ANTHEM Demo
ANTHEM Demo
It's hard to determine what is going on and how much of the Demo was stripped.
That lobby is brutal and felt like 1 fps. Some people have mentioned no difference between some settings on or off , so will have to wait for full version
I've been trying it today. I've had to resort to custom settings to get near 60 fps at 3440x1440 on a GTX 1080. Cut down the post processing, the AA, the vegetation, turned off motion blur. Luckily I have GSync.
List of things I hate about this demo.
1. Starting Audio on game load crackles.
2. User Interface Menus are slow and stupidly designed. I click video settings, I see all the settings on the right, yet I click on them and nothing happens. No I have to click into that sub menu before I click the control that I can already see!
3. Poor Performance, this is not optimized at all and you can tell. Why is it so bad?, it doesn't seem that much better looking than Battlefield 1, same engine, which gives me over 100, and has quite the draw distance. We are two weeks from launch.
4. Starting Area, North African bazar meets Avatar... really? What kind of silly world is this that you have a stone cobbled streets and brick buildings? And everyone has some stupid helmet on. This IP is looking pretty terrible.
5. Go to talk to someone, Dialog options, hit 1... nothing happens, hit 1 notice the hold to activate graphic... check options to disable the anti moron hold to activate setup. No options for disabling the moron proofing UI.
6. Go to the armor suit... and Its loading me into it, and we are in a menu, and now we are in another menu, okay lets try that quick launch thing, nope back to other menu, hit F... hit F... yes hit F... okay and were loading into an instance to do the quest.... so its the World of Warcraft Dungeon Finder. Its not a real open world game its a bunch of instanced garbage.
7. In the world, how do I configure my armor... check menu... check again... Google it... Only at Forge not in the world... FML
8. Go to fight some flying bats, shoot shoot shoot... gun doesn't seem to have much power to it... Weaker than the Assault Rifle in Halo. Weaker than that garbage full auto AR in Mass Effect. I DON'T PLAY VIDEO GAMES TO FEEL WEAK AND PATHETIC.
9. Quest objective seems to be Blue Dots, as that is the only UI element and nothing I can see stands out. I go to blue dots, and they are players. Triangle is the objective, except Triangle F#@$%ing disappears randomly. Nice.
10. Quit and try again. Get to Forge, change armor to all black. Man there are a lot of materials. Realize the point of this is to sell them at $5-10 per.
11. Load up on new gear, get 2nd weapon... Assault Rifle was super weak, clearly the Shotgun with its slow firing rate and very long reload will do immense damage... NOPE
12. Well at the very least I can roleplay as War Machine and strafe enemies while flying right.... NOPE cant fire while flying, only hovering...
13. Well at least I can commiserate in chat with my fellow players. Hit enter for chat... nope, hit K for chat nope... looks at keybindings for chat... NO CHAT. F#$%ing Console Port!
I didn't really like Destiny but it at least felt like a competent shooter, the guns felt good, killing enemies felt good, the game just lacked a story or characters for me to care about. I thought Bioware could deliver on that story and characters, but I am not seeing it here, and it is not a good 3rd person shooter. Toss on top EA's shenanigans and now I am even questioning if it is worth the $15 for a month sub to play through the story.
I tried it then removed it.
Please note, I’ve played Warframe and really enjoyed it. I quit because the game’s design was tightly linked to the MTX system, which turned out to be a problem. I still like the style and genre, but I think it could work better if a more suitable title were released.
Anthem is currently in open beta and should still be considered Alpha. It isn’t fully polished yet.
There are numerous issues that make it difficult to play, ranging from audio glitches needing a restart, crashes, and disappearing UI elements. These problems occur frequently, turning the demo into a frustrating experience.
The controls are essentially a console emulation of K/M, which feels quite poor. This already makes the game hard to enjoy, especially in flight.
The demo is lacking, introducing players without any context or reference points.
Similar to Warframe, the game seems built around minimizing damage rather than handling it effectively—something that feels contradictory given the slow pace.
It’s worth mentioning that I described the experience as “sluggish,” not “heavy.” A game like Anthem should convey a sense of weight, but the controls here are so unresponsive and dull that it’s hard to connect with the experience.
In short, the demo felt extremely limited. Playing through without issues would have given me a clearer sense of what the game offers, but persistent bugs kept me away.
When it actually ran, it still felt incomplete.
Overall, Anthem came across as a game that’s far from finished. It would benefit from added complexity, better weapon and loadout customization, a more balanced combat system (including tanking and mitigating damage), and improved rewards for precision shooting.
That said, I’m not upset or surprised. It’s EA—whether it’s Bioware, they’re still EA. My expectations were low, and I got what I expected. I’ll keep an eye on how it performs after launch, but I won’t be holding out for a purchase just yet. For me, EA and BioWare would need to deliver a stronger product to make me consider investing. They haven’t, so yes… moving on.
My long term view is never get too comfy with a game because support and updates is never a lifetime.
What a horrible way to launch a Demo. My definition of a Demo would be something like the original Tomb Raiders game.
Have an exercise course, so you can get familiar with the controls and functions. Throw in some bots to shoot and call it a Demo.
Tried it. Discovered numerous areas that aren't optimized and fps dropped significantly, especially during gameplay.
Sticking to 40fps was necessary for about 80% of the time, but I ended up capping it at 40 outside the game because 40 to 80 and back... consistently, yet still preferring to keep it at 40fps most of the time.
Observed through OSD stats and usage that unoptimized behavior was evident.
Uninstalled this game.
Laughed internally while playing, noting that using a mouse feels like an afterthought and that shaders are heavily preloaded and CPU-intensive when you start, hoping they would improve but without the OSD indicating smooth performance.
Currently has 1 of 30 games installed, with "Years in the Making" being the only one that caused noticeable issues.
This project offers numerous possibilities for becoming a next-generation shooter, yet the demo fell short significantly.
Technical aspects:
My processor is a 4790K, with an OC to 4.5. the game struggles to maintain stability at 60 frames per second even on the lowest resolution, 1080p. the CPU usage remains constant at 100%, even when idle in a town with no players nearby. Why is moving just a few NPCs so demanding on the processor? It seems to require more than 8 threads, possibly even exceeding the demands of x264 encoding. Although this isn<|pad|>, chip isn’t the newest, I’m sure if such a high-speed CPU can’t handle it, 8 or 9 generation i5 models would be unlikely.
Until I saw someone test the executable, it was confirmed to have a positive denuvo signature.
Gameplay aspects:
For a next-gen shooter, the core experience in this demo feels quite restrained. Pick a mission, start it, and you’ll find yourself in a room-like environment where you rarely interact with others—until you venture out. It resembles Warframe in its limited social interaction, but with weaker player engagement.
Compared to today’s multiplayer shooter or RPG titles, I’d rate Anthem as the least polished in terms of gunplay and control. If you attempted Warframe’s flying mechanics, you’d understand the correct approach, but this game’s “emulate joystick by mouse” style is frustrating. While not everyone will appreciate Warframe’s aesthetic or ninja-style controls, it still sets a benchmark for third-person shooters, influencing aspects of Destiny 1/2. Shooting games have evolved far from the days of Quake and Doom, yet remain a core part of PC gaming. The controls feel sluggish rather than instantaneous, causing noticeable delays. The swimming mechanic is terrible; I experienced motion sickness during my first dive into the water, struggling to stay focused while swimming at 30 frames per second without the ability to chat with teammates.
This isn’t a game from BioWare—it should be. It actually improves my own gunplay, except for the jump mechanics, which I enjoy in Anthem.
Overall, this project is a cautionary tale for developers; it highlights the dangers of neglecting desktop playtesting.
This Reddit discussion also outlined key lessons to avoid creating a game like this.
I really hope to try it out but I think I’ll wait about 2-3 months before making a purchase. Then I’ll evaluate what I can accomplish as a solo player in this game and how the gameplay feels.
Some of my favorite moments were during ME3 Multiplayer when I played solo on gold and platinum waves, so if Anthem can capture that vibe, I’ll definitely spend some time on it.
The demo remains accessible today, allowing you to test it out quickly. However, significant adjustments will still be necessary.
I experienced several FPS issues too. My performance was generally between 60-90 in most areas, but dropped to around 45 in that city zone. In freeplay, I would reach a cap of 30 FPS in a specific region for some reason. Also, during stronghold mode, I would experience lag or server crashes in certain parts. (I tried this five times). I was planning to pre-order but will wait to see the launch results before spending money...