Whether or not you’re excited for Anthem, you probably want to try the game before it launches and see if it was worth the hype. While you can’t play the demo just yet, you can at least download it.
Starting today, anyone can pre-load the Anthem demo on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Best of all, you don’t need a VIP demo code. Just visit the Microsoft Store, PlayStation Store, or Origin, select the free demo, and start pre-loading.
However, the demo comes with the ever-present caveat of “make sure you have enough hard drive space.” While the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 demos require a measly 24 and 26 GB respectively, the PC version needs a slightly beefier 44 GB.
While the demo should run well on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and by extension the Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro, PC gamers need to worry about their hardware. The full game requires an Intel Core i5 3570 or AMD FX-6350 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GTX 760 or AMD Radeon 7970/R9280X GPU at minimum. For the best experience, EA recommends an Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 1300X CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD RX 480 GPU. If your gaming PC doesn’t meet these specs, you can still download the demo, but you might be better off playing the console version.
If you pre-ordered Anthem or have an active EA/Origin Access subscription, you can play the VIP demo, which will run from January 25th at 10 am EST to January 27th at 9 pm ET. Everyone else will have to wait for the open demo, which will start February 1st at 10 am EST and end on February 3rd at 9 pm EST. Since the game uses servers, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 owners will need an Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus subscription to play the demos and full game, which is slightly good news for PC gamers since they can play without a subscription.
Anthem is scheduled to launch February 22nd for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC via Origin.
