🏚️ STEP 1 — WELCOME TO STALINGRAD

You begin in the central hub of Stalingrad.

Instead of traditional round-based Zombies, Der Anfang originally uses an objective-based structure.

Around the hub are portals.

Walk through one and you get transported somewhere else to complete an objective.

…

📖 Rulebook: Hold on.

Us: What?

📖 Rulebook: You JUST made a rule about this.

🌀 RULE #18:

NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS WHEN YOU TELEPORT.

Game: Enter portal.

📖 Rulebook: DON’T.

Us: We literally cannot play the map otherwise.

📖 Rulebook: Sounds like a feature.

🌀 STEP 2 — ENTER AN OBJECTIVE PORTAL

Choose one of the available objective portals.

Entering it transports your team to a combat area.

🚨 TELEPORTATION RULE VIOLATED.

Time elapsed:

Approximately two minutes.

Outstanding.

Completing objectives expands Stalingrad and unlocks more of the hub.

🧟 STEP 3 — BLITZ

One possible objective is:

⚔️ BLITZ.

This one’s simple.

Survive.

Enemies attack aggressively while you’re confined to the objective area.

Keep moving and eliminate zombies until the timer/objective finishes.

Complete it and you’re returned to Stalingrad.

Wait.

Returned how?

🌀 TELEPORTATION.

📖 Rulebook: THAT’S TWICE.

🪨 STEP 4 — HARVEST

Another objective:

🪨 HARVEST.

Enemies drop Runestones.

Collect them and deposit them into the Sin Eater.

Fill it enough times to complete the objective.

Basic loop:

Kill zombies → collect Runestones → deposit → repeat.

Just don’t get greedy while depositing and allow the horde to surround you.

Once finished—

🌀 teleports back

📖 Rulebook: THREE.

Us: Are you seriously counting?

📖 Rulebook: YES.

💀 STEP 5 — PURGE

For:

💀 PURGE

you’ll find special control runes around the objective area.

Capture them by standing inside their zones while enemies attack.

Work through the required runes until you’ve cleansed enough of them.

The important thing is not getting trapped while stubbornly trying to finish the last few percent of a capture.

Back away if necessary.

Survive first.

Capture second.

🧟 STEP 6 — TRANSMIT

Another possible objective:

📡 TRANSMIT.

A floating head moves through the level and creates a safe/progression zone around itself.

Stay reasonably close to it.

As your team remains inside its radius, it continues moving toward its destination.

Leave the radius too long and progression stops.

So essentially:

FOLLOW THE FLOATING HEAD.

📖 Rulebook: And we’re trusting that?

Us: It’s helping us.

📖 Rulebook: It’s a supernatural floating head.

…

Fair point.

🏃 STEP 7 — SACRIFICE

In Sacrifice, special enemies attempt to reach sacrificial sites.

Your job is to:

STOP THEM.

Prioritize the marked enemies before they reach their destination.

Crowd-control weapons help considerably because normal zombies will still be trying to turn you into lunch while you’re chasing the objective targets.

🌀 STEP 8 — VOID

Later versions of Der Anfang added:

🌀 THE VOID.

The Void gives you something closer to traditional round-based survival.

Enter it and fight increasingly difficult waves rather than constantly running individual objectives.

It’s useful if you want to:

Earn points

Upgrade weapons

Build your loadout

or simply play something resembling normal Zombies.

There’s only one small problem.

To enter it…

YOU USE ANOTHER PORTAL.

📖 Rulebook: FOUR.

Us: Stop counting.

📖 Rulebook: NEVER.

🔫 STEP 9 — PACK-A-PUNCH

Thankfully, Pack-a-Punch is extremely straightforward.

Find the:

🔧 PACK-A-PUNCH MACHINE

in Stalingrad.

Unlike some of the absurd quests we’ve done—

No dimensional algebra.

No shooting twelve symbols.

No collecting a demon’s toenail during a lunar eclipse.

You simply pay Essence to improve your weapon through its Pack-a-Punch tiers.

THANK GOD.

📖 Rulebook: Something normal!

Vanguard: Don’t get comfortable.

📖 Rulebook: Damn it.

❤️ STEP 10 — DEMONIC FOUNTAINS

Traditional perk machines are replaced by:

⛲ DEMONIC FOUNTAINS.

Each fountain provides an upgradeable perk-like ability.

The first level is free once its fountain becomes accessible.

Additional tiers cost Essence.

The fountains improve attributes such as:

❤️ Health

🏃 Movement speed

🔄 Reload speed

💥 Critical damage

⚡ Regeneration

So explore the hub as areas unlock and collect the fountains relevant to your build.

💀 STEP 11 — ALTAR OF COVENANTS

Here’s one of Vanguard Zombies’ major systems.

The:

💀 ALTAR OF COVENANTS

lets you equip special passive abilities called:

COVENANTS.

You purchase them using Sacrificial Hearts earned from completing objectives.

Available Covenants rotate as you progress.

You can combine several to create useful builds.

So:

Complete objectives

↓

Earn Hearts

↓

Check Altar

↓

Buy useful Covenants

↓

Upgrade/replace them as stronger versions appear

🌌 STEP 12 — WAIT A MINUTE…

Who exactly is giving us all this supernatural power?

Ah.

Right.

DARK AETHER ENTITIES.

…

📖 Rulebook: NO.

Us: We need their abilities.

📖 Rulebook: WE JUST CREATED RULE #19.

🌌 RULE #19:

DON’T TRUST INTERDIMENSIONAL BEINGS.

Dark Aether entity: “Accept my power.”

Us: Okay!

📖 Rulebook: IT HAS BEEN TEN MINUTES.

😭

🧿 STEP 13 — ARTIFACTS

Each operator can use an Artifact tied to one of the Dark Aether entities.

These provide powerful abilities that recharge through gameplay.

Use them when you’re overwhelmed rather than wasting them on a handful of ordinary zombies.

Different Artifacts favor different playstyles—offense, defense, crowd control, or survival.

And remember:

We’re borrowing supernatural power from interdimensional beings.

WHICH IS LITERALLY THE THING WE SAID NOT TO DO.

🔨 STEP 14 — UPGRADE YOUR GEAR

Weapon strength isn’t determined by Pack-a-Punch alone.

Pay attention to:

🔫 WEAPON RARITY

and your Pack-a-Punch tier.

Use Salvage at the crafting/armor systems to improve your equipment where available.

Your general progression becomes:

Better weapon rarity

Higher Pack-a-Punch tier

Armor

Fountains

Covenants

=

LESS SUFFERING.

Notice I said less.

Not none.

We’re still playing Vanguard.

🛡️ STEP 15 — ARMOR

Do not neglect armor.

As enemy damage increases, armor becomes extremely valuable.

Repair or upgrade it whenever practical.

If you’re spending everything on weapon upgrades while walking around with terrible defenses:

THE ZOMBIES WILL CORRECT THAT MISTAKE FOR YOU.

Violently.

🔥 STEP 16 — SPECIAL ENEMIES

Eventually you’ll encounter stronger enemy types, including:

💥 BOOM-SCHREIERS

These lovely creatures run toward you and explode.

Translation:

SHOOT THEM BEFORE THEY REACH YOU.

You’ll also encounter tougher enemies such as:

🧟 STURMKRIEGERS.

These armored heavy enemies carry powerful weapons and take considerably more punishment.

Target vulnerable areas and don’t let one corner you while you’re dealing with the normal horde.

🧠 STEP 17 — YOUR BASIC DER ANFANG GAME LOOP

Because there’s no Main Quest, your progression essentially becomes:

OBJECTIVE

↓

RETURN TO STALINGRAD

↓

UPGRADE

↓

BUY COVENANTS

↓

GET FOUNTAIN UPGRADES

↓

PACK-A-PUNCH

↓

NEXT OBJECTIVE

↓

REPEAT

As you complete objectives, additional portions of Stalingrad become accessible and enemy difficulty increases.

That’s the core experience.