Stray Bombay is proud to announce that their first game, The Anacrusis, will be released in Early Access on January 13.
Being founded in 2019, Stray Bombay defines itself as a small studio making big games. Its goal is to build better cooperative games, with a focus on social and cooperative aspects that players want to completely inhabit, not just play in.
According to Chet Faliszek, the Stray Bombay co-founder and lead developer on Left 4 Dead, “We’ve built a core game that we’re really thrilled to share with the community. The Director 2.0 is able to push players of all skill levels to their limits, universal crossplay let’s people play with their friends on all platforms, and Game Pass lets us reach a much larger audience than we could otherwise. We’re really proud of the first three episodes of the game, which we’ll be releasing in January, but we want to integrate the community’s feedback as we finish the first season and beyond.”
What is Anacrusis?
The Anacrusis is a four-player, cooperative first-person shooter that takes place on a massive stranded starship in a future where large corporations have carried humanity to the edges of the galaxy. After humanity grows complacent, disaster strikes, and it’s up to four unlikely heroes — Nessa, Guion, Liu, and Lance — to save the day.
After being announced at E3 2021, The Anacrusis has released weekly developer blogs to keep players up to date with what is going on and to delve deeper into the game updates. It draws heavy inspiration from Left 4 Dead, with its AI Director controlling all aspects of the game. The Director spawns every enemy, directs each boss, and places every weapon, gadget, and health kit. Therefore, no matter what skill level you have, it will never be too hard.
To combat the Director, players can team up with others, unlocking perks and weapons to desolate the alien horde. There is a decent collection of classic sci-fi weapons to fit in with the almost Deathloop-esque 60s theme. Perks change the way you play, allowing you to power up your weapons or boost your defense to survive the ferocious onslaught.
Stray Bombay has also stated that they completely support mods. Furthermore, at launch, the game will feature a selection of mods created by community members. If you want to create mods, you can join the developer Discord.
The Anacrusis will release “Season Zero” on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, and Steam on January 13, 2022. The game will be on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass on launch day as well.