Goodbye, Anthem. We had the very best of hopes for you, and but we hardly knew ye.
At the moment, Jan. 12, 2026, marks the official finish of the doomed BioWare looter shooter as its servers shut down almost seven years after its unique launch, which means the sport is now not accessible in any respect because it’s not playable offline. And I can’t assist however really feel considerably melancholy about it, as a result of it may have been large.
Anthem was extremely overestimated resulting in its launch in 2019. It was a brand new spin on the style popularized by video games like Future and Warframe, with a enjoyable twist: Iron Man-like flight fits and aerial fight. It regarded unimaginable.
However for quite a few causes, it didn’t work out. The story was lackluster, the development wasn’t nice, there have been quite a few bugs and optimization points, and there was not numerous good or fascinating loot. When you wrapped up the storyline, there was simply not a lot left to do.
However I and plenty of others stand by the truth that its base flying and capturing gameplay was its biggest energy. The flying mech swimsuit fantasy was nice enjoyable, and flying from place to position and combating enemies alongside the way in which was a pleasure. The map was fairly, too, and the sport continues to be graphically actually strong even in 2026.
I additionally actually loved the fight system, which used designated talents like Primers (which utilized a standing impact) and Detonators (which triggered the primed standing impact) to create a Combo for giant injury on chunky enemies.
There have been additionally 4 distinct fashions of the mech fits, referred to as Javelins, every with its personal enjoyable play type. I used to be keen on the elemental-powered Storm Javelin, however the tank-like Colossus, the melee-based Interceptor, and the generalist Ranger had been all enjoyable to fiddle with.
The sport was only a large missed alternative, mismanaged from the start in some ways, and under-cooked in a number of areas. I actually miss that Iron Man fantasy of flying round in co-op with pals. It had such good potential if the remainder of the sport was as enjoyable or fleshed out.
BioWare and EA additionally clearly noticed this potential, too, because it began growth of “Anthem Subsequent” in 2020. Introduced a yr after the sport’s preliminary launch, the studio had plans to introduce a significant overhaul to the bottom sport with new challenges, development, and rewards whereas preserving the strong foundational gameplay intact.
Sadly, in February 2021, it was introduced that Anthem Subsequent growth was placed on maintain, and its builders unfold out to different tasks. Lower than 5 years on, the sport is now useless for good, and truthfully, I’ll miss you, Anthem. Properly, I’ll miss what you can have been. However I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I didn’t benefit from the time I did have with it.
Apparently I bought about 80 hours of play outing of Anthem, judging by what’s listed within the EA App. That’s positively not too shabby. However I can also solely think about what these hours may have regarded like if the sport bought the correct remedy and time it deserved.
I simply want there was extra to what we bought from Anthem, or on the very least, that EA will finally re-use that candy, satisfying aerial fight in its upcoming Iron Man sport from Motive (nonetheless within the works, as of now).
What do you suppose, expensive reader? Did you play Anthem, and in that case, what did you suppose? Tell us within the feedback about any recollections you’ve gotten with the sport.
