2019's Anthem is currently in the throes of a core gameplay altering version 2.0, with an emphasis on reinventing and revitalizing the mech-suit shooter. Aiming to overhaul equipment, abilities, and weapons, the new Anthem is being designed with more freedom in mind, offering multiple avenues to build by with a much broader sense of viability across the game's four Javelin mechs.
While a greatly anticipated new title from BioWare at its release, Anthem fell short in sales, undoubtedly shadowed by the studio's last effort in Mass Effect: Andromeda as well as its own disappointing reception. Despite this, BioWare had officially announced that support for Anthem would continue, maintaining its most loyal fanbase and developing this version 2.0 nearly a year later.
Fortunately, several recent titles have proven that re-releases aren't just possible, but can effectively revive ailing player counts. Considered as such, Anthem's 2.0 update promises a set of massive new skill trees to not only encourage new playstyles, but hone specific builds into something more unique and most importantly fun to experiment with. Shifting from the previous system that walled abilities and equipment behind drop chances and looting, each javelin's most distinguishing features will now be unlocked and able to be interchanged at will, encouraging further variation over previously restrictive builds.
Ideally, these changes will alleviate the frustrations with a chance-based progression philosophy coupled with microtransactions. Further facilitating this shift in the feel of progression, inscriptions are no longer the cornerstone that a javelin is built around and are instead serving to promote synergy between abilities and equipment. Additionally, the introduction of customizable artifacts hand-in-hand with new specialization trees aim to promote build diversity in Anthem like never before, addressing the community's chief concern of unfulfilling builds and a repetitive gameplay loop.
The Anthem team's timing is impeccable, with many speculating the re-release coinciding with the coming wave of next-gen consoles. With a refreshed set of core gameplay mechanics, the year old game would be breaking ground for Bioware on the PS5 and Xbox Series X as more than just a port, undoubtedly saving the team the stress of trying to develop a sequel outright. Credit is due to BioWare for maintaining fairly transparent communication with the Anthem community, allowing them opportunities to share their feedback across several different social media avenues, and to craft something new and exciting utilizing one of the legendary developer's most passionate projects.
Anthem is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: BioWare