**The Conclusion of Anthem: An Aftermath Review**
Anthem, the ambitious looter shooter from BioWare, has officially been discontinued, prompting both fans and developers to ponder what led to its downfall. Mark Darrah, a former producer at BioWare who played a role in the project, recently shared a nearly four-hour postmortem video that details the game’s unfortunate outcome and proposes potential strategies that might have rescued it.
One of the most captivating elements of Darrah’s review is the disclosure that Anthem could have functioned on local servers, a shift that may have enabled it to persist even after Electronic Arts (EA) opted to discontinue the project. He notes that BioWare had local servers operational in a development setup right up until shortly before the game’s release in 2019. While it is uncertain if these servers are still active, the code to restore them is reportedly still accessible.
Darrah suggested that running Anthem on local servers could greatly minimize the expenses tied to maintaining the game. “The reason you do this, it pulls away the cost of maintaining this game,” he noted, proposing that instead of depending on dedicated servers, which can be costly, player consoles could themselves act as the necessary game servers.
The idea that alternatives were present to preserve Anthem adds a layer of disappointment for both the development team and the gaming community. EA initially justified the decision to shut down Anthem without presenting an offline mode by asserting it was “designed to be an online-only title.” However, the earlier existence of local servers hints that a different direction could have been pursued. The choice to completely terminate the game is perceived as a more straightforward but ultimately damaging decision.
Additionally, in his video, Darrah described a theoretical reworking of Anthem that could potentially convert it into a single-player experience, appealing to a wider audience. He estimated that realizing this vision would conservatively require around $10 million, and if the game sold over 400,000 copies, it could be economically feasible. He proposed transitioning the game to current-generation consoles and creating AI companions to enhance gameplay that was initially meant for multiplayer interactions. This reworking could include upgrading existing NPCs to companions or introducing several new characters to round out the party.
“If you can do those two things and turn the local servers on,” Darrah commented, “what you have essentially reverse-engineered is a BioWare game without romances with a decent BioWare-style story.” His vision suggests that numerous fans of BioWare’s narratives may have never engaged with Anthem due to its multiplayer-only framework, presenting an opening for a different kind of interaction.
Ultimately, Darrah expressed doubts about whether EA would entertain such a proposal, despite its seemingly cost-effective nature compared to ongoing server upkeep. The notion that Anthem could have survived in a revised format is disheartening, especially since the backdrop of its shutdown has left many feeling deceived by EA and BioWare.
In summary, while Anthem’s servers may have been permanently muted, discussions surrounding its possibilities endure. The insights derived from Darrah’s postmortem provide a glimpse into what could have been, underscoring the necessity of grasping player expectations and the feasibility of alternative solutions in the gaming realm.
