First Night on Anne: How to Finish One Campaign
Copy connect, join a regular campaign, finish one game. Leave Hardcore and Versus for later tonight.
Do these two things tonight
Join reliably, and finish a regular campaign with a team. Save Hardcore Anne co-op and Versus for later.
Steam lobby often cannot find community servers. Open the console, copy the full connect from this site's server IP page, and paste it. Old favorites and history die often, especially after the three-line endpoints change.
Which server to pick
Home or the IP page shows count and map. Do not force a full room. Join any host, type !ip, see open slots in the group. If only one host fails and other Anne servers work, note the name and time and follow the troubleshooting article. Do not only reconnect.
First visit, pick rooms named like Campaign or coop. If you see AnneHappy, Hardcore, Not0721, ZoneMod, stay out for now.
What to check after you join
- Chat：Many rooms print the current mode and limits. Read them before you move.
- !xx or !x：Shows the current Anne config.
- Scoreboard：Confirm whether you are a survivor or a spectator. !join to take a survivor slot, !away to step out. Do not idle in a seat.
If you do not know what to type, !vote. Change modes with !match; if a match is loaded, !rmatch first. Change maps with !mapvote. Ask the room before you switch.
What to play in the first game
Play a regular campaign or vanilla campaign. Routes and supplies stay close to vanilla, so you can tell if you are stuck or the config is. Anne campaign keeps some server extras; vanilla campaign turns off most gameplay plugins. If you cannot tell them apart, type !xx.
Do not call the shots in game one. Follow the team, call downs and SI, leave kits for black-and-white players. To practice Anne co-op, join standard AnneHappy next game.
Playing badly on your first night is normal
A few words that may take the sting out of it. Anne's servers are not the same thing as official matchmaking, and if your first night feels rough, your aim is almost never the reason.
- Specials arrive more densely than you are used to
- Spawning is handled by a server plugin on a fixed 16-second cycle, without the long quiet stretches the vanilla director gives you.
- Difficulty follows the team
- Someone down, someone on black-and-white, the team stuck — all of it raises the pressure that follows. So "the messier you play, the harder it gets" is literally true, not an illusion.
- Falling behind is punished directly
- Stray too far and you get singled out. Scouting ahead works in vanilla; it does not here.
- Most of the regulars have been at it a long time
- They know what comes around which corner; their reflexes are not faster than yours. The only way to close that gap is rounds played.
So the first night has exactly one goal: finish a round. Dying a few times is fine. Doing three things — stay with the team, do not fall behind, revive first — is worth far more than damage dealt.
Do not do these tonight
- Do not squeeze into a full high-pressure room.
- Do not !match the moment you join unless the room agrees.
- Do not make a custom map your first game. Missing files stall loading.
- Looking up a ban or writing a report, do not use a nickname only. Copy your SteamID first.
A few unwritten rules
None of these are in the rules, but doing them on your first night changes how teammates see you entirely.
- Say hello when you join："New here, first time" is enough. People will slow down and bring you along, which beats silently trailing behind.
- Ask when unsure："Should I open this door?" is much better than opening it yourself and triggering an event nobody was ready for.
- Hold off on the medkit：80 health still counts as healthy here. If you see someone on black-and-white, hand it to them.
- Call out when you go down：Do not wait silently to be noticed. Call your position and the rescue comes much faster.
- Say something before you leave：If you are logging off after this round, say so rather than just quitting. A team of three has a hard time carrying on.
- Do not rush to call votes：Calling !match to change modes right after joining is the fastest way to make people uncomfortable.
On the flip side, most rooms on Anne are tolerant of newcomers. Playing badly is fine — just do not break other people's rhythm.
After you finish one game
Once you can join and finish a game, branch. Keep co-op with the Anne co-op primer. Versus, count heads first. Cannot connect, go back to troubleshooting.