The Anacrusis (Early Access) – Spotlight
The Anacrusis immediately stands out from the drab streets and zombie-infested alleys of other games like Back 4 Blood and World War Z because of its bright pastel colours and upbeat atmosphere. This early version of the game has a slew of bugs, wonky AI and dull gunplay, as well as poor performance, as soon as you load into one of the three episodes.
Since this is an early access release of The Anacrusis, it’s important to keep in mind that the space station where you fight hordes of humanoid alien enemies lacks life and personality. This does a disservice to the captivating aesthetic of the game. As a result, the hallways, large staircases, and spacious communal areas feel more like a hospital than a spaceship that was once home to thousands of people all going about their daily routines. It’s drab and boring as hell.
Unfortunately, the gameplay isn’t much better. This game’s gunplay is abysmal, with every weapon feeling like an unpumped water pistol. With a pistol, SMG, assault rifle, shotgun, etc. in your arsenal, they all have a similar design with sharp edges and a white and blue colour scheme. As a result, the lacklustre environment is exacerbated and a unified visual design that doesn’t help the game.
However, the grenades and utility items show that Stray Bombay can craft unique weapons. Using a forcefield dome, for example, you could stop the alien-infested human enemies in their tracks. Even though it’s an interesting concept, it has no effect on the game’s core mechanics.
Using your arsenal of weapons, you’ll face an onslaught of foes with no individuality, just like the rest of the game. Different enemy types, such as the tanky Brute and long-distance Gooper, all look alike when swarming with hordes of your standard grunt-type enemies.
It’s difficult to tell them apart when they’re all swarming toward you in the same direction as a large group of alien infestations.
The Anacrusis’ gameplay is so drab and monotonous that I wish I had been doing something else the entire time. If you’re looking for the best co-op FPS, look elsewhere.
The game’s poor performance on Xbox Series X only made matters worse. When dealing with large numbers of alien mobs, stutters and frame drops are common. It’s a problem that permeates the entire experience, however.
In the safe room, when exploring empty rooms, when quickly turning the camera, and even when another player ran in front of me, I experienced frame drops. Having to wait for my game to freeze every 30 seconds only added to my general disinterest in The Anacrusis due to the game’s stuttering and random frame dips.
When asked about the performance problems, Stray Bombay responded that it was aware of them and was working to fix them right away.
According to the studio, “We’ve already identified several performance issues and are addressing as much of the server-side performance issues as we can prior to launch.” The company says it will keep addressing these issues throughout the Early Access period, as well as in the next few updates. As soon as the game launches, players of The Anacrusis can expect a first update that fixes bugs in Episode 1 and adds visual cues to aid newcomers.
It’ll take a lot of work for The Anacrusis to become a compelling game that’s ready for a full launch, even if the technical issues are resolved. There is no reason to play The Anacrusis in its current state, especially given the lack of content and the lack of compelling reasons to do so.
There is a benefit to enjoying what The Anacrusis has to offer right now: there should be a sizable player base to play matchmaking with, given the game’s cross-play capabilities and upcoming inclusion in the Game Pass subscription service. It could also serve as background noise for a get-together with friends.
Co-op shooters have a lot of potential for new and interesting settings and characters if they are given the chance. The Anacrusis, on the other hand, is currently way off course. It’s to be hoped that during the early access period, things will be tightened up and, come its full launch, the gameplay and setting will be worthy of its enticing concept and appearance.
