BioWare released the first official gameplay trailer for the recently revealed Anthem during Microsoft's E3 press conference.
Anthem is being geared by BioWare and Electronic Arts as a new challenger in the social action video game genre that was popularized by Destiny.
Anthem Official Gameplay Trailer
The gameplay trailer starts off by saying that all the footage included in the video was captured in-game, which means that Anthem will look exactly how players see it in the trailer.
The trailer starts off in what appears to be a marketplace, with shacks selling wares while massive structures loom overhead. The female character is then approached by an ally named Praxley who claims that he hired non-freelancers for a mission, and is now asking for help in getting them back to safety. This unlocks the mission named Hell or High Water.
Jon Warner, the game director for Anthem and serving as the narrator to the gameplay trailer, explains that freelancers are heroes who are capable of leaving civilization to tackle missions, with the interest of exploring the unknown and protecting what's left of humanity.
The player is then shown to be entering an exosuit, which are known in Anthem as Javelins. These exosuits come in a variety of classes, provide different superhuman abilities to players, and allow for heavy customization. The female character chose to use the Ranger, which is an all-purpose and balanced exosuit, while a teammate chose to use the Colossus, a slow but powerful tank-type exosuit.
Together with the other player, the female character then flies off into a beautiful but dangerous jungle environment using a jetpack, similar to how they are used in Mass Effect: Andromeda. The player then dives into the water to avoid incoming fire from what appear to be hostile robots, with her ally then catching up to help with the enemies.
Before long, a distress call comes through, likely coming from the people Praxley hired. The two allies then engage more enemies in combat, with the Colossus first firing a mortar into the fray and then the Ranger finishing off the opponents with guided missiles. The female character was then able to pick up a legendary weapon as loot from the fallen enemies.
A Shaper Storm then appears, and according to Warner, these events will pull gamers "off the beaten path." The trailer then shows the ability to call for help from real-world friends, forming a more formidable squad. The team, now made up of four players, then decide to fly into the heart of the storm. What happens next is unknown though, as the trailer cuts off.
Is 'Anthem' Too Similar To 'Destiny'?
With exosuits, jetpacks, and co-op combat, all enveloped in a sci-fi world with amazing graphics, Anthem is certainly a far cry from BioWare's Dragon Age franchise and a step up from the Mass Effect series, which has been placed on hiatus.
The question is whether Anthem serves to challenge Destiny by offering a very similar experience to Bungie's first-person shooter. A look through the gameplay trailer reveals many shared components with Destiny, along with some other popular titles such as Titanfall and Call of Duty.
In addition, BioWare is known more for creating excellent story-driven RPGs such as the games from the Dragon Age series, while Anthem looks more like an action game.
That said, there are still a lot of unknown details regarding Anthem. BioWare may have incorporated its strengths in storytelling into a Destiny-like structure, and if that is the case, Anthem could turn out to be a very special title.
