While Anthem wasn't well-loved at launch, it wasn't hated either. Steven Messner gave it a middling score of 55 in his review, which aligned with my own feeling of being a bit whelmed by a game with a clear identity crisis—a live service multiplayer game that wanted you and your friends to play strongholds together, but then return to a singleplayer hub where you'd have to shush during the story bits.
Even then Anthem had its diehards, and the patches and updates that followed addressed some of its more significant flaws. Not enough to save it unfortunately, but enough to guarantee a small but dedicated community of Freelancers who have suited up and returned to Fort Tarsis for the final day before EA pulls the plug on Anthem for good.
