The Anacrusis Tips and Tricks | Beginner's Guide

Last Update: January 12, 2022 11:08 AM /

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Anacrusis Fight

The Anacrusis is a new co-op experience that puts you in the shoes of four survivors trying to escape a rapidly falling apart ship infested with an alien threat. Players will make their way through the episodic story, taking down hordes of aliens, special enemies, and trying to survive. If you're looking to maximize your time with the game, our The Anacrusis Tips Guide will get you started!

Let's start with some of the basics (FAQ), then dive into tips and tricks! Additional Fun Fact: Anacrusis means: "one or more unstressed notes before the first bar line of a piece or passage."

What is The Anacrusis?

The Anacrusis is a co-op first person shooter, available on PC (Steam, Epic, Xbox) and Xbox Series S|X. It features a party system to play with your friends, or you can play solo with AI to complete the episodes or the Weekly Challenge.

Players are given access to basic and special weapons, can discover perks to improve their run, and face off against different enemies as they make their way through each level.

How long is the Anacrusis?

While full playthrough time can depend on your party and if you wipe - episodes range from 1.25-2 hours each across all levels. There are currently 3 episodes, with 5 planned, plus a Weekly Challenge that add some additional time.

Can you change the Anacrusis difficulty?

There is no difficulty setting in The Anacrusis - the game scales the number of aliens and specials based on your party size and how you proceed through a level. The game is fully controlled by an "AI Director" which spawns every enemy, directs each special, and places every item you come across - allowing it to dynamically scale the difficulty up or down!

How To Change Your Anacrusis Character

You actually can't select which character you play as in The Anacrusis (at least in Launch Edition.) Players are assigned a character based on the order you join the lobby. Here's the order of character selection:

  • Party Leader - Guion
  • Second Player - Nessa
  • Third Player - Liu
  • Fourth Player - Lance

If you want to play a specific character - make sure you join the lobby in the order above!

The Anacrusis Tips For Beginner's

While most players shouldn't have too much issue making their way through The Anacrusis - there's a few helpful tips that can make your playthroughs even better.

Change Your Anacrusis Settings

By default, there's a few features automatically enabled that some players may want to change before they hop into the first Episode.

Anacrusis Aim Assist settings

Anacrusis Aim Assist settings can be found under Options > Gameplay.

  • Shot Magnetism - Bends your shots towards nearby targets, changes based on range.
  • Reticle Snap - Snaps your reticle towards a nearby target when you aim down sights.
  • Stickiness - Based on your setting here - your sensitivity changes when passing over an enemy (controller only)
  • Grenade Assist - If this is enabled, grenades go directly to where you point. Disabling gives you a more traditional "lob"

If you're an FPS Veteran, it's possible you'll want to disable some of these. The Grenade Assist, especially - is a bit confusing if you don't realize it's on!

Anacrusis Voice Chat (PC)

By default, this is disabled - so if you plan to jump into Quick Play with others, you'll want to enable this. At the same time, enable push to talk so you can eat chips without crunching in others' ears!

The Anacrusis AFK Mode Rules

The Anacrusis AFK Mode is probably one of my favorite features they have in the game.

Need to run to the bathroom? Dog running down the hallway with a paper towel roll? No problem, just open the menu and hit "AFK Mode" to walk away and the AI will take control for you. When you're back - you'll take the character back over without any issue, and you don't have to wait to rejoin!

Acquire Perks and Stack Bonuses

As mentioned in our Anacrusis Perk Guide, there's a lot of perks that you can choose to compliment your playstyle. Every player has a different playstyle, so if you're grenade-happy, you can pick those perks, or if you want to be a "healer" there's perks for that too.

Take the extra time to explore every nook and cranny - finding the Matter Compilers is critical to maxing out your perks and finishing the final fight of each level. Sure, you can do without - but having some nice bonuses is helpful when you're getting swarmed!

Don't Sleep On Using Goo

Goo Grenades are super versatile. Not only can you use them to slow enemies down, you can also pair them with perks to heal your team, and even light them on fire.

Yes, you can throw down Goo, and then use an incendiary grenade or Laser Rifle to light it up - slowing down and damaging enemies over time.

Throw Open All The Doors

Yes, you CAN open doors in The Anacrusis. While you won't get a prompt - any door lit blue, and some that are painted green/orange can be opened. Worth opening every one you find, because you'll sometimes find items or even a Matter Compiler!

Brutes Can Break Shields

While the Shield Grenade is great for stopping the horde from smacking you down - Brutes will break right through them!

Treat Every Special Differently

We detail this more in our Anacrusis enemy guide, but it's important that you treat each enemy differently. You'll want to burn down Grabbers quickly, dodge Brutes as much as possible, and more. While every situation is different - the specials can end a run very quickly if you don't focus on them!

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That's it for our The Anacrusis Beginner's Guide and Tips - see more guides below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Rutledge Daugette
| CEO and Founder

Rutledge Daugette is the Guides Editor & Founder of TechRaptor. Rutledge's degree in Game Programming ultimately led him to found the site in 2013, with… More about Rutledge

More Info About This Game
Learn more about The Anacrusis
Game Page The Anacrusis
Developer
Stray Bombay
Publisher
Stray Bombay
Platforms
PC, Xbox Series X|S
Release Date
January 13, 2022 (Calendar)
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