The Anacrusis, an Early Access four-player cooperative FPS with clear inspiration from Left 4 Dead, is currently in the middle of a free-to-play weekend. Garnering attention for indie games is increasingly challenging. Multiplayer games, particularly Early Access games on Steam, have turned to free-to-play sessions to combine marketing efforts and testing. The Anacrusis is the latest example, and one co-op gamers may not want to miss out on.
Originally launched in January 2022, The Anacrusis promised to take around 9-12 months of Early Access to expand and test before it fully launched. A year later and The Anacrusis still isn't quite ready, but developer Stray Bombay still wants to put its game out in front of more people. Stray Bombay hasn't spent the last year sleeping, though. It's released 26 different updates for The Anacrusis and shows now sign of slowing. It isn't entirely clear how much more of The Anacrusis Stray Bombay wants to work on before fully launching, but the game is closer to full launch than ever.
That's why Stray Bombay is so confident in holding a free Steam weekend right now. The Anacrusis will remain freely available to download and play until Monday morning at 10:00 AM PT. The full game as it is currently available is freely accessible. No parts of it are being withheld. This is just Stray Bombay wanting more people to see what The Anacrusis is all about.
Included in the current version of The Anacrusis are four episodes of story-driven co-op action, as well as three holdout mode maps for more challenge-focused gameplay. There's also an Infinity Pass for meta progression, a "bazillion" guns to try out, special enemies to fight, and plenty more to experience. The Anacrusis is based around an "AI Driver" controller all aspects of the game, guaranteeing that every playthrough is a unique experience designed to be challenging, memorable, and fun.
This is also described as just the "first season" of The Anacrusis, a story revolving around Nessa, Guion, Liu, and Lance, who are survivors of an alien attack on a massive starship. That means that there is more of The Anacrusis to come, even after the game fully launches. Stray Bombay clearly has big plans for The Anacrusis in the future.
Stray Bombay was founded in 2019 by Chet Faliszek and Dr. Kimberly Voll. Faliszek is well known as a key writer for Valve, having worked on Portal 2 and the Left 4 Dead games. Voll, who has since left Stray Bombay, built The Anacrusis' AI Driver bringing the cooperative shooter to life. Try the game out for free on Steam today and see if The Anacrusis is as special as players are saying.
The Anacrusis is available in Early Access on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.