The much-anticipated Anthem was the show closer for EA's conference this year. Showing off a brand new trailer for the game that depicts the state of the world in ruin after some cataclysmic event and you are part of the last of humanity fighting to reclaim the world. A big part of Anthem will be the concept of "Our World, My Story" which will allow players to share a world, but lead their own story and have their actions have impact, so they can feel that they have agency like in a single player game.
You'll be donning a Javelin exosuit as a Freelancer to venture out into the world to fight against The Dominion, a multitude of giant monsters, and other enemy factions. The Dominion are trying to find a way to weaponize the Anthem of Creation and you'll need to put a stop to their plans to protect the people of Tarsis. There are four different types of suits: Ranger, Colossus, Interceptor, and Storm, each can fly, swim, and traverse on the ground to keep you mobile. You can change suits whenever you want and each has their own unique abilities and specialties. You'll be able to customize gear, weapons, and the look of each Javelin suit that you use. Important to note that there will be no lootboxes, or other pay for power or randomness based purchases for Anthem. There will be paid cosmetics, in addition to other options to customize your Javelin.
The developers likened the co-op gameplay to forming a team of superheroes to go off on missions together with. Fighting together and combining your suits abilities to complete missions. You will be able to play solo, but things will be more difficult that way since you'll have no back-up. Bioware wants to make sure that players will have an ongoing service that will provide a steady stream of content to play through as time goes on.
The gameplay shown off was co-op, and it shows a team working together traversing the world to head towards a "Relic" fighting enemies at the location to "silence" it. The gameplay shows off how you travel through the world and how you can combo your attacks with your teammates to do big damage and take out enemies quickly and in bombastic fashion. The gameplay culminates in the beginning of an encounter with a massive bug-like monster battle.
Anthem will be launching on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on February 22, 2019. You can preorder Anthem right now here and check out the bonuses that come along with it.
If you want to know more about this and other announcements happening at E3 then be sure to check out our E3 2018 Coverage Hub.
Edit: This article originally mistakenly stated there are no paid cosmetics in Anthem. This was incorrect - there are paid cosmetics but there are no loot boxes or any pay for power according to what EA and Bioware announced today.
