Strong Alone, Stronger Together: Why Anthem Deserves a Second Chance

image taken from Google

Imagine, you’re a heroic explorer who goes into the unknown corners of the world to unlock the mysteries of ancient technology, rescue civilians in danger, and battle legendary foes, all while using a suit of power armour akin to that of iron man which you’ve fully customized to suit YOUR style and way of doing things.

That my friends is the 2019 open world sandbox game: Anthem.

Introduced by Bioware at E3 in 2017, Anthem became one of the most anticipated games since the gameplay trailer was shown. This gameplay footage showed a group of players all online in various power suits called javelins. They were shown with multiple types of weapons and abilities as they battled bandits and otherworldly creatures before getting ready to fly into a storm, their fates unknown in a cliffhanger ending.

Anthem remained in production for 2 more years before finally being released in 2019.

image taken from WIRED.com

Story

Anthem is set on the unfinished world of Bastion, where godlike beings known as the Shapers abandoned their work, leaving behind powerful relics and unstable forces called the Anthem of Creation. Humanity survives in fortified cities, protected by Freelancers — pilots of customizable power armour called Javelins — who venture into the dangerous wilderness to battle hostile creatures, factions like the Dominion, and world-altering catastrophes caused by Shaper relics. The story follows the player’s Freelancer as they uncover a Dominion plot to harness the Anthem using the powerful Cinerator device, culminating in a fight to stop their leader, the Monitor, from reshaping reality itself.

Gameplay

Anthem’s gameplay is set as 3rd person in a sandbox environment that’s ever-changing. Creatures and outlaws roam all over and can trigger quick time events and set up story missions as the player levels up.

The player themselves are a Freelancer and at the beginning of the game gets to choose 1 of 4 Javelin classes:

• Ranger — Balanced all-rounder; versatile with grenades, missiles, and precision gear.
• Colossus — Tank; heavy armor, massive shields, big guns, and area-of-effect attacks.
• Storm — Elemental caster; hovers longer, uses fire, ice, and lightning powers.
• Interceptor — Agile melee fighter; lightning-fast, dual blades, excels at hit-and-run combat.

Each class has their own special ability and customizable weapons and paint options allowing the player to have a sense of uniqueness and feel as if they are the main character. Anthem can be played solo or with others. Bioware even had plans to add more classes of javelins to expand and enhance the Freelancer experience.

So…What Happened?

Anthem had players feeling like Iron Man on an alien world blasting away at mutants and monsters. Interacting with characters and getting upgrades, not to mention the amazing soundtrack by Sarah Schachner.

But then…something changed.

Players stopped playing and moved on to other games within a couple months, why?

Unfortunately there’s no one answer to that, but there are multiple factors for it. I can list 5 reasons below:

1. Shallow Endgame — After finishing the campaign, players found there wasn’t much meaningful content to keep grinding for. Missions felt repetitive and rewards didn’t feel satisfying.
2. Loot System Problems — As a looter-shooter, its gear drops were too random and progression felt unrewarding compared to Destiny or Diablo.
3. Technical Issues — Frequent crashes, long loading times, and bugs at launch really frustrated players.
4. Story vs Gameplay Clash — The game tried to balance a single-player-style BioWare narrative with a live-service multiplayer model, but neither side fully clicked. Story felt disconnected, and multiplayer didn’t feel smooth.
5. Development Troubles — Behind the scenes, Anthem had a rocky development cycle with shifting visions and a late pivot to what it became. It launched unfinished, with promises of post-launch fixes.

Bioware and EA looked at games such as No Mans Sky thinking they could save Anthem by rebooting it in a project called “Anthem Next”. Unfortunately, this project was cancelled in 2021 and Bioware ultimately decided that as of January 2026, Anthem will be shut down [1]. Despite this many players believe Anthem can still be saved.

Does Anthem Deserve a Second Chance?

Personally, yes I think it does. And it’s not because I’m biased towards sci-fi adventure games. I truly feel hope that this game can be a major hit again and live up to the hype it had in 2019.

Anthem is unique, literally NO other game is like it. Destiny 2 comes close but it’s NOT the same.

Flying in the Javelins feel incredible. The flying is smooth and unlike anything else. Even the harshest critics admitted it was perfect. The lore is untapped and there are many questions about it that linger long after the campaign is completed. The Shapers, the Anthem of Creation, and the Scavs are only briefly touched on. The in game universe was deeply unexplored as well.

The fanbase is passionate. They loved the experience despite the flaws and rallied for Anthem NEXT before it was cancelled. A movement called “Save Anthem” exists today to keep Anthem going [2].

image taken from EA

A Comeback Story

Redemption stories exist. Just look at games such as Final Fantasy XIV and No Mans Sky. They lost popularity and were a success upon reinvention. Anthem could potentially become Biowares greatest success story.

If Bioware were to reset Anthem, some changes would have to be made such as:

• Deeper Endgame Loop Adding raids, rotating world events, and meaningful gear hunts (with smart loot systems) would have kept players engaged long-term. Destiny survived rough starts by doing exactly this.
• Better Loot Progression Anthem needed consistent, rewarding drops that made players feel stronger each session. A Diablo-style loot grind, with crafting depth and less RNG frustration, could have been the fix.
• Expanded Story & Characters BioWare’s strength is narrative. Anthem should have leaned harder into its lore (the Shapers, the Anthem of Creation) and delivered story-rich expansions with player-driven choices.

Basically, Bioware and EA simply have to lend an ear to the current fanbase. If I were to add 1 small recommendation regarding gameplay itself, I would urge Bioware to make hovering infinite. It was annoying having to fly through a waterfall every 20 seconds just to stay in the air.

Final Thoughts

I love this game, I truly do. I don’t think Anthem is ready to go gently into the night. Quite the opposite, I think Anthems journey has only just begun. Will Bioware reboot it? I hope so. If enough players sign into the servers and actively engage in the remaining content it would send a strong message to Bioware that Anthem is NOT done yet. We still have time to save this once in a lifetime game.

As the freelancers say: “Strong alone, stronger together”.

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