The Anacrusis, the co-op survival shooter from Stray Bombay, is out today and puts the responsibility of surviving the alien horde onboard a spacecraft. Before you jump into the game on Xbox, PC, or pick it up via Xbox Game Pass, there are some things you should know beforehand. Below you will find a detailed guide that tells you all you need to know about the game from HUD breakdown to the weapons you can use against the aliens. This may seem simple, but trust us, the game is not easy, and you need to be prepared to survive the onslaught once it starts.
HUD BREAKDOWN
The display is very similar to what fans of the Left 4 Dead franchise or Back 4 Blood are accustomed to seeing, but with one big change.
The difference between this game and those mentioned above is the lack of a melee, but the way The Anacrusis makes up for that is with a Pulse. A Pulse is a defense mechanism that you initiate that sends out a burst of energy pushing all of the enemies surrounding you back a few feet. As the meter in the bottom middle will show you, you only hold a maximum of three charges at any given time but they will regenerate slowly as you progress.
When a teammate completely dies and is not able to be picked up, the game will alert you that you can revive your teammate. By following the actions stated in the alert (pressing RS and LS) you will initiate a respawn timer for your teammate. However, this will also alert a horde so be prepared to take a stand while you wait for your teammate to come back into the action.
PRIMARY WEAPONS
There are three options you have for your main weapon, The Blaster, The Plasma Rifle, and The SMB. Before you pick up any of them, it’s important to keep in mind that friendly fire is active in the game, so be careful where you shoot, cause it could mean you’re hurting your teammates.
The Blaster is a high-powered shotgun option that will absolutely tear through the common alien enemies without any problems at close range. This option is for those that like to play more fast-paced and in the enemy’s face.
The Plasma Rifle is the assault rifle option for those that like to aim down their sights and pick apart enemies from a little bit of a distance. This is the only mid-to-long distance option in the game and is fully automatic.
The SMB (Which I can only assume stands for Sub-Machine Blaster) is the short-to-mid range option that has the fastest rate of fire in the game and most bullets per magazine, but the lowest damage output of the main three weapons.
AMMO/PERK DISPENSERS
There are two different types of dispensers that you will come across throughout your playthrough of The Anacrusis, Charge Weapon Stations and Matter Compilers.
Charge Weapon Stations are common to see while pushing through the proper route towards the next safe room, and are very important to ensure you get to that safe room untouched. These stations fully refill the ammo of your primary weapon and are the only way, aside from picking up a new gun, that you may receive ammo.
Matter Compilers are a little bit more hidden than the Charge Weapon Stations but are worth looking for as they grant you a new perk for everyone that you visit. These perks do in fact stack throughout the duration of any given episode, but if you leave or complete the episode, they are gone.
SPECIAL WEAPONS
Unfortunately, there are no other options at the secondary weapons slot and you are just stuck with a mostly useless pistol, BUT there are three additional special weapons that can be found throughout your gameplay that can be picked up in a third weapon slot. The three weapons are an Auto-Turret, an Ark Rifle, and a Laser Rifle.
The Auto-Turret can be laid down any location you choose and will begin shooting enemies within a designated range that it has. The Turret stays active and operation until it runs out of energy, which can only happen while it is firing meaning there is not a time limit to how long it can stay out.
The Ark Rifle has 30 charges of electricity that can be used before it is depleted and leaves your inventory. The currents of electricity that come from the Ark Rifle do chain to multiple enemies making it the perfect weapon to use while fighting large hordes in smaller spaces.
The Laser Rifle has 30 seconds of laser that can be utilized before it leaves your inventory. With this gun, you must charge up the laser for a short period of time before unleashing a laser that will continuously keep blasting away at your enemies for as long as you hold down the trigger. The Laser Rifle is powerful and is useful for fighting large hordes in a more open environment.
GRENADES
In terms of the variety of weapons, there is not much to choose from, but there are six different types of grenades that can be found throughout your playthrough. The Grenades that can be found are Goo, Impact, Incendiary, Shield, Vortex, and Stasis.
Goo Grenades are great when trying to get some space between you and the horde as they activate once they hit a surface and slow any Non-Brute enemy down drastically.
Impact Grenades are quick and powerful as they explode on impact. These grenades are also one of two grenades that are useful against Brutes, making them important for someone to always have in any party especially in the later levels of an episode.
Incendiary Grenades create chaos and are great and help mow down large hordes as it ignites any enemy with their blast. They are also the only other grenade aside from Impact Grenades that are useful against Brutes.
Shield Grenades create a small forcefield that can fit you and your teammates in it. This is useful you, or a teammate, are struggling to find time to heal up or if you have run out of pulses and need time to regenerate them.
Vortex Grenades opens a vortex wherever you throw them that pulls in all of the common aliens within range and then throws them as the vortex disappears. This grenade is very useful in getting rid of the weaker enemies so you can focus your attention on the special ones.
Stasis Grenades create a bubble, roughly the same size as the shield grenade, that slows whatever enemies that walk through it. The effects of this grenade are similar to those of the Goo Grenade.
HEALTH
An important part of these games is well staying alive and this game does not give you much to help keep that health up. There are only two options that can be found while roaming in the level, Health Scanners, and Health Boosters, and one additional option that can only be found in the safe room, Medical Station.
Health Scanner is the equivalent of a med-kit in this game. It heals a large portion of your permanent health back to you to keep you fighting for as long as possible.
Health Booster is a shot that you can take that grants you a boost of temporary health that slowly depletes as you run through the level. These are only recommended to get out of a rough situation and definitely not a long-term solution.
Medical Stations can be found in every safe room following the first room of each episode (this room contains a Health Scanner). The Medical Station can return a large portion of your permanent health, but it can only be used once per mission.
ENEMIES
There are quite a few different creatures you will encounter throughout your playthroughs. Each creature is unique in their own way and create different problems for you and your team as you traverse throughout this spaceship.
Common Aliens are what you will encounter most. They are very easy to kill and do little damage if you are attacked by one, but be careful as they do like to travel in hordes.
Flashers are creatures that randomly appear throughout your playthrough that emit a very disorientating bright light that makes it nearly impossible to see the enemies in front of you. They do not damage you at all but are very annoying creatures that I would recommend stopping as soon as possible.
Goopers are creatures that shoot Goop at the survivors in an attempt to slow them down and do minor damage over time. Survivors can be covered in goop and can only be freed by a teammate shooting the goop off of them. They are very easy to kill but are pretty shifty so it is important to kill while they are in your sights. Though, you should keep in mind that the goo is flammable.
Brutes are the toughest creatures in the game. They are super powerful, very quick while performing their charge attack, and take a lot of damage to bring down. The key to taking down a Brute is to continue to move and work as a team to bring it down.
Eggs are the most unique creatures in the game. They are stationary and will do you no damage if they are not alerted, but if they are alerted will begin to roll towards you and your team quickly and will explode doing a moderate amount of damage. The best practice is to throw an impact grenade and take them all out at once prior to alerting them.
Spawners create smaller enemies (found below) that will shoot from a distance at you and your teammates. They are similar to the Goopers in the sense that they are shifty so it is important to kill them before they have an opportunity to continue spawning more creatures.
The Spawn are the creations of the Spawners. They are low-health creatures that spawn in a group of no less than two at a time but do have the ability to deal a low to moderate amount of damage at a range.
Grabbers are creatures that hide off in a distance and wait to grab one of the members of your team. Once in the grasp of a Grabber, you will begin to notice your health bar quickly and the only way to stop that is by having a teammate kill the Grabber.
That is all of the basic information that you should know before hopping into The Anacrusis. I hope you have found this information helpful and beneficial for your future playthroughs. We will have more coverage of the game coming soon. If you have any particular requests for content, let us know down in the comments.
