Dedicated Anthem Fan Revives Game Post-Server Shutdown, Sparking Hopes for a Community-Led Revival

It’s been a week since the shutdown of Anthem, but there’s a glimmer of hope for fans who might want to revive BioWare’s looter shooter, even with EA pulling the plug on its servers.

Mark Darrah, the executive producer of Anthem and a veteran of Dragon Age, previously mentioned that the game had local server code running in a development environment right up until a few months before its launch. While he’s uncertain if that code is still functional, he noted that it could potentially be salvaged. This would allow the game to operate without dedicated servers, enabling players to run the server on their own machines. Additionally, if BioWare had managed to implement AI party members, Anthem could have been playable in a single-player mode, but that never materialized.

However, as discovered by some fans, it seems they might be able to orchestrate a revival themselves. A YouTuber named And799 has shared a proof of concept video titled “Anthem Client as Server testing.” In this video, they demonstrate the game loading and running again, even connecting a second player in a separate window. While the performance appears a bit laggy, the concept is clear: both characters are moving around, connected through the user’s alternate server. Remarkably, this was posted just five days after the EA servers went offline, showcasing the quick efforts of the community.

That said, don’t expect And799 to lead the charge for a full revival anytime soon. In the video description, they clarify that this is merely a proof of concept from their research and does not reflect the current status of any private server or revival project. They also mention that most player data is managed through BioWare’s servers rather than Blaze, which is essential for the game to load offline.

While details about the revival project remain vague, there’s been a buzz among the remaining Anthem community on platforms like Reddit and Discord, with discussions about bringing the game back. One group, known as The Fort’s Forge, is actively involved in these efforts. Although significant progress hasn’t been made yet, it’s still early days, and And799’s findings suggest there’s a real possibility for fans to make this happen.