The game director of Anthem talked about how players are supposed to experience a personal story. Jonathan Warner explained that there should be no focus on a gigantic story that unfolds gradually.
Anthem will have time-limited events: Players are supposed to constantly have something to marvel at and talk about. Game director Warner did not want to go into detail about what these events will be. However, they should be surprising. What is known so far is that, for example, the map can change for all players or weather phenomena can occur.
Events run simultaneously for all players: Anthem should feel like a shared place for everyone. The story will also revolve around the entire group as “Freelancers” rather than the individual. To facilitate these shared events, all cycles of day, night, and weather will be synchronized for each player.
The same events for everyone, even outside of an instance
Players experience the same events, even if they are not in a group: John Warner illustrated it this way, that if players from the UK and Canada are playing in Anthem, both can have the same event in the game.
This should also work if they are not part of a group. After all, it is possible to play with up to four players together. If these two players now talk to each other, one should be able to say that he saw the huge storm in Anthem that was there last night, and the other should be able to say that he saw it too.
To keep players engaged, something has to happen regularly: Warner continued to emphasize that it is important to offer a certain variation. Too much time should not pass before the next interesting thing happens in the game. There are already plans about how it will continue in Anthem after the release.
The progress of the Javelin should become the core: According to Warner, the real heart of Anthem is the Javelins. These are the combat suits that players go on missions with. The goal is to further develop the Javelins, get stronger, and hunt for rare loot – that is the core of the game. After the launch, there will also be more Javelin suits that players will gradually unlock.
