Why Anthem isn’t the new Fallout 76

Fallout 76 is anything if not a shambles all these months after release. Still lagging in improvements, still dismal in gameplay mechanics, the game is a study in how not to do an online game in the modern era.

It has become such a debacle that it has even tarnished both the brand and Bethesda as well. That’s some pretty impressive stuff, given how broken some past games were.

From system crashes to just not working, Bethesda is not known for producing the most stable software on the market.

Fallout 76 an insult to gamers?

But Fallout 76 is something different – it is just bad. A bad game, a blatant cash grab, and somewhat of an insult.

There’s little reason to believe things are going to improve in the future unless they add some kind of compelling reason to stay in that world, like a story and NPCs. Or anything, really – just ask anyone who has stuck with the game what the laundry list of needed changes are and you’ll notice they basically amount to “please make a real game.”

Bioware’s Anthem has taken some of the pressure off of Fallout 76 in recent weeks because it, too, has suffered from a shambolic launch and less-than-ideal gameplay.

Yet it is very different game from Fallout 76, which, by all accounts, could be used as exhibit A in a cash grab scheme. Anthem is a real game, with real mechanics, and tons of potential. It started its life as a game, not as a shell to be populated by online players.

Why comparisons between Anthem and Fallout 76 are unfair

That’s why comparisons between the two really aren’t fair and, indeed, Anthem has a lot going for it whereas Fallout 76 has almost everything against it at this point. Bioware is known for quality, and people enjoy tossing tomatoes at once-great houses like them, but the claims that the studio is dead are hyperbolic.

That doesn’t mean that you should run out right now and buy Anthem and pray for the best. But if you’re staying away from it because you think it is a bad game then you might be buying more into the hype than reality.

Fans of Bioware stuff, in particular, should pick it up. It tries some different things and it isn’t the same as its competition in many ways that, if improved upon in the future, could make Anthem one helluva game.

Gamers often complain about things being the same, year in and year out. Often, devs that try new things are punished for it. That’s why we have so much of the same. It would behoove us all to reward innovation when it is done well. Anthem is doing some things really well and it deserves more attention for what it is attempting to do rather than how it has struggled to get there.

Then again, everything is driven by hype these days and online games are a particularly risky proposition in that environment. If they take off on day one, great, if they don’t, you could be looking at a huge financial loss in the near term.