What Is Be an Anomaly or Guard?
Be an Anomaly or Guard is a round-based horror game on Roblox developed by icce. Each match drops players into Backrooms-inspired maps where most participants become Guards trying to survive, while one or more players are secretly selected as Anomalies — powerful entities drawn from creepypasta, SCP lore, and original horror designs.
The tension comes from asymmetric roles. Guards stock up on weapons, coordinate patrols, and react to breaches. Anomalies hunt with unique abilities — blink rules, burst dashes, zone traps, and psychological debuffs depending on which entity you roll. Rounds are short, high-stakes, and highly replayable because anomaly selection changes every queue.
Unlike generic zombie shooters, this experience rewards map knowledge, sound discipline, and role-specific mastery. New players should expect a learning curve: dying early as a Guard or whiffing abilities as an Anomaly is normal for the first several sessions. This guide walks through the full loop so you know what each phase demands before you queue.
Round Flow From Lobby to Finale
Every session begins in a lobby where you customize loadouts, review shop items, and wait for the player count to fill. icce typically runs a countdown timer; use that window to equip weapons, check your credit balance, and read which anomalies are in the current rotation pool.
When the round starts, the game assigns roles. Most players spawn as Guards in a designated safe zone or staging area. Selected Anomalies may receive a brief preparation phase or spawn at map edges depending on the mode. Objectives vary by update — common patterns include surviving until extraction, eliminating all Anomalies, or completing map tasks while evading hunters.
Mid-round, events escalate: lights flicker, new wings open, or secondary anomalies join. The finale usually compresses survivors into smaller zones, forcing contact. When the round ends, results screens show credits earned, XP gained, kills, survival time, and performance stats. You return to lobby automatically; spend earnings before re-queuing so you are not under-geared next round.
- Lobby — Buy gear, review anomalies, party up with friends.
- Role assign — Guard (majority) or Anomaly (minority).
- Active round — Explore, fight, communicate, survive.
- Finale — Collapsing space or timed extraction.
- Results — Credits, XP, stats, return to lobby.
Playing as a Guard
Guards are the default role and the best starting point for learning maps. Your job is to stay alive, protect teammates, and identify anomaly behavior before it snowballs. Stick with at least one other Guard early — solo wandering in Backrooms hallways is the fastest way to die to SCP-173 blink checks or Boiled One burst catches.
Manage your economy: credits from prior rounds fund weapons and utilities in the lobby shop. Beginners should prioritize a reliable primary weapon and one utility (flashlight upgrade, med kit, or door tool depending on what icce enables). Do not blow your entire balance on cosmetics before you own a stable loadout.
Call out everything — footstep direction, ability sounds, door openings, and player separations. Guards win through information. Use our Controls page for default keybinds and the Guard Survival guide for positioning once you understand the basics here.
Playing as an Anomaly
Anomaly selection is random each round unless you own boosts like the 2X Anomaly Chance gamepass. When selected, you trade firearms for ability kits tied to your entity. Read the on-screen tooltip the first time you spawn — SCP-173 demands line-of-sight discipline, The Locust excels at area denial, and GUILT layers debuffs that punish careless Guard stacks.
Patience beats reckless chasing. Many new Anomaly players burn cooldowns on the first isolated Guard they see, then get eliminated during a coordinated sweep. Learn your range, wind-up animations, and escape routes before committing. High-tier anomalies reward map knowledge more than raw click speed.
If you are not selected, you still participate as a Guard — there is no spectator limbo in standard queues. Use Guard rounds to study where good Anomaly players enter and which choke points they abuse so you can replicate that when your turn comes.
Credits, XP, and Long-Term Progression
Credits are the primary currency between rounds. You earn them for survival time, eliminations, objectives, and end-of-round bonuses. Spend credits on weapons, attachments, and utility items in the lobby. Running out mid-session means relying on starter gear — still playable, but harder against experienced Anomalies.
XP levels your account profile and may unlock additional Guard tools or cosmetic options depending on icce's current progression table. Gamepasses like 2X Credits and 2X XP accelerate grinding but are optional. See our Credits & XP and Gamepasses pages for current prices and value breakdowns.
Progression is designed to be horizontal as well as vertical: knowing anomaly counters matters more than owning every gun. Pair shop purchases with wiki reading — our anomaly pages document tier ratings, difficulty, and role tags so you spend wisely.
First Ten Rounds Checklist
Queue with friends when possible — voice comms cut the learning curve dramatically. If solo, use Roblox chat for quick callouts but keep messages short during chases.
Play at least five full Guard rounds before buying premium weapons. Map literacy transfers directly when you eventually roll Anomaly. Watch the gameplay overview video above for visual orientation, then drill controls in a low-pressure lobby.
After ten rounds, branch into specialized guides: Guard Survival for team tactics, Anomaly Mastery for ability depth, Backrooms Navigation for map landmarks, and How to Become Anomaly if you want more time on the hunter side. Check the Updates wiki after patches — icce ships balance changes that can shift this advice.
- Complete the tutorial prompts if icce adds them in your client version.
- Set comfortable mouse sensitivity or mobile button sizes before ranked-style public lobbies.
- Bookmark the Tier List to know which anomalies to fear most each patch.
- Report confusing UI or bugs on the official group — icce uses player feedback.