Anthem Interview with Aaryn Flynn

BioWare’s Aaryn Flynn has participated in an audio interview with CBC regarding Anthem, BioWare’s new game. He talked about the game’s setting, which he described as science fantasy as opposed to Mass Effect’s science fiction, and also mentioned the reasons for creating Anthem, that stem from his desire to make a game that’s fun for a broad audience; the kind of game he could play with his kids.

PC Gamer, reporting on this interview, transcribed a couple of quotes from it. An excerpt:

However, in a recent interview with the CBC, Aaryn Flynn, general manager of BioWare Edmonton, described the game as “science fantasy” and suggested that players shouldn’t expect quite the same commitment to the nuts-and-bolts of the story as they got from Mass Effect.

“[It’s] very much like Star Wars, very much like the Marvel Universe, where you see a lot of amazing things happening, but we don’t worry too much about why they’re happening, or how they’re happening, the science of it,” Flynn said. “Mass Effect is more our real hardcore science fiction IP. This one is much more about just having fun in a game world that is lush and exotic and really sucks you in.”

Flynn said his interest in making a game like Anthem is rooted in a desire to be able to play with his sons, a “life situation” he said other people at the studio are encountering as well. In a similar vein, he also noted that ideas for Anthem’s game world, despite how fantastical it is, often come from “our own personal lives.”