Bioware announced during E3 in 2017 that their next project is a third person shooter entitled, "anthem." Originally, it was supposed to be released in the 4th quarter of 2018 but has been pushed back to early 2019. Fans have shown skepticism towards the game, comparing it to Bioware's most recent work, "Mass Effect: Andromeda." Along with that, fans worry about pay-to-win mechanics that Electronic Arts might include. Despite all of this, "Anthem" shows promise in terms of its gameplay and its story.

‘Anthem’s’ promise: gameplay

In both videos featuring "Anthem," posted on Electronic Art's website, the game showcases a post-apocalyptic society surrounded by untamed wildlands that mother nature has reclaimed.

The player characters are called Freelancers, individuals who leave the safety of the wall to explore and protect their bastion of civilization. They wear these mech suits called Javelins that are customizable with different types of classes and playstyles.

"Anthem" is a shared-world action RPG. Up to four players can play at a time, exploring the vast world and completing quests as a team. Though there will be a single player option, most of the coverage has been on the multiplayer mode.

‘Anthem’s’ promise: story

In "Anthem’s" promotional work, the word story and the implication of narrative appear.

At the end of the teaser trailer, the woman narrator says, “the story doesn’t end here.” John Warner, the game director for "Anthem," talks about something called "shaper stories" in the official gameplay video, saying that they, “pull you off the beaten path with the promise of new stories to discover.”

The official website’s teaser information speaks about player choice — which is an iconic aspect of Bioware games.

In terms of Anthem, the game has promised that the world will change around the player as they explore this vast unknown world. Their exact words are, “Whether plunder, revenge or glory lures you onward, your choices will irrevocably change you — and the world around you.” This implies some type of change in environment and story, though how drastic these changes will be won't be known until the game actually releases.

It would be interesting to see Anthem’s narrative as an anthology of short stories presented in various quests. There probably will be many fetch and repetitive quests (a common theme in any video game with a quest system), but there’s potential for well written short quests that weave together a narrative. We know Bioware can do this because they’ve done it before. What made "Dragon Age II" worth playing were the stories the creators spun around the companions that follow the main character and other minor characters that had interesting stories to their quests and quirky personalities. The combat was also decent, but the game received a lot of hate from fans who criticized the repetitive locations and inability to make the player care about either of the turbulent factions (mages and templars).

If Bioware can tell the story well and create a decent enough combat system, then perhaps "Anthem" has a chance.
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