The Anacrusis starts 'really weird early access' in January

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The Anacrusis debuted earlier this year as a 1970s-style sci-fi take on Left 4 Dead under development by long-time veterans of Valve and Riot—specifically, Chet Faliszek and Kimberly Voll, under the banner of their new studio, Stray Bombay. Six months later, we've got a release date, and it's very close: January 13, 2022.

Word of the big day came by way of a new Anacrus developer blog, in which Stray Bombay communications director Will Smith assured fans that the date is as solid as can be. "We wanted to make sure we only had to announce once," Smith said. "We wanted to make sure nothing can stop us at this point. The path is clear, the runway is open, the grass is green, the field is wide open. I don't know what metaphors we're using here anymore, but the game is going to be out on January 13."

The Anacrusis will launch into "early access format," Stray Bombay cofounder Chet Faliszek said: "We want to be able to actively work on this with the community, and not just simply react to bugs or stuff like that. We will meaningfully change the game based on the community."

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It will be a "really weird early access," Faliszek explained, because along with the usual bug fixes and new content, there will also be weekly challenges, "meta progression," and more conceptual elements for players to try out.

"So if you're like, man, it really sucks that I gotta do these three things to get this, or maybe, hey, that's super-cool that this is how I get to unlock all these different skins and stuff and it doesn't cost me any money, I love this—that's good feedback, too," he said. "We want to put one representative idea of everything that's going to be in the game that we see now in there and start getting your feedback, and then maybe we'll add more stuff based on your feedback."

The Anacrusis will support crossplay across all storefronts—Steam, Epic, and Microsoft on PC—and with the console versions as well. It will also be on Xbox Game Pass, which on PC, in case you missed it, is now quite sensibly known as PC Game Pass. To learn more about what's in store, check out our recent preview—I'm not sure what "imagine if Left 4 Dead's AI director was designed to vibe" means but it sounds promising—or hit up theanacrusis.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.