BioWare has a surprise for excited fans of Anthem who were hoping to see more of the game than what was shown during E3 2018.  The studio released the full, 20-minute guided demo that was shown behind closed doors at the convention. It's not a hands-on experience like the press was able to have, but it's the next best thing for Anthem fans impatient for BioWare to share more information.

The full Anthem E3 demo takes players through one of the game's Stronghold activities, a 4-player cooperative event akin to dungeons in MMOs and other cooperative multiplayer games. The demo starts with a brief tour through Anthem's open world, including a look at the player's "Strider." The Strider is a mobile base of sorts for the Freelancer player character, and also a plot device to justify gameplay mechanics like fast travel and instantly starting missions and activities away from Fort Tarsis.

Overall, this E3 2018 gameplay demo follows the same beats as what was shown during the EA Play 2018 press conference. Players delve into a Stronghold to fight Scars and silence a Relic, then delve further and uncover a nest of spider-like creatures and their brood mother, the Swamp Tyrant. Where the extra 15 minutes comes in is through extended sequences of actual gameplay, along with a portion of the final boss fight itself.

The 20-minute demo provides a great look at three of Anthem's four Javelin suits in action. The Colossus, the Ranger, and the Storm Javelins are each shown for a healthy amount of time in the trailer, showcasing several unique weapons and abilities for each suit/class. Whether it's the Colossus' flamethrower or mortar, the Ranger's grenades and flare, or the Storm suit's magical lightning, hovering, and teleportation.

Yet what may be most exciting about this lengthy video for Anthem is how it provides the first cohesive look at the scope of the online multiplayer game. For the first time, players are able to see what it's like to open up Anthem's map, to select an objective, to delve into a matchmade mode, and to battle through a co-op-focused Stronghold.

Anthem remains over six months away from launch, but fans are now starting to be able to piece together a realistic view of what to expect from the online cooperative action game. All BioWare should have to do now is show more, which is likely exactly what it plans to do in the months ahead.

Anthem releases February 22, 2019 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.