Anthem Fans Return to Game One Last Time Before Server Shutdown, Discuss its “Potential”

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The cancellation of Anthem was a major event in gaming. EA announced in July 2025 that the game’s servers would be shut down today, and that time has now come. Players returned to Anthem for one last session to bid farewell to the game. Many shared their thoughts on social media, remembering its potential as a competitor to Destiny.

Man, it’s really sad to see Anthem go. I always thought it had so much promise, and it feels like a huge missed opportunity. Seeing it shut down really hits home how incredibly difficult it is to keep a game like that – a ‘looter shooter’ – going for the long haul. It was supposed to be a Destiny killer, but it just couldn’t stick around, and that’s a bummer.

One player shared that they played Anthem for the final time last night, enjoying a last tour of the game’s world and completing a few missions. They added that while opinions on the game vary, its potential was clear, especially the impressive flying mechanics.

BlueSky user Dominic Tarason said the game “had so much potential.” He praised the movement, flying, and shooting, calling it better than any official Iron Man game and expressing a desire for all sci-fi superhero games to feel that good. However, he criticized the missions, saying they were designed for a typical ground-based shooter instead of taking advantage of the game’s strengths.

It’s no surprise so many posts mention the game’s potential. When Anthem initially released on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, most players agreed the flying felt great and could have been the basis for a fantastic game. Unfortunately, a shortage of things to do and some poor design choices ultimately stopped players from really enjoying it.

Our review of Anthem highlighted a frustrating pattern: great core gameplay undermined by poorly designed missions. For instance, the story’s momentum stalls when players have to unlock ancient tombs, a process we found tedious and pointless. These unlocks involved repetitive tasks, like defeating a certain number of enemies in a specific way or constantly reviving teammates. Ultimately, we scored Anthem a 5 out of 10, acknowledging its strengths in gunplay, flying, story, and world, but pointing out that weak mission design and a limited variety of enemies were major flaws among other issues.

Following the model of games that are continuously updated, BioWare and EA announced in February 2020 that they were working on a major overhaul of Anthem. The plan was to fix technical issues like stability and performance, and add new content and features. Unfortunately, this revamp was cancelled just a year later, in February 2021. Christian Dailey, head of BioWare Austin, explained that the studio’s productivity was significantly affected by the challenges of 2020, including the global pandemic.

For more details on Anthem‘s rise and fall, check out the full story.

This game had incredible potential. The way you move, fly, and shoot feels fantastic – honestly, it’s better than any official Iron Man game I’ve played. I’d love to see more sci-fi games with this level of movement and control. Unfortunately, the missions themselves weren’t well-designed. They felt like they were made for a standard, ground-based shooter instead of taking advantage of the flying and super-suit abilities.

— Dominic Tarason (@dominictarason.com) 2026-01-12T11:08:07.430Z

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2026-01-12 17:12