The Anthem demo's apocalyptic in-game event "The Storm" has begun, at least for some players. BioWare has been hinting that Anthem's short open demo would wrap up with something special for several days now, though it has kept details about the event secret. The answer appears to be The Storm, an example of a dynamic open world in Anthem.
As of right now, The Storm is mostly just a very large and glowing weather effect. Players in Anthem's Freeplay exploration mode have reported that the weather starts to go awry, with strange and unsettling noises manifesting, followed by what looks to be a giant firestorm swirling into existence. The firestorm, which is too far away for players to fly to, darkens the sky and then begins to kick off fiery debris.
The other half of the event so far is much more interactive. Within the explorable areas available in the demo, "Giants" are spawning–more specifically, Ash Titan enemies. Small Ash Titans are relatively common to find, though calling them small is a bit unfair. They're only small in comparison to their larger, Ancient brethren. The Ancient Ash Titans are strong and challenging, so bring a full crew of four to take them down. Interestingly enough, though, the Ancient Ash Titans don't seem to die, as they drop loot and disappear at low health, rather than exploding like their tinier siblings.
As befits the Anthem demo so far, the event is not without its issues. Once a player is in Freeplay and can see the firestorm itself, everything seems to be working fine. But getting the event to activate is another matter entirely. There are wide reports that players are going into Freeplay and not seeing the storm. A BioWare employee on Reddit has confirmed that the servers are still "rolling over," but it's not certain if there's more to the situation.
A recommended fix from other players is to load into Freeplay at the Fort Tarsis location. If the storm is active, it will be clear in the sky immediately as the player loads in. If it isn't, fly around and give it a chance to start. Otherwise, give it another go. Once in, head into the Great Falls Canyon and the massive mushroom location to find the Ash Titans.
What's also unclear is whether or not this is just the phase of The Storm event. It's entirely possible that there's more coming, but there isn't necessarily anything to insinuate it. For example, BioWare posted a news update shown at the start of opening Anthem that doesn't promise anything more than what's already going:
"A strange storm is in the sky. Giants are rumored to walk to land. Head into Freeplay, Freelancer -- we need your help beyond the walls."
No doubt current Anthem demo players would love to see even more from the event. This is not to say that it isn't an exciting example of the way Anthem can use dynamic events to mix up the day-to-day, hour-to-hour in-game experience, but if BioWare is going to celebrate the end of the demo and the approach of launch, then why not go out in style?
For those wanting to experience the event for themselves, the Anthem demo is free to download and play on PC, PS4, and Xbox One and will end tonight at 8:00 pm PT.
Anthem releases February 22, 2019 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.