Is The Anacrusis Just Another Left 4 Dead Clone?
To say The Anacrusis is similar to Left 4 Dead would be a severe understatement. From hordes of mindless monsters, to deadly enemies that spawn regularly and use their special powers to put the party in a jam, to safe rooms that separate each act of an episode, this four-player co-op FPS sticks so close to its inspiration it could almost qualify as a spinoff. Unfortunately, that nostalgic mimicry allows for little in the way of interesting new ideas or even expected modernizations that might have made it more fun, resulting in a flavorless distraction that feels like it could have come out in 2008. Combat is bland and one-note, the graphics are well below the standards of today, and enemy variety is almost nonexistent. The only thing The Anacrusis really has going for itself is a unique disco-era sci-fi setting starring cheeky characters and groovy locales, which would be easier to appreciate if the rest of it wasn’t so woefully bland. It’s been 15 years since the original Left 4 Dead, but The Anacrusis feels sorely stuck in the past.
The Anacrusis 1.0 Gameplay Screenshots
Alarmingly true to its roots, The Anacrusis has you casually jogging from safe room to safe room until a final showdown at the end of each episode asks you to hold out against an army of baddies. That familiar framework also includes mowing down hundreds of identical monsters (aliens here, instead of zombies) in a hail of blue lasers, which is undermined by some of the most forgettable gunplay in recent memory. Nearly every part of the combat is mediocre, whether it’s the hilariously unintimidating and low-res enemies, the generic laser weapons that all feel like clones of one another, or the eyebrow-raising lack of a sprint button. And even though there are only five episodes to pick from that can be completed in a total of less than four hours, many of the same areas are repeatedly reused, so you can’t even rely on fresh levels to keep things interesting.
Thankfully the otherwise monotonous trek through samey hallways is momentarily elevated whenever one of the special enemy types shows its face, like the Spawner who hides and spits out little turret creatures, the Grabber who ensnares one player and renders them unable to defend themselves until killed, or the Brute who just has lots of health and runs around stomping things. Learning to work as a team and deal with these tricky foes goes a long way in making things more interesting when you’re early on. Unfortunately, even these brief pockets of amusement quickly fade after you’ve been spit on by a Gooper or blinded by a Flasher a handful of times and familiarize yourself with their tactics enough to dispose of them in a few seconds whenever a new one spawns.
The weapons you’ll use never stop being disappointing.
No matter what you’re fighting, the weapons you’ll use to do so never stop being disappointing. With only a few variations of the handful of laser-blasting rifles, machine guns, and shotguns (plus a single sidearm to use when you’re out of ammo), you’ll have seen most of the arsenal available to you after just the opening episode. Every once in a while you’ll find an upgraded version of your submachine blaster while exploring the space station’s white corridors, but aside from doing more damage and maybe applying a status effect like Stasis that slows enemies down, there’s not much variety. It’s also just disappointing that most weapons have no personality to them – there’s not a whole lot to distinguish the plasma rifle from the submachine blaster, for example.
One mildly interesting addition is the ability to customize your playstyle in each game mode by finding Matter Compilers throughout the level and selecting one of three randomly rolled perks. You might gain the useful ability to carry more grenades, regenerate ammo by killing marked enemies, become invulnerable while standing in goo, or automatically mark any special enemy just by aiming at it. Although these are mostly minor upgrades, they do succeed at mixing up the Left 4 Dead formula at least a tiny bit.
The awesome retro vibe fades by the 50th empty hallway.
For all its gameplay shortcomings though, The Anacrusis definitely stands out with its 70’s style and swagger, complete with interior design that looks like it would be right at home in one of those vans with carpeted walls and beaded curtains. This completely unique aesthetic coupled with its wise-cracking characters gives everything a levity and charm that’s largely absent in its dark and bloody zombie-centric peers, and I was thankful for that distance. Unfortunately, that awesome retro vibe eventually fades once you’ve walked down your 50th empty hallway and ends up feeling like an idea that never got expanded on in early access.
Aside from the standard episodes, you’ll also find a 4v4 Versus mode that pits one team of player-controlled monsters against an opposing team of survivors.
Aside from the standard episodes, you’ll also find a 4v4 Versus mode that pits one team of player-controlled monsters against an opposing team of survivors. Smartly, this mode is designed with the assumption that the survivors will always lose, since the odds are stacked against them with the alien team spawning infinitely. Once the survivors are killed, the teams switch sides and the winner is determined by whoever survives the longest – a huge improvement compared to Left 4 Dead’s PvP, where the survivors almost always emerged victorious. Taking on the role…