Changes to Normal Difficulty/Addition of Intense Mode
We’ve updated the default difficulty mode (aka Normal mode) to be significantly less punishing. We’ve slightly reduced the maximum intensity level that the Director will produce, reduced the liklihood of seeing duplicates of any specials, and made it less likely that the Director will spawn Goopers and Grabbers at the same time. In our playtests, the overall effect is that the game still feels intense and challenging, while dramatically decreasing the chance of a pair of specials wiping the team.
We’ve also added an Intense option for players who have a full team of players. Once you have four people in your party, the party leader can flip the Intense Mode toggle on to play with the same Director tuning that we had from launch through Update 2.2.
We’re going to continue working on difficulty for the foreseeable future, so we’d love your feedback on this update in particular, either on the Discord or through our Bug Report form.
Communication Wheel - First Pass
Sometimes marking an object in the world just doesn’t let your teammates know how urgently you need their attention. Press and hold your ping button to open the communication wheel and select a message to better communicate with your fellow survivors using both an in-game marker and your character’s voice.
We’ve selected 8 default options that players will give you the ability to call for help, get other players to follow you or wait, or simply apologize for a mistake. Additionally, there are another 13 voice lines you can swap out in the Settings menu to suit your unique communication style.
And if you like using our default context-sensitive ping option, fear not, it’s still there. You can still spam that Ammo Charger to your heart’s content. After all, sometimes the best way to help your team is to let them know that there’s a “Charger her… Ammo Charger… Charger Here. Got a Charger here!” when you’re just that excited about refilling your weapons.
Game Instructor Revamp Kickoff
We’ve significantly overhauled the Game Instructor system, which is designed to help players better understand the ins and outs of The Anacrusis. The first pass addresses Things Players Can Do In The Airlock, but we’ll add more in subsequent patches. This also is a work-in-progress, so please let us know what you like and don’t like, as well as the bits of the game that you feel we could explain better.
Friendly Fire
Friendly fire is now disabled for all players. You will still be able to kill bots though, in case they get stuck in navigating the level or you just get tired of Lance’s nonsense. (We actually turned this off yesterday, if you happened to notice.)
Controller Bindings/Stick Sensitivity
We’ve done a significant rework of the controller sensitivity settings and button configuration based on feedback from the community and several weeks of internal testing. Please let us know how movement and aiming on the controller feels. We’ve also reset the default button configuration to one that we feel works better for the game. Unfortunately, the nature of the changes required that we reset your bindings and sensitivity settings. Sorry for the hassle, but we’re pretty confident that the new settings will feel good for the vast majority of people. As always, feedback is wanted so let us know if you make changes!
Episode 1 Outro Cinematic
When you complete Episode 1, you’ll notice that we’ve created a new outro cinematic, showing our heroes escaping the Bridge and teleporting back to The Anacrusis. Your characters should show up on the outro screen wearing the costumes you chose for them in your loadout screen, which we think is pretty freaking cool.
Smaller Changes
Microsoft Store / Game Pass for PC version defaults to DirectX 11, which improves perf and reliability for that version of the game.
You can now leave AFK mode by pressing the Fire key.
When a player enters AFK mode automatically, they are notified with an on-screen message.
In safe zones, such as an airlock, or when the game is idling before an event, players will take much longer to be automatically set to AFK.
[Maybe sell this in a less direct way] Reduced corpse count on console for better performance.
Added an animation that better telegraphs the gooper attack. Additionally, we’ve made the Gooper’s mouth parts animate in a more believable fashion.
New (temporary) fire and reload animations for the Plasma Rifle
Tuned the alien death animations to be have more weight and be more responsive to gunfire.
Added new visual effects for all forms of healing.
The Gooper has gotten a new attack animation to both sell the attack better and give players more time to react to its attack.
Infinity Pass Quests should now consistently show the next quest, even when there are communications hiccups from the back end.
People who use mice set to very low or very high DPI settings will find that the extremes of the mouse sensitivity setting to work better for them.
Renamed "White" skins to "Amber" to better reflect their actual appearance as well as the color of their energy.
Bugs Fixed
Matter compiler re-rolls should work again for all affected parties. Apologies for the temporary loss of agency.
[Was this in the last update?] Fixed cases where a player couldn’t pick up items that had moved around.
Fixed holes in the world in multiple episodes and maps.
Fixed a variety of player bot navigation errors.
Fixed several holes in Episode 1: Terminal that could yeet players into space.
Fixed a variety of enemy AI mantling and navigation errors.
Fixed an audio bug that clipped audio at the end of the level loading period.
We’ve fixed some rare instances where loadout settings wouldn’t save between sessions.
The Don’t Stop Now emote plays (and stops) properly when triggered.
Push-to-talk now works properly when bound to a gamepad or mouse button, in addition to the keyboard buttons.
Fixed several preview images in loadouts and the Season Pass page.
We’ve added a prospective fix for the bug that prevents you from equipping cosmetics you unlocked in the previous game.
New Bugs Created
Joining games in progress causes a brief moment of lag. We’re aware of the problem and are working to fix it either in Update 4 or an Update 3.1 Hotfix.
The countdown voice line isn’t currently hooked up, so it won’t play at this time. We’ll fix this in the next update.
3/1 Update Notes
We're releasing a small hotfix that includes the following changes for players on all platforms.
You can use the fire key to leave AFK mode immediately, which is especially helpful
Place the medkits in the starting airlock in the player's inventory at the start of the level
Quick Play always tries to join games in progress first. Choosing an episode will start a new game for that episode.
Servers are less picky about the distance for interactable objects, so that clients with higher pings should have an easier time picking up objects and interacting with the world.
Dev Blog #16: We Want Your Ideas and Feedback!
We're kicking off our design of Holdout Mode and we'd love to get your ideas! We're hosting a Town Hall on Friday at 9AM PST/5PM UTC and would love for you to come and share your best ideas! We're also currently running a Discord challenge to get the most kills on Episode 1 without wiping. Details are all available in the Discord.
[previewyoutube="9BDkBN5lFvI;full"]
Buy The Anacrusis on Steam: https://j.mp/theanacrusis or Xbox: https://j.mp/anacrusisXbox
Join the Stray Bombay Discord and help us test The Anacrusis: https://discord.gg/straybombay • We're recruiting our first wave of modders at https://forms.gle/6Dh5yww5PVf3YJbf9. Follow us on GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/theanacrusis/654562
2/14 Hotfix Notes
We just released a hotfix to address the following:
Reverted an update to the Ammo Charger VFX that was causing crashes for some players.
Adjusted matchmaking to allow more players to join games already in progress.
Update 2.0 - Introducing the Infinity Pass
Welcome to our first major update to The Anacrusis! We’ve got a ton of big changes, including player requested updates gun play and character animations, fixes for the difficulty and intensity, animation adjustments, and a ton of quality of life and bug fixes.
As always, post bugs and send suggestions for improvements and new features over on our Discord. If you don’t have friends that play the game, it’s also a great place to team up with other folks who like to play The Anacrusis! Join us!
Introducing the Infinity Pass
We’re thrilled to bring our first Challenge Track to The Anacrusis. It adds 42 quests for players to complete over the next 13 weeks. The Infinity Pass includes both free and premium tracks (Steam customers get the Premium version of the Infinity Pass by default!). There are more than 50 total character skins, weapon skins, banners, titles, and emotes, including more than a dozen items that will available for players to unlock. The ultimate reward for all players is the ultimate rocket launcher, a launcher that shoots rockets that shoot homing rockets. It’s our favorite Boris weapon to date.
To thank our earliest adopters, everyone who purchased the game on Steam already has the Infinity Pass and will automatically get the Premium version of all future Challenge Tracks for The Anacrusis for free. Additionally, everyone who gets the Premium Infinity Pass will receive the Infinity Banner, which will let them showcase their OG status for all eternity.
Plasma Rifle Improvements Based on Player Feedback
We’ve increased the damage and decreased rate-of-fire slightly on the Plasma Rifle. Additionally, we’ve increased aim assist (with a more pronounced effect at range), increased zoom while ADSing, and increased critical multiplier from 1.5x to 3x. This puts the Plasma Rifle more in line with our design goals as the preferred weapon for doing damage to specials at range.
Enemy Reaction Changes Based on Player Feedback
Made adjustments to the death animations applied to common when killed with different weapons. This should result in a “weightier” feel for some weapons. It’s important to note that this is just our first step. We’ll be continuing to work on gunfeel and reaction animations for the forseeable future.
Slightly reduced frequency of aliens leaping hilariously into the sky when killed.
Common aliens will play a hit reaction animation when hit with non-fatal damage from any weapon. Additionally certain types of hits will cause a brief stagger reaction on common.
Hit reactions are now client predicted, which should improve the feel and responsiveness of weapons, particularly in higher latency situations.
Calming the Director Down
We've been seeing that the game's intensity held at too high a level for too long, leading to an exhausting experience. The Director should now give you a bit more breathing room throughout the levels, without sacrificing the game's challenge. We’re experimenting with an even less intense experience internally, which we expect to test in an upcoming patch.
AFK Players
Players who touching their controls for 30 seconds will automatically be toggled into AFK mode, which lets a bot to take over. If this happens, you can leave AFK mode by going to the menu and toggling AFK off.
Grav Lifts That “Just Work”
The blue glowy grav lifts in Episodes 1 and 3 have been updated so they send you (or whatever you throw in them) in the appropriate direction. Now they work for grenades, explosive cans, aliens, and even LanceBot.
Episode 1 Finale Progress Meter
Added a hologram to display finale progress in Episode 1. There are also clear indicators during the event that indicate when the data card is ready for players to pick up.
Various Map Fixes and Enhancements
Health Boosts pickup on center platform of finale should no longer disappear when you try to grab them.
Clarified the path to baggage area in Episode 1, Level 1.
Fix several areas in Episode 2 where the Alien Artifact could roll under debris.
Progress meter added to Episode 3, Level 1 event.
Added color to the clothes and shoes on the Episode 1, Level 3 Mall areas.
Can no longer fall to a spot in Episode 3, Level 1 where your team can't rescue you.
Lowered LUT settings in post process pipeline.
Various lightmap fixes in several maps.
Visual FX Changes and Additions
New VFX overlay for the shield-related perks.
We added some VFX to make it easier to tell when Gooper is aflame.
Plasma Rifle hit reaction VFX increased in intensity to reflect its stopping power
New Ammo Charger FX
Voice Changes
On first play, players are presented with a screen that explains how they can enable the built-in voice client.
The built-in voice client now uses the default system microphone instead of the communications device for the microphone on Windows.
Added an icon to indicate when your microphone is muted. This will also display when you are using push-to-talk, and you are not actively pressing the push-to-talk key.
Fixed an issue where speaker icons were showing up next to players names who were not in voice chat.
Fix Push To Talk not working in some menus when bound to a mouse button
Misc bug fixes including several that reduced stability for voice users.
Perk Changes and Fixes
Fix a bug where extra ammo (and turrets) granted by perks would be lost when transitioning between levels
Pulse Overcharge will no longer be offered as a perk choice if you already have it
Reactive Screen perk does greatly increased damage.
Fix for Auto Shield perk not appearing in the perk tables.
Fix for Bounty Protocol perk not granting ammo in some situations.
Voice Line Fixes
Fixed Guion's lines in the fire room of Ep2M1.
Fixed wrong person calling out they are hitting the button in Ep2M1.
Removed cut-off Nessa Line
Miscellaneous
Added new weekly challenges
Players who deal excessive amounts of friendly fire to their teammates will receive mirrored damage. This shouldn’t affect players who accidentally shoot teammates in the course of play. More on this to come.
Added an option to select your language from within the game.
Players with AZERTY keyboards can now select perks (previously hotfixed)
Fix an bug where sometimes players would not have full health after a wipe.
Possible fixes for some situations where the HUD could show invalid or corrupt information. We are still investigating this. At this time, the only way to fix this is to leave and return to the game or transition to a new level.
Possible fixes for some situations where the camera could become detached from the character’s head and limit vertical tilt movement. We are still investigating this, but going AFK and then leaving AFK mode fixes the issue if you encounter it.
Bugs
Fixed player bots being unable to hit common which are crouched in a specific pose.
Fixed pings triggering inconsistent voice over lines.
Fixed players being able to see through the level in Episode 3: Terminal 2.
Fixed a gap in world geometry around doorways in Episode 1.
Fixed enemy AI being able to mantle onto the table in Episode 1: Crew Quarters and getting stuck in the wall or ceiling.
Fixed "Hide Party Code" not functioning when the party code was pasted into the Join Party field.
UI is now hidden when a player is dead to prevent confusion.
Fixed player bots getting stuck in the shop in Episode 3: Terminal 2.
Fixed Alien Tech being duplicated if a player dies while holding it.
Fixed missing lightmap UVs in the Airlock.
Fixed Brutes getting stuck in spawn area on Episode 1: Bridge.
Fixed foliage appearing tiny on Low graphics settings in Episode 1: Park.
Fixed clipping geometry on the bunks in Episode 1: Crew Quarters.
Fixed the victory music repeating after completing Episode 3: Finale.
Fixed the player bots sometimes not following the player in Episode 2.
Fixed users that joined via Quick Play not transitioning to the second level in Episode 1.
Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when returning to the Main Menu from a game.
Fixed no starting items in the Airlock when in Marathon mode.
Fixed the wall materials disappearing in Episode 1: Crew Quarters when playing on lowest settings.
Fixed enemy AI being able to hide behind geo in Episode 3: Terminal 2 but still attack players, ex: the Gooper still able to goo players while hiding like a coward.
Fixed missing materials on clothing in shops in Episode 1.
Fixed victory screen music not respecting the Master Volume settings.
Fixed health bars sometimes showing inaccurate values after failing and restarting a match.
Fixed Brute charge attack sometimes getting stuck in a loop and not damaging players.
Fixed issue of matchmaking not continuing from a completed Campaign to the next Campaign.
Fixed ground decals displaying over weapons, pickups, etc. in Episode 1.
Dev Blog #15 - Your Topics Tackled
This week, Chet and Will take on topic suggestions from the Discord. Topics include voice acting, adding more story to the game, why we love holdouts, modding, a good old-fashioned lore dump, and more!
[previewyoutube="8dIjxSmmwIQ;full"]
Buy The Anacrusis on Steam: https://j.mp/theanacrusis or Xbox: https://j.mp/anacrusisXbox
Join the Stray Bombay Discord and help us test The Anacrusis: https://discord.gg/straybombay • We're recruiting our first wave of modders at https://forms.gle/6Dh5yww5PVf3YJbf9. Follow us on GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/theanacrusis/654562
The Anacrusis Update 1.3 Hotfix
We have a big patch coming in February, with everything from a language selector to elevator fixes, but while we're testing that release, we found fixes that provide substantial enough benefits to Xbox players that we felt it was worth pushing them out early.
All Platforms
We applied client changes that are required for us to release our first Challenge Track next month.
Improvements to Xbox crossplayers
Performance improvements for Xbox Series X players - Xbox Series X players should now get consistent 60fps at 4K resolutions in most situations. We'll continue to improve performance indefinitely, but this should give players a much better experience most of the time.
Performance improvements for Xbox Series S Players - Xbox Series S players should now get consistent 60fps at 1080p resolutions in most situations. We'll continue to improve performance indefinitely, but this should give players a much better experience most of the time.
Performance improvements for Xbox One/One X/One S players - Xbox One players should experience more consistent framerates in most situations. We'll continue to improve performance indefinitely, but this should give players a much better experience most of the time.
Dev Blog 14: 200,000 players! 1 Billion Aliens Served!
The game is out! More than 200k people have played the game! Players have killed more than a billion aliens!
[previewyoutube="EjLcbIhKrhE;full"] Chet and Will talk about The Anacrusis launch!
Since the game released a couple of weeks ago, we released a couple of hotfixes and a bunch of back-end improvements to improve server performance. We have a big performance patch coming for consoles next week, and lots more coming in the next update.
[previewyoutube="w885otJm-1w;full"] Check out streamer highlights from our first few weeks of The Anacrusis!
Episode 1 Finale Fix: The Game Instructor will now properly identify and highlight the memory card that players need to collect at the end of the Episode 1 finale. It wasn't our intent to ship an infinite holdout at launch, but we did appreciate the people who managed to survive in the finale for 10+ minutes.
AZERTY Keyboard Fix: Players who use the AZERTY keyboard layout will be able to select perks from Matter Compilers using their keyboards.
First-Play Story Fix: If you're in a group with a player who hasn't played the episode before, you should now get first-time story exposition in airlocks, as well as some prompts that should help players understand core mechanics, like the Pulse.
Director Increases Difficulty When It Should Decrease It: We identified a bug that caused the Director to increase the difficulty after a wipe when it should be decreasing it. If you tried and failed, and then got stomped when you tried again, we're really sorry and we believe that it shouldn't happen again.
User Interface Bugs: The user interface bug that displays the player as dead, ammo or health at 999, or other unexpected behaviors has been fixed.
Camera Low W/ No Vertical Control: Fixed the issue where pressing multiple buttons at the same time could cause the camera to get stuck in an unusual position.
Placing a Ping Marker in the World Doesn't Make a Sound: Now pinging the world will make a sound for you and other players. You can help your fellow survivors know which way they should be carrying the alien matter in the Episode 2 gauntlet.
Login Issues With the Microsoft Store/PC Game Pass Build: This log-in issue has been fixed.
Anti-Virus Blocks or Deletes Anacrusis.exe: We've signed the executable appropriately and have submitted it to all of the anti-virus vendors we're aware of. If you're still having problems after the patch releases, please submit a bug at our support site.
Bots Getting Stuck: We expect to continue working on the bots indefinitely, but they should be less likely to get stuck now.
