Anthem (video game)

""The gods vanished... And left our world in chaos. Creating. Altering. Destroying. The Anthem is all that remains.""

- Opening Scroll

Anthem is a Shared World Third-Person RPG Shooter released in February 2019. The game was developed by BioWare - the Edmonton studio - and published by Electronic Arts.

The unnamed world was being made by the gods, who meant to complete it within nine days. However, for reasons unknown, they abandoned it after the third day of Creation. All that's left of them is their tools, the titular "Anthem of Creation. The unfinished world has since become very dangerous. Humanity's main civilization is Fort Tarsis, a walled city that keeps humanity safe and the only people who leave it regularly are Freelancers. The Freelancers are mercenaries with customized suits of powered armor called Javelins. Something out there is plotting to conquer humanity, and the Freelancers may be the only ones who have a chance of stopping it.


 * Action Girl: Any female Freelancer. Naemd examples include Kim and the first leader of the Legion of Dawn, General Helene Tarsis.
 * After the End: Inverted in a unique manner. The world the game takes place in was abandoned by the gods before it was even finished being created. The incomplete nature and conflicting forces have made it extremely hostile.
 * Ambiguously Human: A race of beings called the Scar. They are humanoid enemies, but are implied to either be mutants, aliens or uplifted animals. All that's been revealed so far is that they are native to the planet "Anthem" takes place on.
 * Backpack Cannon: The Ranger and Colossus model Javelins have a heavy weapon strapped to their backs. The player can switch out different weapons between missions.
 * Badass Army: The Legion of Dawn were a group of soldiers who defended humanity (at least a Fort Tarsis) from outside dangers.
 * Badass Crew: Any group of Freelancers.
 * Big Bad: The Dominion, a human kingdom philosophically opposed to Fort Tarsis, who have seemingly found a way to weaponize the Anthem of Creation.
 * Death From Above: Weapons such as the mortar. Any Freelancer can potentially do this given the Javelin's jetpacks.
 * Death World: The planet the story of Anthem takes place on, Coda, is dangerous for all who live on it - especially humans. The terrain is treacherous, the wildlife is extremely hostile, and there's at least one other intelligent species hostile to humanity.  The Shaper Storms are also dangerous, being able to decimate the landscape.
 * Defector From Decadence: The Freelancers are implied to be this from the Legion of Dawn.
 * The Empire: The Dominon, given that their reason for trying to weaponize the Anthem is to expand and solidify their rule.
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: has a younger sister who admires her brother enough to.
 * Fragile Speedster: The Interceptor Javelin's rely on speed.
 * Have You Seen My God?: Anthem is set in a world that the Gods have abandoned and left unfinished, but they left behind their massive tools, collectively called the Anthem of Creation.
 * Hostile Weather: The Shaper Storms are one example.
 * Humongous Mecha: Humanity has several-story-tall robots called Striders that are used both within and without Fort Tarsis.
 * Hungry Jungle: The area around Fort Tarsis is, at least. Massive trees overgrow copious amounts of ruins and there is much hostile wildlife out there.
 * Jack of All Stats: The Ranger Javelins are designed to be the most balanced and all-purpose of the exo-suits.
 * Jet Pack: All of the Javelins seem to have one built in. In-game footage shows the jet packs in Anthem allowing the Freelancers to travel faster through the open-world by flying through the air like Iron Man.
 * Job System: Essentially how the Javelins operate. You'll create a freelancer who can switch between Javelins at will by returning to their base.
 * Kill It with Fire: The Colossus has the option of equipping a flamethrower to their arm as a backup weapon.
 * Kill It with Ice: The Ranger Javelin has the ability to use an ice grenade.
 * Lost Technology: The Shaper relics, especially since they're coveted by The Dominion.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: One of the Backpack Cannons for the Ranger model Javelin shots out a large amount of missile.
 * Magma Man: One of the boss fights is with a being that resembles a giant man made of molten rock and wreathed in red energy.
 * Megaton Punch: One of the Colossus armor's attacks depicted in the gameplay trailer.
 * Mighty Glacier: The hulking Colossus Javelins are bigger and tougher than the Rangers, since they're designed for strength and durability, but at the cost of being noticeably slower.
 * Named After Somebody Famous: In-universe example. The city of Fort Tarsis is named after Helene Tarsis, first leader of the Legion of the Dawn.
 * Neglectful Precursors: The Shapers, the ancient race that created Coda, may be this. Abandoning the world they made for unknown reasons, the end result was a Death World full of hostile wildlife and dangerous weather.  On top of this, they also left behind countless pieces of their technology that can either spawn hordes of angry mooks, change gravity, alter the laws of physics, access other realities or time periods and God knows what else.
 * Player Character: The player assumes the role of one of the Freelancers.
 * Powered Armor: The Javelins used by Freelancers which have four variants.
 * Mini-Mecha: The Colossus Javelins are big enough to qualify as this.
 * Overheating: Non-weapon example. To prevent players from staying airborne indefinitely, Javelins have an overheat system where their jets build up heat. This can be lowered by flying through water to cool them down, allowing a skilled pilot familiar with the environment to stay in the air longer.
 * Pardon My Klingon: There are local profanities and expletives among the people of Freemark, such as "this is total skorp-drop!"
 * Regenerating Shield, Static Health: Most Javelins have a shield that will regenerate on its own if the player avoids damage for a period of time, but they also have a health bar that will not regenerate on its own and must be replenished by health drops from enemies. The Colossus does not have this shield but has a massive pool of Hit Points to compensate.
 * Scenery Porn: One example can be seen of top of the Wall around Fort Tarsis. It offers a gorgeous view of the sky, mountains and jungle that surrounds Fort Tarsis.
 * Science Fantasy: The developers have described the game as science fantasy. The E3 2018 presentation elaborates a little more saying a big part of the lore is that the Gods of the Anthem setting have abandoned the world and left it unfinished.
 * Schizo-Tech: While the world of Anthem has large mechas and power armor, the world is also much more low tech in some ways. Each Javelin was handmade by a craftsman because the world lacks mass-production capabilities, and they don't have things like television. The developers have described it as "A world without microchips."
 * Secret Police: The Monitor and his forces have this role among the Dominion.
 * Slave Race: Humanity was this for the Urgoth centuries ago until rebelling and escaping.
 * Shock and Awe: The Storm Javelin use electrical weapons that can shock large groups, especially if they are in water.
 * Shout-Out: Among the paint jobs shown for Javelins, one of them was an N7 job, complete with the arm stripe and logo, and another one featured a very distinct purple and green.
 * Squishy Wizard: The Storm Javelin has very low health, but can cast powerful "spells" and also has the ability to teleport. Their Javelin power armor is also depicted with a cloth draped around the shoulders.
 * Well Intentioned Extremist: The Monitor seeks to use the Anthem of Creation to reclaim the world for humanity.
 * The World Is Just Awesome: While it might be a Death World, the planet the game takes place on is stunningly beautiful.
 * Wide Open Sandbox: Outside Fort Tarsis, the game is a Skyrim-style vast, seamless open world.