The goal of this guide is to explain what all the Anomalies do. This guide is currently heavily under construction due to the game’s newly release, I will do my best to keep this guide updated as I continue explore and discover more Anomalies.
Beating Heart
JOURNAL FRAGMENT, date unknown.
It’s been at least two months now and I’m the last member of our team left out here, totally lost. I’ve no idea what day it is, where I am, where I should be headed, even which way might be north. The roads themselves seem to be changing, and those barriers that the government installed open and close with a mind of their own. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get out.
I’ve only been able to keep going thanks to magical piles of semiorganic junk that somehow knit the van back together after whatever thing smashed it apart last time around. I can get hit by electricity or dragged into a tree ten times over, but these things patch everything up better than any mechanic I ever knew. And then I just drive on into the forest once more, trying the next junction. That’s the story of the last living member of the Bugwatch team, stuck out here forever because we came to record a dumb show about insects.
Found in: Damp Forest, Blistering Woods,
Beating Hearts take on the appearance of many speakers formed together with a green light emitting from the center. When you get close to it, it will briefly repair your vehicle for a short amount of time before it becomes exhausted, which you can no longer use it anymore.
Hurricane Squall
A sudden and dramatic change in atmospheric pressure has produced powerful but extremely localized winds. Be careful. This could be extremely dangerous.
Found in: Damp Forest, Blistering Woods,
The only way to be able to tell a Hurricane Squall is within your vicinity is by looking at your ARC device and see if there is a large green circle slowly moving around the map. As long as you are not within the circle, you will be fine.
Hot Dust
PRIVATE FIELD NOTES, Dr. A. F. Kingi, date unknown.
At present, the majority of radiation detected in the Zone can be categorized as beta particles or gamma rays, behaving almost exactly as we would expect. Nevertheless, further study will still be required to explain the origin and highly variable intensity of this radiation, which is unlike anything previously documented.
One particular kind of radiation frequently manifests as a highly localized phenomenon, with no apparent source or focus, and often displays changes and modes of behavior more consistent with cloud patterns. These radiation “microclimates” are increasingly common and vary in intensity from relatively weak to extremely concentrated. We’ve tried to discourage the use of the phrase, but local contractors have already taken to using the phrase “Hot Dust” to describe this unusual Anomaly.
While further study is obviously warranted, the extremely unpredictable activity and spontaneous appearance of this radiation has made examination extremely difficult. It is not currently a priority.
Found In: Can be anywhere.
You will most likely find these appearing around you when the stability of the Zone decreases, or when you open a Gateway. Hot Dust will emit 5K radiation, and will cause your Health to drain quickly.
Bollard
TRANSMISSION FRAGMENT, origin unknown, Match 21st, 1961
Yes, Anita, I do agree with you that this is nothing short of remarkable. And yes, I also think what we’re seeing here is something new and unique, something unmatched by anything the Zone has previously offered up. But I must disagree with your conclusions. Strongly. I strongly disagree.
These abrupt, dangerous, grotesque things are one of a host of bizarre new geological phenomena. They very likely occur in response to ground vibration or local disturbances. And I think that’s the end of it. To suggest that they are a deliberate reaction, even a defense mechanism, takes our discussion in a very different and quite uncomfortable direction. I think we should be reviewing your reports before you submit them. This conversation goes no further and I’ll be scrubbing the transmission logs as soon as possible, understand?
Found In: Can be anywhere.
Bollards are tall chunks of dirt and stone erupting from the ground once you are within a certain range of it. While some will erupt fairly early for you to notice, some will not erupt until you are right up to it. You should also be careful when removing Anchors from its’ station, as these could erupt around it and can flip your vehicle over.
Tourist
DICTAPHONE RECORDING, OFFICE OF DR. RICHARD PREBBLE, CIRCA 1976.
Hi! Christina! Hi! How are you? So, um, it turns out you were right. We’ve had reports from several regions of the Zone now and they’re all very similar. We have these dummy things out in the wilderness and, um, we also have them inside abandoned houses. We also have them in gas stations, on the road, on top of signs… One report here says on a roof. We’ve spotted about six hundred now. This file catalogs each and every one.
Oh, and you’re quite right about the other thing, too. Yeah I know what happens when someone touches one. We all got plenty of data on that.
So, um, I’m going to be applying for a position on Portland now. I’ve done my review. It was a great time being contracted here, for sure, but I’m not sure I want to work at ARDA full time, you know? It’s, um, it’s very strange here. You work in a very strange place. I’m sure you’re doing very important work and I respect that greatly, but I think I’d like to go back to academia now.
Oh God, there’s one of them outside. I know for a fact it wasn’t there before.
Found In: Can be anywhere.
If you have a fear of mannequins, then this one will definitely be the worst for you. These can appear from being alone or being in large groups. Not only that they will explode when you touch them, they will only move when you are not looking. My personal way of dealing with Tourists is to throw a Road Flare at them and have them explode. When they explode they have a chance of dropping a ThermoSap Crystal, which will be useful in late game.
Whoever made the graffiti in-game of a Tourist saying “Free Hug” is very evil.
Bolt Bunny
MEMO F.A.O. DR. LOPEZ, July 19th, 1965. Addendum.
I don’t think we can ascribe intelligence because the behavior seems both reactive and entirely independent or any other entities. There is no evidence of judgement of consideration. There is no sign of any social or group dynamics. There is little to no environmental awareness.
I’d surmise that it is, in essence, purely instinctual. To this end, I recommend we ditch the moniker “Bunny” as what we see here is barely even the base instinct to latch on and to feed. It is brainless. It is mindless. We cannot give them animal names. So, to answer your original question, no, I do not believe they “feel” anything and I don’t believe it worthwhile we entertain any more guilt or shame in dealing with them as we might if we were to swat a mosquito. Not even that. We must stop calling them “Bunnies”.
Found In: Can be anywhere.
They will latch on to your car and emit electrical pulses. Although may not look like it, but you can pair it with a Lightning Rod.
Broken Bunny
MEMO F.A.O. Dr. Lopes, December 10th, 1965
I don’t like this. I feel like an experiment. That’s what I feel like. Like someone is playing with me. Maybe to learn about me, maybe just in the way you see a raccoon try everything it can to get into a trash can.
Why would that be? Is this a response to the experiments I’m performing? Am I interesting? Am I a snack? These damn things chase me and they leap on cars or the field equipment we’ve set up and it’s like they’re playing. Please, Anna, tell me you’re feeling the same way. Tell me you’re seeing this.
Nothing in nature is random. Evolution means that things in our world have function. They have purpose. What is the purpose of these things? What are they trying to do? And are things in the Zone… evolving?
Found In: Damp Forest
These little guys will jump at your car and latch on to it, sizzling electricity and damaging your car overtime. You should definitely get them off as soon as possible.
The one time these things didn’t land on me, but landed on the truck instead.
Dust Bunny
ARDA TRAINING REEL FRAGMENT, origin unknown, circa 1962.
That’s right, soldier, give ’em the boot! The army hasn’t issued you hard-wearing, weatherproof boots for nothing. Your footwear is also Anomaly-proof, so get right in there and greet those hangers-on with a good, firm, kick. That’s it son! That’s how it’s done.
See how Harry here takes a moment, makes sure he has some leverage and squarely aims the hell of his boot right at the center of the anomaly. It’s easy! One swift kick and the thing is loose.
Remember, don’t use your bare hands and don’t touch the Anomalies with any exposed skin. Always be sure to check all around your vehicle, particularly on the roof, and only continue your journey once you can be sure you’ve cleared off all the hangers-on. See how Harry here does a full circuit? You won’t believe where all the places these guys find to attach themselves! There he goes again.
Good job, Harry, give ’em the boot! And don’t worry, they don’t feel a thing. It’s not like they’re alive!
Found In: Can be anywhere.
Much like the Hot Dust, the Dust Bunny emits 2.5K of radiation, they will latch on to your car and damage it overtime. Simply give them a kick to get rid of them.
Left-Right
TELETYPE AUTOSCRIPT ARDA ref CARROL, V. – 1355-121264
Yes, sir, we lost total control sir. Veered off the road and straight into a house full of squatters. Six, sir. It’s like something just took control of the truck, screwed it all up and sent it every which way.
No, sir, only Jackson, who probably has a broken wrist. Everyone else is fine, while all these squatters only seem a little scared.
Well, sir, the thing is, we actually think they’re foreign. They’re dressed kind of strangely. They have hats and flannel shirts. Canadians? But… I thought Canada was north of Seattle. Victoria? Who is she? Oh I see. Well, if we can get a translator on the line I’m sure we can work that out very fast.
I mean French, sir! But I thought that Canadians spoke French? Miller dated a Canadian and she spoke French. Oh, I see. Well I’ll try that now.
Uh. Hello in there! Are you all right? Hello? Do you understand me? We come in peace! Me American! You Canadian! Friends! Sir, I think they’re unhappy.
Found In: Damp Forest, Blistering Woods,
They take on the appearance of blue and yellow winds blowing in a circle. If you drive into it, you will find out that you have lost control over your car and it will activate your light, wipers, and radio to also drain your battery. Try to avoid them as much as you can by simply going around them.
Wriggling Wreck
TELETYPE AUTOSCRIPT ARDA ref WARD, A. – 1720-101066.
It’s a trap. It’s a damn trap. It’s a monster.
This place is learning how to ambush us. You know what that means? It means it doesn’t want us here. This place doesn’t want us. A whole-ass part of the world is rejecting us, trying to get rid of us, trying to push us out. Think about that for a moment. That’s horrific.
This thing was like some kid of wicked new wildlife, ready to spring at us. But only us. Except, you know what? It’s not like wildlife. You ever notice how these Anomalies don’t attack one another? When have you ever seen them fight? Wildlife is an ecosystem, infinite parts responding to one another. The Anomalies? Listen to me. That’s the Zone uniting against us.
Found In: Can be anywhere.
If you see a wrecked car wiggling, that is the Wriggling Wreck. If you get close to it, it will close you off inside a circle of electricity, causing damage to your car. I highly suggest going around it to avoid triggering it. Although, if you do end up triggering it, the trap will not set off again in the future.
Minuteman
TELETYPE AUTOSCRIPT ARDA ref HOPPER, G. – 1140-211163.
Well I’m very sorry to hear that you find my anger and frustration difficult to deal with, even intimidating, but I wonder if you’d react the same way if any of your male colleagues came to you with similar complaints or dissatisfaction. I’ve been on hold for two hours and I’m calling to warn you of a new danger that it is very much in everyone’s interest to know about, do you understand?
No, listen to me. Write this down. We’re seeing more and more Anomalies capable of electrogenesis, of producing electric energy like an ell or a ray, but at remarkable levels. This is enormously dangerous and I don’t care about what secrets ARDA wants to keep, this is about people’s safety. Their lives! This has nothing to do with me trying to muscle in on research or put myself back on some half-assed program, it’s about you idiots understanding the risks you’re hiding from people. Now let me send this data through.
Oh, you want to talk about theories? How are you on LIM wave interpolation, or Patel’s theory that ARDA have twisted half the Peninsula into some kind of Klein bottle, where the inside is now the outside as well? Or do you want to put me through to somebody who is actually interested in making things happen?
Found In: Damp Forest, Blistering Woods
Minutemen appears most commonly with Wriggling Wreck, where they will appear in a circle and trap you in with waves of electricity. There are also times where you will find them without sighting a Wriggling Wreck, where they emerge from the ground one by one, generating electricity and connecting to each other.
I have also noted that if there are Tourists near them, they will become charged with electricity, and the explosions will do more damage. Because I personally have not seen Tourists near other Anomalies that gives off electricity, such as the Spark Tower, I do not know if the dummies will become charged within the presence of other electrifying Anomalies.
Abductor
LETTER FRAGMENT, date unknown.
Dear Maggie,
Once again, I miss you and the kids so much. I’m sorry I haven’t written sooner, but it’s been just crazy out here. I have a few moments right now, so I figured it would be good to put pen to paper. I hope you don’t mind the handwriting being so wiggly, but me and the guys are in a bit of a pickle right now. You see, our van got pulled up into a tree. I’m afraid I can’t explain exactly what happened (top secret things and all), but we’re safe. Trust me on that. We also have two hours to wait before rescue comes, hanging fifty feet above the ground, and right on a ridge. I’ll send this as soon as we get back to barracks, and write you a much better letter after, but in the meantime here’s a picture. I sketched it out while we were waiting. If there’s one thing we have up here, it’s a heck of a view.
Love always,
Joe
Found In: Damp Forest, Blistering Woods,
Depending on where you are, these things could be a great way to help you go faster or it could also bring an end to your expedition. Abductors are the flying metal balls that scans for targets with the green light below it. Anything that comes within the light radius will cause it to latch a magnet on it, and pull it away along with it. You can lure them away by throwing a Road Flare under them, and they will take the Light Flare away and go somewhere else.
Can Opener
TRANSMISSION FRAGMENT, origin unknown, date unknown.
Can anybody hear us?
We’re still inside the cabin. One of those things is tearing up the ground outside and it doesn’t stop! It went through Baxter like… like when you walk through tall grass! Like he wasn’t there! Oh God. Come in. Come in, Control. Can you hear us? You have to understand: They escaped containment. The Anomalies escaped. They escaped. They all escaped! THEY ALL ESCAPED!
Found In: Can be anywhere.
Can Openers are basically giant saws going back and forth while cutting the ground and anything that goes through it. Avoid them by going around them, or wait for them to go far away enough and simply drive through.
If these are called Can Openers, and they are cutting open the ground, does this mean the Earth is a can of food?
Spark Tower
PRIVATE FIELD NOTES, Dr. Everett, date unknown.
Plasma-powered “Spark” transmitters, combining previously obsolete coils with LIM-enhanced repeaters, have proven to be the best way to boost signals throughout the Zone. The constant increase in radiation and electromagnetic interference has made radio communication extremely difficult and often subject to bizarre distortions. These new, modified coils appear to have solved that. The addition of local plasma power sources is a reliable way to keep each node within this vital infrastructure both operational and independent.
However, the price we have to pay is constant maintenance and repair. They’re demanding beasts and burn through components rapidly. If key resistors and capacitors are not regularly replaced, they quickly develop a habit of either shorting or even releasing constant high-voltage, low-current discharges into the immediate vicinity.
Found In: Damp Forest
These towers usually have one or multiple plasma generators next to them providing it power. Once you destroy the plasma generators with an Impact Hammer, these towers will no longer be an issue. And you also get resources from breaking the plasma generators.
Pothole
ANSWERPHONE MESSAGE TRANSCRIPT, origin unknown, February 12th, 1966.
Hey boss! So I’m out here working with Meera and Tobias from Maintenance, and I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news about our gear. We’ve run into some trouble and I don’t think we’re getting it back any time soon. Sorry, bad start for my first potholing job!
Call me when you get this. Or, better still, I think you should just come down here and see for yourself. Our tools, our signs, our lights, they’ve all… taken flight, so to speak! Heh. Really, I’m serious. I’m dead serious. You should see this. You know how you told me we were normal people working in a very abnormal place? I think I know what you mean now.
Found In: Can be anywhere.
Although when we see Potholes in game we only see floating rocks, but once you are near it you will receive 2.5K amount of radiation which will slowly drain your Health when you are in it. Potholes usually appear around abandoned houses, which you will need to head inside and loot while slowly loosing Health. However, I wouldn’t think this is much of a concern as you would normally have crafted Med-kits and found food items while exploring that will restore Health.
Sizzling Mist
MEMO F.A.O. Dr. Lopez, December 2nd, 1965. Addendum.
You were right! The presence of concentrated plasma particles is what makes the cloud so conductive. This isn’t a storm like an electrical storm, like we’d expect to find in the skies above, and we’d do well to stamp out such colloquial descriptions. No, this is something else, something both more intense and yet also so much more localized.
I think, with a little time, it’ll be quite possible for us to replicate some of this behavior in a lab setting, budget permitting. God, isn’t this exciting? Our research is finally paying off! We’ll get tenure for this, for sure!
Found In: Can be anywhere.
A blue-tainted, electrified cloud of mist. Driving through it will cause your car to be struck by lightning. Can be easily avoided by driving around it.
Crackling Crawler
Hey Jill. So we’ve been through the latest batch of tests and almost everything is negative. You’re right that this thing does respond to ground vibration and clearly senses nearby movement, but beyond that there’s no reaction to any other kind of stimulus. Not light, not sound, not radiation, not any kind of changes in atmosphere, humidity… nothing. The best I can suggest right now is that its behavior is kind of territorial, often attacking anything it senses is close.
Wait. Not that I’m saying this thing is displaying intelligence. It’s just some kind of chemical reaction.
We’re still saying that they aren’t intelligent, right? And, uh, anyone even begin to figure out what these things might be made of yet?
Found In: Can be anywhere.
It’s a moving bolt of electricity. If you see this, then Minutemen will be close as well, and are often in the path that the Crackling Crawler is moving in. The Crackling Crawler will trigger the Minutemen.
The most simple way to get around them is to wait for the electricity to pass.
Glittering Boulder
TRANSMISSION FRAGMENT, ARDA Dispatch Headquarters, April 26th, 1964
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyy this is Annaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I’m totally going so faaaaaaaaaaaaaast right now! Oh no! Oh noooooo!
It’s happened agaiiiiiiin! Just out collecting some data from the weeeaaaather stations and ohhh nooooooo! There are these new things out there and ohhhhhh heeeeeeeelp! If you touch them you ahhhhhh nooooo! Hold on Charlieeeeeee!
Look, I’m not an engineer or a physicist, I’m a meeeeeeeteorologist, buy my guess is there things are discharging huge amounts of eeeeeeeeeeenergy into whatever they touch and when they hit a car you totally go so faaaaaaaasst HOLD ON CHARLIEEEEEEEEEE!
Found In: Damp Forest, Blistering Woods,
Most commonly found on ramps and tow trucks. If you drive into them, you will get a speed boost.
Spike Puddle
PARTIAL MEMO, Battalion Headquarters, February 21st, 1964.
Captain Neil Douglas filing. Today, when engaged in pursuit of a pair of Zone trespassers, three vehicles from B company where damaged and put out of action by what may have been traps deliberately laid. The trespassers, who crossed from Canada via the Salish sea and may be fugitives, are believed to have landed somewhere near Joyce after traveling via small boat. After multiple sightings and extensive tracking, we encountered the trespassers at approximately 1100 hours and begin a vehicular pursuit down several fire roads.
Driving a stolen government car, the trespassers evaded capture for some time and were able to prevent further pursuit by leading out team across patches of some kind of semi-organic, oil-like spikes. All three cars used in the pursuit suffered destroyed tires and damaged wheels. It is unclear at this time whether these patches had been somehow laid in response to the pursuit, or had existed sometime beforehand. The patches are extremely dangerous and utterly unlike anything we have seen before.
Recommend requisitioning tracked vehicles from Fort Lewis for further exploration.
Found In: Can be anywhere.
Small dark puddles with moving spikes. Driving over them will damaged your tires.
