Anthem: Will there be special female outfits? This is what BioWare says

The eagerly awaited MMO shooter Anthem by BioWare lets you control futuristic combat suits. But what do the designs look like? Are there specific female forms? BioWare has given a clear answer to this!

What’s the deal with the combat suits in Anthem? In Anthem, you play as so-called Freelancers. These are mercenaries who venture into the lethal wilderness with heavily armed Javelin combat suits to complete highly dangerous missions.

The suits look as if developed by Tony “Iron Man” Stark and are packed with high-tech gadgets and weapons. However, it has not been clear so far whether a man or a woman is inside the Javelins. BioWare has now addressed this.

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von Leya Jankowski

Gender separation in combat mode?

Gender stereotypes in many games: In many games, depending on the genre, armor or combat suits for women are often designed differently than those for men, catering to long-standing gender stereotypes:

• Armor for men is often particularly massive and bulky. This is to make the brute male strength stand out even more.
• Combat outfits for women are usually delicate, have broad hips, prominently visible breasts, and often high heels. One often gets the impression that the heroine primarily wants to look sexually attractive. Defensiveness comes second.

Combat suits in a unisex look

All Javelins come in the same size: BioWare has always strived for equality. Therefore, Javelins for women do not look different from those for men. A combat suit designed for speed will also be light and delicate on a male wearer.

And if a woman squeezes into a bulky tank Javelin, she is just as massive and bulky as her male counterparts. This way, no one is forced to play a specific gender based on looks.

According to a tweet from the developers at BioWare, there was a lot of discussion on this topic until they reached the current unisex solution. In the meantime, there has also been a more detailed statement from the developers. They have stated for several reasons that they will no longer have gender variants:

• The differences between the gender versions would have been hardly visible anyway
• They would have had to do a lot of extra work to give all machines a gender-specific look. That would have been too much unforeseen additional effort.