The true Christmas miracle of 2019 is that there are people still playing Anthem. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, of course. There are people at BioWare still doing their best to turn the game into something great and it’s good to see players who support that.

Anthem 1.6.0 game update has just arrived and it brings snow to the game. It seems that the universe of Anthem has its own version of Christmas called Icetide which is celebrated whenever winter arrives. The new update comes with a ton of new things to do including challenges, time trials, and more.

As per usual of previous Anthem major updates, there will be new content unlocked weekly. This time, it’s Seasonal Themed Strongholds. These Strongholds also have score leaderboards. That means everyone playing Anthem has a solid chance of making it into the top 10 ranking.

If you’re in the mood for some modern and less-boring Superman 64 flying, they’ve also introduced Freeplay Time Trials. To do these time trials, just join Freeplay and race through any of the eight time trials in Bastion. Beat BioWare’s Gold times and you can proudly best being the person most eligible to pilot a real Iron Man suit if one ever gets made.

There are still tons of other stuff to do so check out the full patch notes:

Welcome to Icetide – Shaper devices have brought localized ice storms into Bastion, bringing excitement with every glittering snowflake across the region. Ice is rare here, but when it arrives, people know that Icetide celebrations will soon follow. Holiday lights shine throughout Fort Tarsis, their bright colors sparkling on blankets of snow

Seasonal Themed Strongholds – Each week a different featured seasonal Stronghold will unlock for players—now including score leaderboards. If you’re up to the challenge, compete with other Freelancers for the highest score. Visit the Seasonal Store to exchange your Crystal  for War Chests.

Freeplay Time Trials – Have you ever wanted to put your javelin flight and navigation skills to the test? Join Freeplay, and race through eight time trials that can be found in Bastion. Try to beat our Gold times!

New Legendary World Event: Icetide Coolant Harvesting – Help the Arcanist harvest precious coolant resources while fighting off the outlaw forces that are trying to steal it from you.

New Challenges – Explore the Challenges to see vanity rewards! Gain new armor sets, special time trial wraps, and more.

New Hidden Collectables – Explore the region to find all Festive Wreaths.

Icetide Cortex Entries – Explore the region to find new story entries to add to your Cortex.

More Powerful Drops in Grandmaster 3 – All Legendary loot drops on GM3 now drop with +5 Gear Score.

New Tomb of Legionnaires Offering – New Guardians’ Tokens are granted through daily and weekly challenges. Freelancers can make offerings of a Guardian Token and additional crafting materials within the Tombs of the Legionnaires to gain a random Legendary item. Each tomb grants different items, but all items have a +5 gear score.

• Tomb of Artinia: Legendary Weapons
• Tomb of Cariff: Legendary Gear
• Tomb of Yvenia: Legendary Melee Weapons and Javelin-Specific Components
• Tomb of Gawnes: Legendary Support Gear and Universal Components

New Seasonal Cosmetic Items – Visit the Featured Store throughout the season for new Icetide-themed cosmetics.

New Short Stories – In addition to these new features, keep an eye on our Anthem News Page for all new Icetide-themed short stories from our writing team!

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Fixed various crashes to improve stabilization.
• Fixed various texture and lighting scenarios.
• Fixed various art collision issues that allowed players to access unintended areas.
• Fixed various audio issues.
• Fixed multiple breadcrumbing trails appearing in Freeplay. Fast Travel to the Tomb of Legionnaires is now enabled. Map pins have been updated to better communicate the ability to fast travel.
• Added new options to disable various parts of the UI
  • These options are visible under Settings -> Interface -> HUD
• Added a tutorial for the self-respawn feature.
  • You can respawn yourself closer to your squadmates by holding down the R3 button
• The Colossus can no longer become stuck in cages within Temple of Scar.
• The Sunken Cell stronghold mission now correctly appears above the Heart of Rage mission in the journal.
• Resolved an issue causing the Forge Menu to not appear while in the Forge Screen.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the Synchronized Frame to trigger without an enemy being hit.
• The Ranger Combo Augment component craft recipe now displays “Impact Combo Damage”.
• Fixed an issue causing Incremental Archives to not spawn as often as expected.
• Fixed an issue preventing the fog wall from vanishing after the objective is completed in Temple of Scar.
• Forge Icons for Barrage, Garroter, and Stampede have been updated to match the default color scheme of the javelin.
• Increased the health of the generators for the Sleeping Titan event.
• Legendary Fortress of Dawn now spawns its chest and finishes appropriately.
• Fixed an issue where Balm of Gavinicus was incorrectly dealing damage on impact.
• Fixed an issue causing Rainmaker to fire more projectiles than intended.
  • Dev Note: This bug was causing a large imbalance in weapon selection among players due to it essentially being almost 200% stronger than intended. This fix puts it back in line with its expected damage output. The Rainmaker should still be a viable weapon and the fix shouldn’t disrupt any current play styles and hopefully makes other weapons more viable choices.

The update probably won’t be bringing in a lot of new players to the game but it’s definitely great to see the developers still updating the game with more new content. Seeing as how some stores are selling Anthem at dirt cheap prices, it’s a good time to get the game if you ever felt interested in jumping in.