Aaryn Flynn talks about the inspiration for Bioware’s new IP Anthem.

Anthem is Bioware’s take on an open-world semi-MMO. While the release date is over a year away, EA’s Patrick Söderlund sees the launch next year as the start of a ten-year journey.

The tidbits we’ve gathered about the game so far indicate that players take the role of freelancers, individuals willing to explore an alien environment with a little help from exosuits, to protect the civilians in their settlements. What’s more, Mass Effect 1 and 2’s lead writer, Drew Karpyshyn, has confirmed that he’s working on the title, so we’ve got a lot to look forward to.

We got a few more morsels of info from BioWare General Manager Aaryn Flynn in a recent interview with CBC.

“[Anthem] is in a genre we call science-fantasy, very much like Star Wars, very much like the Marvel Universe, where you see a lot of amazing things happening, but we don’t worry too much about why they’re happening, or how they’re happening, the science of it,” he explained.

“Mass Effect is more our real hardcore science fiction IP. This one is much more about just having fun in a game world that is lush and exotic and really sucks you in.”

Flynn was asked where the inspiration for the game came from, and he cited the desire to play with his sons as one of the reasons they veered towards a co-op experience.

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“Ever since I’ve had two sons, I’ve always wanted a game I can play with them, and this is my chance to build [it]…and I know [a lot of other people at the studio] are finding themselves in that life situation too, so it’s sort of an evolution of the studio as we all get a little older, a little more mature. This represents a chance for a lot of us to build that game we can play with out families.”

Talking more about the co-op, Flynn said it was his favourite aspect.

“It’s a wonderful way to experience games nowadays, and more and more people want to play games cooperatively nowadays. It’s really nice for us to be able to tell a story that’s going to have cooperative elements and that you can experience it together. That’s really cool.”

Anthem launches in Fall 2018 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.