Chet your calendar
In case you missed all our previous coverage, The Anacrusis (which is, in fact, the work of a team founded by original Left 4 Dead developer Chet Faliszek) is about running across maps full of unpredictable quantities and qualities of marauding alien wildlife. One to four players must use guns, crowd control abilities and the terrain to make up for their numerical disadvantage and push through to safety.
The game is divided into episodes and, much like Left 4 Dead, features an “AI director” - a set of systems that monitor your behaviour and distribute enemies, weapons, healthpacks and ammo in response, whether to punish those who try to pull aCarter J Burke, or support those who are struggling. There’s also a Holdout mode, aka timed horde defence, and an eight player asymmetrical PvP mode in which one side gets to play as Special aliens with unique traits, comparable to Left 4 Dead’s legendary Boomers, Tanks and Smokers.
Jameshad a lengthy catch-up with Stray Bombay this Januaryto reflect on what was apparently quite a rough early access launch, and discuss the team’s many additions and changes on the road to 1.0. Speaking as a lapsed Left 4 Dead player, I find it strange to see another game playing with the metaphor of an “AI Director” in the year of our Lord ChatGPT. All the same, I’m eager to give The Anacrusis a go myself.
