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With Anthem’s release quickly approaching, the game’s premise is starting to cause some concern. The launch of Fallout 76 made the idea of an “online only” RPG seems less appealing and the critical bomb that was Mass Effect: Andromeda has put faith in BioWare at an all-time low.

Now I know that it wasn’t BioWare proper working on Andromeda and they’ve been focusing all of their time on Anthem, but let’s face facts. Your average gamer isn’t going to know that and a hit like that to your credibility isn’t going to drive sales to your new project. With that being said, I think there’s real promise for this game and it could be one of the best, if not the best game of 2019. So here’s a few ideas for how Anthem could be game of the year.

Bridging Story With Multiplayer (The Right Way):

Quite a few online games have a problem with their story. I don’t know if it’s lower on their list of things to do, or perhaps a smaller window till release makes them cut key story bits; but they never really seem to be all that interesting. Destiny is one of the exceptions. They managed to tell an interesting story while giving a great multiplayer experience and for that I applaud them. There’s just one problem with that. The story is only good from a single player perspective. Once you add multiplayer it just becomes a lesser experience for it.

Now maybe there will always be a disconnect between cinematic stories and multiplayer driven gameplay, but if anyone could find a way to bridge that gap I know it’d be BioWare. Their story is going to be strong. I know that. Yet I genuinely think they have the talent to do something that’s never been done before by drawing multiple people away from their online shenanigans and be moved by the same story simultaneously. If they manage to pull that off it’d honestly be a new feat in gaming.

No Micro-transactions:

I don’t really think this needs to be said, but being that BioWare is under the E.A. umbrella, maybe it does. Most online games make the majority of their money from micro-transactions. It may be slimy, but that’s just the way it is. What people end up having a problem with is when companies like E.A. start selling pay to win plans. Better guns, better armor, better everything. It’s toxic for a game and doesn’t work in today’s gaming space. After the failure that was Battlefront 2’s loot boxes, I sincerely hope that they keep this to a minimum with Anthem. It’s hard enough to sell a game like this, micro-transactions will only turn players off.

Good Gameplay Loop:

Online games live or die based on their gameplay loop. You can add as much content as you want, but at the end of the day everyone will eventually play through whatever the game has to offer, and wonder what it is they should be doing next. Insanely exclusive loot is one way to do this. It can be a pain, but it gives players a reason to stick around and grind in your world for hours upon hours. Then, of course, they’ll want to flaunt off their new loot, giving even more reason to play. It’s a sound strategy and with the javelins, it seems like a no-brainer.

Another way to extend the lifespan of the game could be events. BioWare already said they’d be changing the world of Anthem with an overarching story for months to come. That’d be a perfect way to dish out exclusive events and time specific meet ups. It makes the player feel like they “need” to get on, and they’d be missing out if they didn’t. Based on what they’ve revealed about the game though, I think they got this one covered.

Post Launch Content:

Like I said earlier, a solid gameplay loop is the most important thing an online game can have. However, that doesn’t mean everyone cares about the gameplay loop. Some people play what a game has to offer and call it a day. BioWare’s overarching story sounds promising, but just how much content will that be exactly? It’s going to take more than just a couple of story missions to bring back the casual player.

What they need to do is bring in decent sized chunks of content on a steady basis or I’m afraid they’ll lose their core audience. This is all, of course, speculation, but I think BioWare needs to answer some of these questions to help their game moving forward. The last thing we need is a story-based game with a lack of story.

BioWare is a developer that I’ve been following for a very long time. They know how to write a better narrative than just about anyone else in the industry. BioWare has given us masterpieces that not only make us care about the characters in their stories, but also let these experiences claw their way into our hearts and find themselves among our favorite games of all time. It hurt as a fan to see Andromeda fail on such a monumental level. It really had promise, but without the main team flag-shipping the game, it just couldn’t live up the Mass Effect franchise. I have high hopes for Anthem and as long as the main team is behind it, it just might go down as one the best games of all time.

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