IGN gave Anthem a 6.5/10. BioWare gutted itself trying to save it. Then killed it anyway.
The Original Review
“Anthem looks beautiful and is anchored by exciting combat, but its potential is hamstrung by repetitive missions and a half-baked endgame.”
I didn't work on Anthem. But I know people who did. Some of them aren't in games anymore. They're in fintech now, or insurance UX, or that vague liminal LinkedIn category called 'consultant.' One of them used to talk about hover physics like other people talk about their kids. Now he talks about quarterly OKRs.
The 6.5 didn't kill Anthem. EA's release schedule killed Anthem. Live-service mandates from executives who'd never shipped multiplayer killed Anthem. Seven prototype versions in five years killed Anthem. But IGN's review is the polite eulogy that gave everyone permission to look away.
Brandin Tyrrel's review is technically competent. It identifies the problems. It explains why the combat sings but the missions repeat. It's measured. It's professional. That's what makes it the cruelest possible score, because measured professionalism is what you give a project you don't care enough to be angry at.
6.5 is the worst score in journalism. A 4 would've been mercy — a clean break, a clear warning, a thing players talk about. An 8 would've been a lifeline. 6.5 is the corporate handshake of game reviews: firm, brief, instantly forgotten. It doesn't generate clicks. It doesn't generate headlines. It just sits there dragging Metacritic down by half a point at a time, while the people who poured five years of their lives into the project read it on a Friday morning and quietly update their resumes.
The press box doesn't see the December crunch. It doesn't see the all-hands where the studio head explains the 'transition.' It doesn't see the dev who hadn't seen their kid awake in eleven weeks watch the 6.5 land and realize that's all that's left. The press box sees the polish. It judges the polish. It moves to the next review by Tuesday.
By the time BioWare officially killed Anthem 2.0 in 2021, IGN had moved on three franchises ago. The 6.5 still sits there like a grave marker. No follow-up. No 'we were too kind.' No 'we should have warned harder.' Just 6.5, frozen in amber, while the credits roll on a hundred and twenty careers.
Easy to say from the press box.
