Mark Darrah, executive producer of BioWare’s upcoming Anthem , has given some details on how Anthem’s beta that kicks off later this week will differ from the final game.



So how’s the Anthem demo different from the game?



- we start you in the middle



- no tutorials



- no pilot picker



- balance is super different



- economy is completely different



- 6 weeks less bug fixes



... — Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) January 19, 2019

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In a series of responses on Twitter (via Kotaku ), Darrah explained many of these differences. The demo will not place players at the beginning of the game, but at some point in the middle instead. There won’t be tutorials (or at least not like there will be in the main game) or the “pilot picker” - the game’s character creator. The game’s economy and overall balance will reportedly be much different in the final game as well.Because the team branched off development on this demo and the main game back in December, the demo will be somewhat of a “snapshot” of what the game was at the end of last year. Because of this, there will be six weeks worth of less bug fixes, only one story arc, the mission/stronghold/freeplay balance will be off, the PC controls (specifically flight controls) will be less nuanced, and things will have been renamed for clarity in the main game.When responding to various questions on Twitter, Darrah claimed the microtransactions that will be present in the game will be for vanity items that can also be earned using in-game currency, that the demo would be easier than the final game in general, and that loot will be instanced, so what players earn at the end of a mission will all be of the same rarity, but won’t all be the exact same loot.According to BioWare , those who have either preordered Anthem or are members of EA or Origin Access will be able to play the VIP demo from Friday, January 25, 9am PT - Sunday, January 27, 6pm PT. An identical open demo, which will naturally be available to all players the following week, will be open from Friday, February 1, 9am PT - Sunday February 3, 6pm PT. For console players, the demo will require a PlayStation Plus subscription on PS4 and an Xbox Live subscription on Xbox One.For more on Anthem, which is the IGN First game for January , check out over 45 minutes of gameplay footage and new info on the game , and read about how every activity in Anthem will have matchmaking. Anthem is coming to PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on February 22, 2019.

Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter