Anthem
Stop me if you have heard this one before, but Anthem is kind of struggling.
Anthem needs some support, and ASAP. And by support, I don’t mean bug fixes and patches (although every game on this list could use more of those), I mean additional content to bulk out the game. Things to keep players engaged and logging in on a regular basis.
It’s been a pretty rough week for BioWare and Anthem in general, but now we know why the game was shipped in the state that it was.
But with that being said, Anthem is still a game that a lot of players are enjoying, and they are desperate for more endgame activities to really sink their teeth into.
Since launch, back on Feb. 22, there have been some desperately needed fixes and patches for stability. This is all par for the course, but disappointingly, there has only been one substantive update: Game Update 1.0.4.
Game Update 1.0.4 introduced Legendary Missions, which allowed players to replay story missions again on a higher difficulty. It also brought Elysian Caches, which reward players for completing Strongholds with unique vanity items, 67 all told.
Chances are, you have already played through the main campaign in Anthem, and Legendary Missions really just tune the damage in the A.I.’s favor. This might keep you busy for a while, but isn’t really pushing the needle in the way that adding some new content would.
The Elysian Caches are a great step forward… on paper. They are awarded for completing Stronghold Missions, and unique loot is always a plus.
Problem is, there are only three Strongholds in Anthem currently, and die-hard Anthem fans have probably run them all to death at this point. Doing so again and again in the name of some fancy loot is really only going to keep the die-hards satiated, and even then, for how long?
New Strongholds and story missions would alleviate some of this pain, and the sooner the better.
Fallout 76
Fallout 76 didn’t launch in the most stable state, and there have been numerous issues ever since. It’s still miles off being anywhere near the standard set by Destiny 2, or even the very recently released Division 2, and the road ahead is long and irradiated.
Released back in November, Fallout 76 has received nine updates so far, which actually isn’t too shabby. That’s roughly 1.5 updates a month, but when it comes to content updates, it’s quality that counts, not quantity.
They haven’t been without controversy, with some patches introducing more bugs than they fix, and others needing a ludicrous amount of free space before they can be installed. Sometimes Bethesda doesn’t even tell its players when things have been nerfed.
What Fallout 76 needs to succeed is consistency, quality content released on a consistent schedule. The roadmap released by Bethesda in February is a promising start, but these releases need to strike a chord with the player base, or those free-to-play rumors may just become a reality.
Vault Raids will keep players logging in, and so long as the loot is good, will keep them playing. This is something that MMO’s learned a long time ago, and it is something that can be applied here, too. Challenging content that can be repeated without feeling too samey is worth its weight in gold.
Bethesda is hard at work, but the question here is when. When will these updates hit? There is a whole bunch of 2019 left, and fingers crossed we aren’t waiting until December to see these additions.
PUBG
Remember PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, kids? It was kind of like Fortnite, before there ever was a Fortnite… if you can imagine such a universe. That strange, parallel world was known as “2017”.
PUBG has quietly been chugging along, even if it doesn’t make headlines so often anymore. It has a solid player base that, by this point, know Miramar like the back of their own hands, and are ready and waiting to devour whatever morsel developer Bluehole will throw at them.
PlayerUnknown himself has left for Brendan Greene-er pastures (sorry), and Bluehole has recently wrapped up the FIX PUBG campaign, which means that the game is entering a whole new phase of its lifespan.
Now that a lot of bugs have been squashed, and more than two million accounts have been banned for cheating, it’s not inconceivable that PUBG could rise again. It could be time for PUBG to remind everyone why they were number one for so long.
The key is to keep up the momentum. With the recent release of the long-rumored snow map Vikendi and whispers of a redesigned Erangel in the works, it seems like the production pipeline might have finally hit its stride… it’s just a shame that it took so long.
Of the games on this list, I think PUBG is in a position to become dominant once again if they can just kick things up a notch further.
There is still something about it that separates it from the rest of its battle royale competitors. Sure it’s janky and the character models look strange, but it’s also incredibly hardcore, and that sweet, sweet taste of a chicken dinner is still something to be savored.
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