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While trying out Anthem, I had to keep reminding myself that I was playing a BioWare game. It’s the first new IP from the veteran RPG developer in a decade, and although it falls into that particular style of role-playing and shooter hybrid the studio honed with Jade Empire and the Mass Effect franchises, this is the hardest it has leaned into the gameplay style. With the Anthem, we’re seeing a major shift in what BioWare is capable of with its. Although it still exhibits some of the studio’s role-playing pedigree, it’s the vast online open-world that distinguishes its newest project.

During a hands-on session at EA Play, we got to check out one of Anthem’s missions while getting a feel for the Javelin exo-suits and their unique powers. Focusing on the adventures of numerous Freelancers on a hostile alien planet, they’ll tackle story missions and side-events, facing off against some of the world’s fiercest creatures.

In the vein of Bungie’s Destiny and Ubisoft’s The Division, Anthem is a shared-world online shooter focusing on groups of players taking on new challenges and acquiring new loot. But in familiar BioWare fashion, your particular Freelancer will make important choices throughout the game’s main campaign, altering their relationships with allies and other factions. While this sounds pretty standard, this is all housed within the space of an online world where other players are making similar or conflicting choices in their own story.

As of now, we only know what the story is about in the broad sense: humans on a hostile alien planet, a powerful ancient presence of some form, and major world-altering events. While BioWare wasn’t ready to share just how those choices will be reflected in the game for others to see, it did say they’ll be surfaced in some form. With that said, the general narrative feels much more of a nebulous concept, and I am intrigued to see how the developer will be able to inject that familiar BioWare-style storytelling into Anthem. The shift to an online shooter does showcase the game’s main focus, marking a major change from the studio’s past games.

In our demo, we played the Scars and Villainy mission, which took the Freelancers on an operation to take out an ancient weapon: a Relic held by the imposing Scar forces–one of the many groups on the planet fighting for control. While this mission was shown during the EA Play press conference, we saw an extended version of it, exploring some of the surrounding areas and fighting against the Swarm Tyrant boss. Though it’s usually difficult to get a sense of the game’s scale from standard vertical slice demos, as they aim to show a little bit of everything, I was impressed with the sense of scale and verticality found in Anthem–which felt particularly fresh for a BioWare game.

As Anthem is an action-RPG, you’re given a lot of options in how you’ll fight against enemies, and the general combat and shooting mechanics were some of the most notable standouts. With a primary weapon, side-arm, and special abilities–like the Ranger’s Frost Grenades–you’ll be able to fly into combat and utilize your skills in quick succession. Coordinating with your team will also open up opportunities to use combination attacks, which offer bonus damage to groups of enemies. For instance, you can use the Frost Grenade and the Colossus’ slam skill together to destroy frozen enemies, which sends shards of ice into surrounding monsters.

I was impressed with how punchy and tactile the shooting mechanics were, which made getting a feel of the new systems fairly easy. While the Mass Effect series had largely serviceable combat–which gradually got better as the entries went on–Anthem shows some major growth on BioWare’s part for fast, responsive combat, making many of the fights thrilling to take part in.

Your Freelancer’s most valuable asset is their Javelin exo-suit, allowing them to survive the world’s hostile environment. Movement is a core part of Anthem, and each Javelin can use their booster packs to fly through the world and glide underwater at great speed. Regardless of their archetype, each Javelin has a great sense of velocity and mobility while zipping through the air, which recalled some exciting moments from films like Iron Man. While you’re not able to fly indefinitely, as your suit’s thrusters will overheat, flying through waterfalls will offer instant cooldowns and keep you going for longer distances.

As you complete jobs, you’ll acquire more resources and new gear for the exo-suits. While you’ll focus on one Javelin early on, you’ll eventually be able to switch over to other suits. So far, Anthem has four unique Javelins: the all-around striker Ranger; the Hulk-like Colossus; the glass-cannon Storm, which uses elemental attacks; and the agile Interceptor. As you can tell, the Javelins are not unlike classes in a traditional RPG, fulfilling those standard roles needed to round out a group.

While the mission culminated in a battle against the large Swarm Tyrant boss, who summoned smaller spider creatures and other hazards against the group–such as webbing that can trap Freelancers–the demo ended about halfway through the fight. What’s interesting about this battle is that it highlighted the game’s focus on online gameplay, as it required a lot firepower to whittle the boss’s health down. While the Mass Effect games had online modes, they were single-player games at heart. During the presentation, the developers stated that while players can play solo, they’ll eventually come across some fights that will be too challenging. This feeling was reiterated further in a talk with executive producer Mark Darrah, who also said the studio is still tinkering with solo play for long term.

While there’s still plenty we don’t know about Anthem–narrative-progression, PvP, and just what the endgame can offer–this brief taste of the game offered a whole lot to look forward to. Though BioWare has already dabbled in the sci-fi space with Mass Effect, Anthem comes off as a major departure for the company, specifically in how it’s focusing much more on fast gameplay and dynamic battles. Still, we’re eager to hear more about the larger specifics of the game, and just what that means for the bigger picture of Anthem.

You can read more about Anthem and other news from EA’s E3 briefing in our recap of all the announcements from EA Play. For our full coverage of the big event, be sure to visit GameSpot’s E3 2018 hub to follow along with all of the biggest news from the show.

After years of anticipation, Kingdom Hearts III has now been given a firm release date. As the conclusion to the core trilogy of games, focusing on Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s adventures through Disney-themed worlds, the third game looks to expand its scope even further while still showing that its still got charm and plenty of heart. Coming to PS4 and Xbox One, the Kingdom Hearts III will arrive on January 29, 2019.

This news came rather suddenly, with the official Kingdom Hearts III twitter page unceremounously revealing the release info. While it’s been in development for years, series creator Tetsuya Nomura previously stated at last year’s D23 event that the release was planned for 2018. During a Kingdom Hearts III fan event in May, he also revealed that the final release date for the game would be unveiled soon.

Last month, we had some hands-on time with the game, and we were pleasantly surprised at how much the game’s style and tone has held over the years. While fans can still expect to explore worlds themed after many classic Disney animated films, Pixar is now set to make its debut with the Kingdom Hearts series. As of now, the confirmed Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III are Tangled, Big Hero Six, Hercules, Toy Story, and Monsters Inc.

For more info on Kingdom Hearts III and other Square-Enix titles during E3 2018, be sure to keep up with us we publish more content from the gaming world’s biggest event. The game will likely feature in Square Enix’s press conference, which is scheduled to be held on June 11.

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The E3 2018 Xbox briefing, which is around 100 minutes long, will apparently include a lot of game reveals and other big announcements. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said on Twitter today that he is excited to “world premiere 15 games” during the event, and announce “much, much more.” The exact wording leaves some things ambiguous, however, as “world premiere” could mean the premiere of a new mode for an announced game or something other than a full game announcement.

He tweeted after finishing the final rehearsal for the Xbox briefing. Spencer didn’t tease any of the reveals. However, EA announced during its own briefing today that more details on Battlefield V‘s single-player mode will be announced during the Xbox briefing.

Microsoft’s press conference kicks off Sunday, June 10 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 11). We don’t know yet what Microsoft will show during the event, but game announcements, new gameplay footage for existing games, and surprises are expected.

You will be able to watch the entire event here on GameSpot, while we will have a liveblog of the show as well so you can see a blow-by-blow breakdown of the event.

Following Microsoft’s briefing on Sunday will be Bethesda’s E3 2018 press conference at 6:30 PM PT / 9:30 PM ET. The show then rolls on from their with Ubisoft and Sony on Monday and then Nintendo on Tuesday.

For more, check out GameSpot’s E3 2018 hub to get up to speed on all the big news, videos, previews, and more.