The Anacrusis takes you to A 1970’s outer space setting where you and three others go through an infinite battle against aliens.
The Anacrusis has finally arrived. 2022 is already considered to be a significant year in the gaming industry. There are many highly anticipated games that fans are excited about, and several new titles that are making their entries. The four-player, cooperative first-person shooter, The Anacrusis, is one of them. Even though it hasn’t been considered to be among the popular games that would be arriving this year, it has the potential to change that idea. The Anacrusis was initially stated as unfinished, but I still wanted to give this a go nonetheless. Plus, seeing that this game is also on Game Pass, it was a no-brainer to download this and give it a shot.
The Anacrusis is a co-op first-person shooter developed and published by Stray Bombay, available on Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X, and S. If you are an Xbox Game Pass or Steam subscriber, you will find that the game is also available on both services. I like how this game’s theme gives off 1970s vibes. And the idea that this is said to be an infinitely playable game. However, there are not many good things to say about this game.
The Anacrusis draws similarities to Left 4 Dead, but in the 1970s and in Space. Although The Anacrusis would remind you of the game, that doesn’t necessarily mean the quality of both games is similar. The concept is interesting, but there is no story. This is quite unfortunate, because a game like this, especially with an interesting concept, would have benefited much more with a good storyline, or at least a few Easter Eggs.
You can play as four characters, who are named Lance, Ness, Guion, and Liu. All of them have different personas. But sadly, they all play the same way. So, it’s not like you can pick a certain player according to your play style. On the other hand, it is quite nice to see that the characters communicate, as well as have occasional banter with each other. Also, they all have unlockable items, such as clothing. But I feel there should be many more lines said by the characters, and have more clothing options. I would hope this will be rectified in the future.
If a developer were not going to include a story mode in their game, it would be ideal to compensate for that. The issue is, this is not the case. The gameplay is unbelievably weak and tedious. It feels very slow-paced when moving and during combat. It feels as if you are playing on the lowest frame rate. This does not help at all, especially when this is a kind of game that would require you to move around a lot per minute.
Not to mention, the choice of weapons is very limited. It would be nice to be able to have a much wider range of weapons. The AI of some of the enemies also needs a lot of work. Many times, you would have to shoot an enemy to witness any kind of movement. With this bug-laden game, one of the biggest issues you may encounter is matchmaking. There also isn’t enough content in the game. And some of the features are in such a bad state right now, mainly because they sometimes crash. Which makes the game unplayable at times.
Regenerating health is also an issue. It doesn’t make sense to use a health syringe, and it doesn’t always increase health. Aiming is another problem you face. The sensitivity seems pretty high, even though you hadn’t changed the setting at all. This is very problematic, especially when trying to escape a horde of aliens. When using the compiling matter, it doesn’t do much to improve your game. This is strange because that’s what it’s supposed to do.
The Anacrusis’ only shining light in the gameplay is the specials. They do a great job of finishing off enemies. And does considerable damage to the larger ones. The gameplay does not necessarily have to be realistic, but it needs to be at least enjoyable. Unfortunately, there isn’t much to say that is enjoyable about the gameplay, let alone the game. Plus, it’s incredibly unbalanced and needs a lot of refinement.
It’s great that the developer tried to stick to the groovy 1970s theme as much as possible. But the visuals are pretty inconsistent. Some areas possess almost photorealistic effects, whereas other parts are the complete opposite. For example, the designs of the characters and a few of the weapons look cool, but the quality of the enemies’ models does not match. On the other hand, the designs of the maps look attractive, but most of the maps have too many small areas, which can make it very easy to get trapped by the aliens at times.
Especially when you are trying to escape enemies that use their attack you. Now, when you add that, plus the number of very limited spaces on maps, it can be a recipe for rage quitting. Although I admire the developer for using several vibrant colours, which add more attraction to the map’s design. Looks better on a current-gen console.
The audio is not too shabby. I like the choice of music, as there is a mixture of horror and funky music, depending on the situation. Not only does this fit the game’s theme, but, also sets off good vibes for players. As mentioned, the voice acting could be better with additional voice-overs. The sounds of most of the weapons need more work, especially the default weapons. They sound like you are using pea shooters.
Ultimately, The Anacrusis falls behind the heavyweights in the four-player, cooperative first-person shooter genre. Although this is an unfinished game, currently, the game offers almost nothing to motivate me in wanting to play this again. Fortunately, this game can reach its potential with some major updates. However, there are far too many holes to be considered enjoyable at this time, and I would not recommend this to anyone. If Stray Bombay can recover from the shortcomings, games like Left 4 Dead developers have plenty to worry about.
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