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Anthem Won't Feature Romantic Relationships Between Characters or Any Type of PvP Mode

No love stories to be found in BioWare's latest.  

Brittany Vincent

June 9, 2018 1:45 PM

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If you were previously looking forward to EA and BioWare's upcoming title Anthem because you're a glutton for romantic punishment in games, you may be a bit disappointed. According to lead producer Mike Gamble, during an interview for Game Informer's full Anthem cover story, the game will not feature any romantic relationships. So that fling you had with Garrus? Sorry, there's nothing like that in store for Anthem. 

Gamble explained the new mechanics that would be prominent in the game instead, which essentially amount to "friendships" you can form with other characters.

“There are no romances," Gamble said. "There are friendships. Some of the stuff we did with Mass Effect – the Citadel DLC specifically – there was a lot of friendship moments. You and Garrus sitting up, shooting – that kind of stuff, we want to lean into that. The romantic stuff, we’re moving away from that for Anthem.”

You'll still be able to build meaningful types of rapport with other characers by building friendships, but that's about all, it seems, at the moment.

Additionally, Anthem's executive producer Mark Darrah revealed to Game Informer that the game will not have a dedicated PvP mode, so that practice with building relationships and friendships you'll get in-game will have to carry over to the title's co-op mode. Since there will be no AI party members, you'll have to fly solo with no assistance or play with other real humans.

With the further emphasis on co-op, you'd think loot sharing and co-op story decisions would be included at the very least, but that won't be the case. It's going to be a very interesting change for BioWare's newest title, that's for sure.

Anthem is launching February 22, 2019 on all systems, with a PC release on the same day as consoles.

Brittany Vincent

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!