Gaming
Anthem VIP Demo & Free Demo: 7 Things to Know
This is what you need to know about the Anthem VIP Demo and the standard Anthem demo that kick off this weekend and continues through February, leading up to the release in late February. There are a lot of ways you can play Anthem early on Xbox One, PS4 and PC, and this will walk you through what you need to know about how that works and both the Anthem VIP demo dates and the Anthem demo dates for other players.
We’ll cover the Anthem demo start times, requirements, Anthem PC specs and the Anthem demo pre-order bonuses. You get access to the Anthem VIP demo with all the Anthem editions, so you don’t need the special edition to get early access.
Anthem Demo Dates
The Anthem VIP Demo dates are set for this weekend. You can start playing on Friday January 25th, and you can play through January 27th. That’s a full weekend of play if you have the Anthem VIP Demo access. The Anthem free demo is the following weekend, February 1st through the third.
If you have access to the VIP demo, you can play this weekend and play again the following weekend.
What you need to know about the Anthem VIP demo and free demo.
Anthem VIP Demo Start Times
The Anthem VIP Demo start times are known, so you can prepare to play. These times should be the same for the VIP demo and the free Anthem demo.
- 12 PM Eastern
- 9 AM Pacific
You can also play in the UK at 17:00 and in Central Europe at 18:00. This is confirmed for the VIP demo, and we expect the same for the free one.
The Anthem demos end at 6PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern on Sunday.
How Do You Get to Play Anthem Demos?
To play the Anthem VIP demo you need to pre-order one of the Anthem editions, subscribe to EA Access, Origin Access or Origin Access Premier. This means you can play without pre-ordering on PC or Xbox One. There is no EA Access for PS4, so your only option is to pre-order.
When you preorder Anthem you get a code that lets you play. You will also get the ability to invite three friends, so you can squad up. You need to use the Refer a Friend page to do this.
The Anthem free demo is an open demo, so anyone will be able to download the game and play without paying for any subscription or pre-ordering. If you want to play the first weekend, you can pre-order from a service that lets you cancel and give it a try.
Anthem Demo Content and Modes
You can use two different types of Anthem Javelins.
The Anthem demos start all players at level 10 and you will be spawned into the world mid-story. This will let you experience the game without grinding in a demo. This allows you to play right off the bat without a lot of work. You can level up to level 15 during the beta.
You will get a Javelin that includes weapons and abilities pre-loaded to help you get off to a good start as well. You start with a Ranger and can unlock one other model later in the demo.
The Anthem demo will include a story mission, a strike type activity and you can explore the home base as well as a section of the open world.
Anthem Demo Preload and Demo Size
The Anthem Demo is 43.54GB, so you will need to spend a decent amount of time downloading it. You can preload Anthem on Origin. You may be able to grab this on Xbox and PS4 at the time you are reading this.
On Xbox, check out the EA Access app to see if you can download it early, and on PS4 check the PS Store.
Does Anthem Demo Progress Carry Over?
You can level up during the Anthem VIP demo and the free Anthem demo, but the progress will not carry over to the final release in February. The progress carries over from VIP to the open demo, but no further. You can earn some extras that you will be able to use in the game.
If you play either demo, you will get a bonus when the game arrives for the full release, but it’s not clear what this is just yet.
Anthem PC Requirements
Here are the Anthem PC requirements including minimum and recommended.
ANTHEM MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- OS: 64-bit Windows 10
- CPU: Intel Core i5 3570 or AMD FX-6350
- RAM: 8 GB System Memory
- GPU: NVIDIA GTX 760, AMD Radeon 7970 / R9280X
- GPU RAM: 2 GB Video Memory
- HARD DRIVE: At least 50 GB of free space
- DIRECTX: DirectX 11
ANTHEM RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- OS: 64-bit Windows 10
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz or AMD Ryzen 3 1300X 3.5 GHz
- RAM: 16 GB System Memory
- GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1060/RTX 2060, AMD RX 480
- GPU RAM: 4 GB Video Memory
- HARD DRIVE: At least 50 GB of free space
- DIRECTX: DirectX 11
If you don’t have these specs on your PC, you will likely need to upgrade, but you could try the demo to see how well it works.
Don't Buy Until Anthem Problems & Crashes Are Fixed | ||||||
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Anthem crashes have plagued games for the last week, and in some cases rendered consoles unusable. Gamers took to forums and Reddit to complain about Anthem crashes and some claimed that the Anthem problems bricked their PS4 consoles. BioWare says that no consoles were bricked due to the crash, telling gamers in a Twitch stream that consoles can be "powered back up if you know how to just turn the power back on, and cycle it properly" according to Ben Irving lead producer of Anthem at Bioware. We recently shared a potenital bricked PS4 fix for Anthem crashes, but BioWare says that gamers simply need to turn the console off and back on. The developer promises a fix for Anthem crashes, which should arrive during the week of March 11th. This should fix the issue and BioWare says if you run into crashes before hand you can restart your console to keep playing. While this is a better outcome than expected, you shouldn't buy Anthem until this patch arrives and gamers that already own the game report a good experience. This is a major test in how BioWare is able to respond to the problems and how this plays into the future of the game. It isn't just about the issue happening today. | ||||||
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