After a poor launch filled with bugs and other issues as well as poor post-launch, it was revealed that Bioware would be drastically changing Anthem. The developer has stayed quiet since the news came out, but recently in a new blog post, Bioware addressed the community about Anthem NEXT or Anthem 2.0.
Christian Dailey, Studio Director of Bioware Austin and Head of the team working on Anthem‘s overhaul said: “The Anthem incubation team has kicked off and we are starting to validate our design hypotheses. Incubation is a term we use internally – it essentially means we are going back and experimenting/prototyping to improve on the areas where we believe we fell short and to leverage everything that you love currently about Anthem.”
Bioware is planning on changing lot of aspects of the game. From the loot, the quests, the social aspects of the game, the difficulty, the progression system, and the world map. The world of Anthem is set in one large map and separating it will allow the developers to not have to worry about bugs or glitches which was one of the bigger issues of the game. Another aspect of the game they are looking to change is the need to go back to Fort Tarsis, the main hub in the game. After every mission, you would have to go back to Fort Tarsis to continue the story, talk to characters, get new missions, etc. Then, you would have to go back into the open-world.
Christian Dailey expressed that overhauling Anthem will be a long process, especially since not all of Bioware is working on it. “We are a small team – about 30-ish, earning our way forward as we set out to hit our first milestone goals,” Dailey said. “Spoiler – this is going to be a longer process. And yes, the team is small but the whole point of this is to take our time and go back to the drawing board. And a small team gives us the agility a larger one can’t afford.”
Dailey also noted how the team wants to include the community in helping overhaul Anthem. “We really want this experience to be different for the team and our players, but we know we have some tough challenges to tackle. We want to include you as we go and be open and honest with where we are at and what the expectations are with where we are going. The reality is you will see things that look awesome but end up on the cutting room floor or things that you might think suck that you feel we are spending too much time on – but in the spirit of experimentation this is all OK. We really want to provide you all the transparency we can because of your passion and interest in Anthem. But, with that comes seeing how the sausage is made – which.is not always pretty by the way.”
Bioware is also currently developing Dragon Age 4 which may be two or more years away.