Thread by @NotPatrick

Ok, so I played Anthem for a few more hours, and my feelings are... mixed.

Parts of the game are fun: flying is really satisfying and shooting+abilities core gameplay is reasonably fun, but I do worry about the staying power long term; mainly about variety in activities. 🔽

In looter games (Diablo/Destiny/etc) it is *very* important that the game tricks you into feeling like you're not doing the same thing over and over again.
Your core gameplay loop is always the same 30 sec ~2 min repeated, but the context / activities have to be varied. 🔽

In this vertical slice, we essentially have three missions and one dungeon.
For all of them, you are match made into a team of 4, and their structure is almost indistinguishable. The dungeon has a (bigger) boss at the end, but aside from that it's very similar. 🔽

The other type of activity is Freeplay, where you roam the map for stuff to do. And there is very very very little to do. Basically super simple missions and caves that are super hard. This might change in the full game, but as it stands, I don't see myself doing that, ever. 🔽

(It should be noted that Freeplay is designed to collect crafting material, but as it stands the entire experience of that mode felt like a chore. Again, it will probably be more populated in the full game, but I'm not sure it'll be more fun). 🔽

So in the end we essentially have one type of thing to do: missions and dungeons are auto filled in teams and instanced, so there is no feeling of (semi) solo world exploring among others VS diving in a more serious contained experience. 🔽

That being said, this is only a short demo; it might very well be that the final game has tons of different feeling "stuff" or that missions are super varied and dungeons super exciting every time. As it stands though, I have a hard time seeing it. 🔽

A few more notes:
- The story seems like it can take a few fun turns, but the core of it is just as asinine as it is in Destiny.
- Dialogue is SO bad... SO SO bad. Mainly because it's so clearly recorded in separate sessions. It feels like random lines thrown out. 🔽

- The hub area (Fort Tarsis) is SUPER lonely, and it takes forever to go anywhere. I doubt the added "social area" will help, but we'll see.
- I suspect they have a more different environements they're not showing. Or, I hope so. Cause caves and forests get old fast. 🔽

It might seem like I'm being super negative, but... Well, I guess I am, but I also acknowledge these games begin at max level.
Things might completely change in the full release. And again, the core gameplay loop IS healthy and fun, and the flying is really great. 🔽

So the core of the game is good, and my concern here is only on the long term staying power of the game because of the "wrapping" of that core gameplay... I guess we'll have to wait and see! ⏹️