The Anacrusis: How To Change Characters

The Anacrusis is coming to Early Access on PC and Game Preview on Xbox. That means that you can get in with the game earlier than most and watch it evolve over time, but it also means you should expect some growing pains. Perhaps the most prominent missing feature right now is the ability to easily select your character from the game’s foursome of heroes. However, just because it’s tricky doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Here’s how to change your character in The Anacrusis.

There are four characters in The Anacrusis at the moment. While they’re not class-based, each of them has their own distinct personality, plus their own cosmetics to unlock, so you’ll undoubtedly pick your favorite survivor in time. But selecting any specific character is a bit clunky at the moment. The four heroes, Guion, Nessa, Liu, and Lance, are assigned in that order to players who join the lobby.

That means, for now anyway, the party leader will always play as Guion, and subsequent players jumping into a lobby second, third, and fourth will load into their roles as Nessa, Liu, and Lance respectively. This is very likely a temporary arrangement, and when Stray Bombay updates the game to allow for exact character selection, we’ll update this guide too.

This does mean, however, that characters can be off-limits depending on how many players you have in your party. For example, if you’re playing solo, you’ll always be Guion without the ability to switch. Similarly, a party of three will always be greeted by an AI companion in Lance, as he’s currently the last hero to be filled in any given session.

If you have a full group and you want to assign specific heroes to players, be sure to join the lobby in the aforementioned order–party leader as Guion, second player as Nessa, third player as Liu, and last player as Lance. It’s a bit convoluted, but it’ll have to do for now. As the game grows over the weeks, months, and perhaps years ahead, look for this feature to be improved.

For more on The Anacrusis, be sure to get familiar with the game’s many weapons, alien classes, and how to use the Matter Compiler.