its basics Anthem is fantastic. The feeling of flying, shooting and devastating enemies with your abilities is truly fun. What’s even better, there’s plenty hidden under the hood: Anthems systems have enough complexity to create depth and allow us, hardcore RPG fans, to tinker with builds and experiment. For me, that’s an immensely important part of gameplay. Bungie’s decision to simplify Destiny 2 to cater to a more casual audience was a real bummer. Gladly, Bioware went the opposite way and provided us with a rich exploration material.
  
• And speaking of Destiny 2 — there’s no lootboxes in Anthem. You get what you pay (or farm) for. I can’t overestimate the importance of this approach. It’s really really nice.
  
• Story. Yes, the main campaign is not the most original and its villain is forgettable, but I was delighted with the worldbuilding and characters. The world of Anthem has so much potential for awesome. It has stories for ages. Just think about Kassian and imagine a DLC about sailor-lancers, fighting monstrous krakens from aboard the colossal battleships. Or stop to look at the four urgoth tombstones on a hill near the Fortress of Dawn… who buried those urgoth there and why? And then there are just nice moments of life in Fort Tarsis, like children playing near the fountain or the bitter drunk from the bar selling her pastries again after you talk her into partnering up with an ingenious grain farmer. All in all, the world is rich, intriguing and epic. We only just got a glimpse of it, and I can’t wait to see more.
  
• Facial animations and voice acting. From Owen to Haluk, characters are just so well done. Of course some got more attention than the others, but at its peak Anthem cutscenes are simply great in that regard.
  

The bad:

• Performance and stability. Yes, there’s a lot of bugs. I expected as much (online game of this size is bound to be buggy at launch) and it didn’t really bother me a lot, with the exception of Quickplay. It’s logical that Quickplay is worse than the rest of the game — after all, you only need reinforcements in a mission where someone has left, and people usually don’t have a reason to leave unless that mission is bugged. But still, getting 25 Quickplay missions for the Trial of Valor was a trial in on itself.
  
• Quality of Life. There’s a lot of room for improvement in the interface and overall UX of the game. Things like stats page, better navigation between missions to reduce the amount of loading screens and so forth are badly needed. It’s not game-breaking, but unpleasant. Hopefully, these things will be improved soon.
  
• Scarcity. This is the only real issue for me. As of right now there’s not a lot to do in Anthem. I don’t just mean the amount of Strongholds and endgame activities — I can run the same types of missions if the reward is alluring enough, but the reward just isn’t there. More armors, more materials and other customization options would give me a reason to grind beyond the “get better loot to grind faster to get better loot”. We know that Bioware is planning to release more content, including Stronghold-specific customization items, so let’s hope that the trickle of new content will be sufficient to keep people interested in coming back.
  
• Weapon design. Weapons just don’t look good or distinct, and its a shame. I remember getting Hawkmoon in Destiny, and how awesome it made me feel. Nothing like that, as of right now, can happen in Anthem. I do understand that it’s a third-person game, as opposed to Destiny, and thus not as weapon-centric. And that the javelin is supposed (and is) to be the focus of this “wow” feeling. But still, I would prefer my legendary weapon to not look blend.
  

In conclusion:

I’m enjoying Anthem. It’s the first serving of what the game has to offer, very promising but not without its problems. Hopefully, with time the problems will be solved, and the promises will be realized. There’s enough awesome stuff in the game to stick around until then, at least for me. So here’s a heartfelt thank you to all the developers who poured their hearts into it :)

Also in conclusion:

People need to chill. The amount of bile directed at this game is not nearly proportionate to its misgivings. Maybe it’s just me and my Souls-tested patience, but I honestly haven't found anything worthy of such wrath in Anthem. Being critical of a game is okay, but very few people seem to express their criticisms without toxicity. Let’s just be excellent to each other and not poison everything around us in a feast of schadenfreude.

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