This week I’ll be writing about a new game that is going to be released in a few weeks called Anthem. Just a few hours ago one of my friends asked me if I was going to get Anthem. At first, I’d never heard of it, but after looking at it for a bit I started to think it was a pretty cool game. Here are my initial thoughts on the game.
When I first watched the “This Is Anthem” video I started to get some Halo and Titanfall vibes based on the visuals of the player models. Although it looks like one of those types of games, I think the way the game works is kind of like Destiny where there’s the main storyline with missions and a more open world where you can explore more freely.
The characters you play as are these exoskeleton suits called Javelins that come in four different varieties. The Ranger, Colossus, Interceptor, and Storm. These are pretty much your four “classes”. If I were to compare these four Javelins to more familiar classes in other games I would say that the Ranger is more of an all-around decent at everything class, the Colossus is a tank class that can also deal heavy damage, the Interceptor is comparable to an assassin, and the Storm is like a mage. With each one you can customize a loadout with different components, skills, and weapons.
One thing that I’m curious about is the three more specialized classes. Usually, in a lot of RPG games, partying revolves around “the Holy Trinity” system. This is where three different types of classes work together. A Tank class, DPS class (Damage Heavy Class), and Healer class work together in battle. What I’ve noticed, is that the game’s website doesn’t really mention how the recovery system works. Even the “magic” focused Javelin Storm has no mention of any types of HP recovery of any kind in its list of skills. The closest thing I could find is the “Quickening Field” skill that creates a field that reduces cooldown on abilities for allies to enter. This would only make sense if each party member had their own skill to recover on their own. If it was a more fantasy type RPG someone could just “pop a potion” and recover, but in a futuristic game like Anthem that revolves around exoskeleton suits I can’t think of a way that one would instantly recover on their own.
Other than the class system, the main missions in the game do seem pretty normal to other games like it. It also contains dungeon equivalents in the game from what I saw in the “This Is Anthem” video. I asked my friend if he knew whether or not the game would be super grindy or not. As in, will you have to play the game a lot doing the same thing. After some searching, you can actually choose the difficulty of the missions you go on. So if you’re looking for better loot or more of a challenge you can choose harder difficulties, but if you’re more of a casual player you can choose the easier difficulties.
So far Anthem is advertised as a PvE game with no multiplayer beyond partying with a few friends, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they later expanded towards some sort of PvP as well. Once the game comes out on February 22 I will watch some reviews and see some actual gameplay and then make the decision on whether or not it’s worth $80.