BioWare’s Mark Darrah answers Anthem-related questions on Twitter

After the commercial failure of Mass Effect Andromeda, EA has doubled down on Anthem being its next big sci-fi series. Although we know a little about the shared-world shooter ahead of its 2019 release, Anthem’s executive producer Mark Darrah is hoping to shed more light by answering questions over on Twitter.

Darrah has been answering fan questions on Anthem for quite some time, with his quick-fire, short burst revelations appearing as early as June 14th. This makes for a lot to wade through, with many recurring answers. One of the most popularly asked questions is for a change in how intrusive damage numbers can be, from shrinking them to making them more transparent. Darrah has confirmed that the team is indeed looking into this.

What were you hoping to do?
You can change the look pretty dramatically https://t.co/vZeRZA5ujD

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 15, 2018

He revealed that each player will start in a Ranger class Javelin, unlocking the Colossus, Interceptor and Storm variants in any order through story progression. While players can walk around outside of a Javelin within the safe haven of Fort Tarsis, leaving this hub will always see the player step inside the mech. Each Javelin is customisable within the Fort, with players granted the ability to change the “colour, paint job and some of the physical parts. Some cosmetics will be earned / purchased but they aren’t single use.”

Anthem fits into the popular theme of shoot-and-loot, similar to Destiny, with progression heavily tied to the weapons scavenged when exploring. Each loot drop is instanced to each individual player based on their own level. This means if a level 1 pairs with a level 100, each will get loot personally catered to them in order to maintain balance. This example is not representative of the height of the level cap, to which Darrah reveals is currently being balanced.

No. The question was specifically about IF you play a mission solo.
Missions are designed for 4. You can play with 1-4 https://t.co/rdzRVMEZLo

— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) June 23, 2018

All story missions and some Strongholds can be played solo, however Darrah enforces that co-op experience is the true focus of Anthem. Drop-in/drop-out matchmaking is used “for everything,” meaning that players should always be able to pair up if they wish. Although Darrah firmly steers clear of talking content post-launch, his comment on PvP not being available upon release suggests that the feature might eventually make its way into the game.

Other tidbits of information that Darrah reveals is a weather system, no plans for cross-play at launch and a variety of dubbed languages and subtitles still in planning. At the very least, BioWare has taken on board a lot of the lessons it’s learned from Mass Effect Andromeda’s failure, paving the way for Anthem to be a hit.

KitGuru Says: Darrah is sure to reveal more between now and Anthem’s February 2019 launch, so I’ll be sure to keep readers updated. What do you want to see from Anthem? What has you most excited so far?

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