BioWare boss Casey Hudson talks about Anthem's shared-world storytelling

There's been quite a bit of speculation about how BioWare's Destiny 2-styled online shooter Anthem will tell a single-player story contained within a multiplayer world, particularly since epic tales of solo heroism have historically been BioWare's bread and butter. Casey Hudson's "mid-summer update" on the BioWare Blog reveals a little bit about how the studio is approaching the task through a system called "Our World, My Story."

"[Our World, My Story] is one of the most innovative things about Anthem," Hudson wrote. "In the dynamic open world, everything is experienced in real-time by all Anthem players—day/night, weather, and world-scale events that shape the ongoing narrative of the setting. This is 'our world,' which we share as a player community."

"Then when you return to Fort Tarsis, that’s actually a single-player experience, and it’s where you spend time developing relationships, making choices, and seeing consequences. That’s the 'my story' part."

Hudson acknowledged that his quickie overview doesn't actually answer many questions, but said BioWare will "really go deep" on Anthem's storytelling (and other features) in a PAX panel—presumably that's PAX West, which runs from August 31 to September 3.

For those who prefer BioWare's older hits to the new material, Hudson also confirmed that it is getting up to new things in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect settings, although it's all very preliminary at this point. "We have some teams hidden away working on some secret stuff that I think you’ll really like," he wrote. "We’re just not ready to talk about any of it for a little while."

Anthem is set to come out on February 22, 2019.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.