Earlier today, Microsoft held its Xbox Showcase Extended livestream, offering brand new details on the games shown during its recent E3 presentation. From Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite to Stalker 2 and Psychonauts 2, tons of games got a spotlight during the event, including The Anacrusis, which was unveiled during Microsoft's event last Sunday.
For those who didn't catch The Anacrusis' announcement trailer, it looks to be a multiplayer sci-fi game in the same vein as Left 4 Dead, seeing four players team up to tackle extraterrestrial enemies on a spaceship. The game's description notes that it will be "infinitely-replayable," and thanks to Xbox Showcase Extended's new interview with Stray Bombay CEO Chet Faliszek, it seems eager players have an answer on exactly how the studio intends to accomplish such an ambitious feat.
According to Faliszek, the team "wants to make sure the game is different every time you're playing it," specifically referencing a system known as the "AI driver." The concept behind the technology ensures that items, enemies, and health kits are never placed the exact same way, with the CEO specifically noting that it will scale depending on how successful the team currently playing has been. If players are doing particularly well, items and guns might be scattered off the beaten path to add some challenge, while a group struggling to get through a mission might come across more health packs in main areas.
In addition to that idea, Faliszek claims that The Anacrusis' AI driver will be able to adjust players' experience through sessions, claiming: "If you play with the same 3 friends every week and you guys have been killing it for 10 weeks in a row, well, let's mix it up for you. Let's throw something crazy at you that you've never seen before." Players definitely got a taste of what Faliszek is referencing during The Anacrusis' announcement trailer, which highlighted plenty of tense skirmishes with hordes of aliens. It seems the idea is to alter the experience based on the player's habits and ability, drawing them out of their comfort zone and offering them something new and unexpected every time they boot up the game.
It seems The Anacrusis will also be attempting to create a different experience through every run via its perk system, which will attempt to switch up players' roles by making perks an equippable item they find around maps. Faliszek sees it as a way of getting users to switch up how they play every time they hop into a game, with certain perks relying on aggressive playstyles and others revolving around support roles. The Anacrusis looks to launch later this year where it'll have a lot of competition, with Back 4 Blood also looking to offer an action-packed, four-player co-op experience.
The Anacrusis will release for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S this Fall.