One of the most valuable resources in The Alters is ALX, which can be refined into Metals, Minerals, or Organics in the Refinery.
But you can only get it from one place: Anomaly cores. There are five types of Anomaly in The Alters, and they can be a bit of a pain to deal with. But if you want to progress through certain areas without fainting from radiation sickness and wasting a day, you need to know how to deal with Anomalies in The Alters.
First of all, make sure you don’t leave the base without an extra suit battery, as destroying Anomalies drains your energy quickly and sometimes it’s unavoidable. The five types and how to deal with them are listed below.
STATIC ANOMALIES
These are the first Anomalies you’ll discover and are the easiest to avoid, simply because they don’t move. You can destroy them very easily with the Luminator. The only time they’re a problem is when they appear in higher numbers and can sometimes form walls. If you do walk into or through them, they’ll inflict radiation damage.
FOLLOWING ANOMALIES
As the name suggests, these Anomalies follow you. They actually come in two subtypes, as well. The most common have small, fast-moving cores and drift towards you slowly. The less common have huge cores and movemuch quicker. Your suit will beep louder and faster as they get closer. Avoid them at all costs as they can be very damaging, but because they move slowly they should be easy to avoid or destroy.
PULSATING ANOMALIES
Pulsating Anomalies are huge distortions that grow and shrink with their own rhythm. If you get stuck in one they inflict huge amounts of radiation damage and can cause Jan to collapse in moments. To destroy them you’ll need to watch their rhythm and locate two separate cores, often at either end or on either side of the distortion. Only by destroying both cores can you destroy the Anomaly. Thankfully, these guys don’t move around and are static except for their shape-shifting.
TIME ANOMALIES
These create pockets of time dilation that cause Jan to move slower while the world around him moves faster. They’re often poised right above deep resource deposits, too. To eradicate them, locate the slow moving core and hit it with the Luminator. It will often be above you, and will move slowly but stay at a distance, making it tricky to reach. You won’t suffer radiation damage in a Time Anomaly, but being in one too long increases your risk of exposure to night radiation.
PRISM ANOMALIES
The final type of Anomaly won’t cause radiation damage, but will cause Jab to pass out and need rescuing if you get stuck in one. Prims Anomalies are huge and disorienting, splitting your vision into fragments, each of which contains a core. Locate and illuminate each core (there are usually three) to remove them. Because of how they mess with your POV, they can be difficult to navigate through and destroy, but like Time Anomalies often blockade useful resources or shortcuts.
So there you go, that’s how you deal with Anomalies and harvest ALX in The Alters.
