Anthem: Freedom in a savage world

Shortly after Microsoft's press conference yesterday, YouTube Live's Geoff Keighley sat down with Anthem director Jonathan Warner of BioWare for a wide-ranging discussion of the different facets of the game. We broke down the different topics with some choice quotes, which you can read below!

On Why Players Should Be Excited

"We've created a very big open world for players to explore, and it's going to be something that is kind of brand new. I don't think you've ever had the ability to really inhabit a BioWare world like this before."

Demo Location - Hub

"Fort Tarsus "is one of your key places - a hub - where we're going to spend some time here. This is where you're going to be able to customize your Javelin exosuits. You'll pick up quests here, it's going to be a real activity centre for you."

"For us, freedom is a big component. The ability for you to play and experience this game the way you want to play it. The ability to play with your friends in the manner that you want to. So, you'll be able to play with your friends, you'll be able to play by yourself. I think that people will be really surprised at how frictionless the whole experience is."

On Enemies

"We have a diverse array of opponents that you're going to face. We're not quite ready to unveil a lot of the details just yet, but there's always going to be a great conflict in the world - whether it's natural enemies like you saw in the demo with really fierce monsters and creatures, other humans in exosuits, I think you're going to be really challenged and surprised."

On Motivation In World

"This is a very savage world. Humanity is on the lowest rung of the food chain here. So, people need these amazing exosuits in order to get out there, compete and thrive in the world. You play as one of the heroes, who has the courage to put on this armour, go out and explore beyond the safety of the walls of Fort Tarsus."

Combat Loop

"What we showed in the demo today, you're going to be able to engage in combat in a variety of ways. Gunplay with an amazing array of different rifles, but you're also [going to] be able to equip gear on your suit and customize that, so you can approach it in different ways. Overpowering firepower, being able to adjust the loadout of your suit so it really suits your playstyle. That's something we totally expect and want players to dive into.

Narrative

"I think the magic of a great open world game, is that we will definitely tell a great BioWare story in ways that you might be accustomed to. But also giving you the freedom to kind of tell your own stories as you explore and dig in and uncover new things. Stories that you'll tell your friends, those types of stories are just another facet of what we are trying to do."

Romances

"[Laughs] I don't think they want me to talk about that just yet."

On Whether It Follows A Games As A Service Model

"We definitely want this to be a game that people engage in over a long period of time and enjoy over the course of months and years. We're building the world in a way that we can continually expand it. We always give you more reasons to come back and play it, so packing the world like this full of stories is really what we're after."

The Name

"An anthem is something that unifies a group of people. It's something that gives them a sense of purpose that's bigger than themselves, and that's definitely something we wanted to imbue the IP with and imbue the game and story with as well."

Can You Play Completely Solo

"Absolutely."

You can watch the full interview here. Anthem is set to be released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC sometime in 2018.