FAQ and troubleshooting
Can’t find your answer? The Playing in Discord and Settings pages cover most of the settings mentioned here.
Performance
The game lags or stutters: what can I do?
- In Settings › Graphics, drop to the preset below, then lower the render scale (the most effective setting), turn off shadows, volumetric effects and ambient occlusion.
- Leave the frame rate limit on Auto: a steady frame rate is smoother than a higher but uneven one.
- Turn on Show FPS to see the result of each change (frames per second and latency).
- Check that Discord’s hardware acceleration is on (see below).
The details of settings and presets are on Settings.
The game keeps the textures it generates and the weapon thumbnails between sessions, to load faster. Once a day, on the first launch, these caches are cleared and rebuilt: that first load of the day takes a little longer, then everything starts again from a clean slate. Your settings, language and login are kept.
I have integrated graphics (Intel HD, UHD, Iris…)
Intel integrated graphics (HD, UHD, Iris, Iris Xe) are the machines where the game struggles most: the game detects them and sets the Low preset from the first launch (Medium for integrated Radeon). In a match, if it stays below 30 frames per second, it lowers quality further on its own (render scale to 50%, fully applied from the next match), then suggests the PC’s dedicated card if it has one. To go further:
- lower the render scale to 75% or less;
- set a frame rate limit of a steady 30 or 40 frames per second rather than aiming higher;
- if your laptop also has a dedicated card (NVIDIA, AMD), force Discord (or your browser, if you play on discord.com) to use it: in Windows, Settings › System › Display › Graphics, choose “High performance” for the app;
- plug in the charger: on battery, many laptops cut their performance sharply.
The game runs badly even though I have a good graphics card
Check that hardware acceleration is on in Discord (and in your browser if you play on discord.com): without it, the game runs in software rendering and the preset is set to Low. Also update your graphics card drivers. On a laptop with two graphics cards, see the previous question.
When the game detects software rendering, a banner says so in the menus (“Your graphics card isn’t being used”). In the Discord app: Settings › Advanced › Hardware Acceleration, then restart Discord; on discord.com in a browser: the browser’s Settings › System, graphics acceleration option, then restart it.
Display
The screen stays white, black or frozen
- Update your graphics drivers and Discord (or your browser), then relaunch the Activity.
- Check that hardware acceleration is on.
- Try the other way of opening Discord: the desktop Discord app if you were on discord.com, or discord.com in a recent browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) if you were in the app.
- If the game shows “The graphics card was reset”, wait for it to recover; if it does not, click Reload: your seat in the match is kept for the time shown.
- If the menus’ 3D scenery does not come back (“The 3D scenery won’t come back”), the menus still work; close and relaunch the Activity to restore it.
The picture is too dark
Adjust Settings › Graphics › Brightness until the left symbol is barely visible, the middle one visible and the right one clearly visible. The maps are dark on purpose (stormy night, Métro tunnels).
Mouse and keyboard
The mouse leaves the window, or the view does not follow
To aim, the game captures the mouse: click in the window (“Click to enter the game” or “Click to resume”). Esc releases it and opens the menu; switching windows (Alt + Tab) releases it too.
Discord allows capture in the Activity. If Discord (or the browser, on discord.com) refuses it anyway, the game shows “Mouse capture denied” and offers:
- Retry: another click is often enough;
- Play with free mouse: the cursor is hidden over the game and the view follows its movements. Keep the cursor inside the window: if it leaves, the pause menu opens. A capture obtained later takes over on its own.
Enlarging the Activity window (full screen, for example) makes free mouse much more comfortable.
My keys do not match my keyboard
Keys are identified by their position: on AZERTY, you move forward with Z and left with Q, and the tactical grenade is on A. Everything can be rebound in Settings › Controls. See Controls.
Can I play with a controller, or on a phone?
No: ANKOU is played with keyboard and mouse, on a computer. The Discord Activity launched from a phone shows “Available on desktop only”.
Sound and language
I have no sound
- Check Settings › Audio: master volume, music, effects, voices. Test sound plays a test sound.
- Check that the Activity is not muted in Discord (nor the tab, if you play on discord.com in a browser), and that the right audio output is selected in Windows and in Discord.
- Click in the game at least once: sound can stay blocked until you interact with the window.
How do I change the language?
Settings › Gameplay › Language: “Automatic” (language detected on your computer), Français, English, Español or Русский. Menus, the in-game HUD and subtitles change instantly. The wiki exists in French and English (in English for players who chose Spanish or Russian).
Why are the voices in French?
ANKOU’s voices, music and songs are always in French, whatever language you choose: the game’s world (Brittany and Paris in 1946) is written in French. Turn on Subtitles (Settings › Audio, on by default) to read lines and radio transmissions in your language.
Connection and loading
Can I play in a browser, without Discord?
No: ANKOU is played as a Discord Activity, in a voice channel, on a computer (the Discord app or discord.com in a browser). The Activity runs noticeably smoother than a browser tab, and your friends in the voice channel join you in one click. The ANKOU website presents the game, profiles and leaderboards; its Play on Discord button opens the Activity. See Playing in Discord.
Loading a match takes a long time
The game downloads and prepares the map, its models and its sounds before starting; how long it takes depends on your connection and your machine. In multiplayer, the screen shows who is still loading: the match starts when everyone is ready. If the game stays stuck, close and relaunch the Activity: a disconnected player keeps their seat for 90 seconds.
The Hideout, on the other hand, opens with no loading on its quick view: modules, stash and contracts at a glance. Only the Visit button loads the first-person bunker (The Hideout).
I got disconnected in the middle of a match
Come back quickly: your seat is kept for 90 seconds, and when you reconnect you pick the match up where you left off. If the game crashed on your side, the lobby shows “Your match goes on without you” with Rejoin match. After the delay, the match goes on without you, but the XP and challenges earned so far are saved. See Lobby and match settings.
Zombies hit thin air and my shots don’t count
Your connection is sending your actions to the server late (4G tethering, weak Wi-Fi, upload saturated by another program): for the game, you are still where you were a few seconds earlier. As soon as this delay goes over one second, the Unstable connection banner appears:
- in solo, the match pauses (zombies and timers stop, controls are locked) and resumes on its own as soon as your actions arrive on time again;
- in co-op, the match keeps running for the others: the banner warns you that zombies see you where you were. Play it safe until it goes away.
To avoid it: prefer a cable or good Wi-Fi, close anything uploading in the background (file sync, updates, screen share or camera on Discord) and, on 4G, keep the phone near a window. Show FPS (Settings) displays your latency at the top of the screen.
“ANKOU is open in another window”
The game can only run in one window at a time for a given account (the Activity open on another computer, or in both the Discord app and discord.com…). Click Resume here to carry on in the current window.
“Server unreachable” or “The server isn’t responding”
Check your Internet connection. The server may also be restarting for an update: progress is saved first (“The server is restarting: your progress is saved.”), and the game retries the connection on its own.
Account and progress
Is my progress saved?
Yes, on the server, at the end of every match and even if you leave before the end. It is tied to your Discord account: you get it back in the Activity on any computer, and on your profile on the ANKOU website. Only settings (graphics, audio, controls) are specific to each device.
Where can I see my stats and profile?
In the game, the Barracks (main menu, Progression) gathers your profile, stats and history (Leaderboards, Barracks and Archives). Outside the game, the ANKOU website gives every player a public profile: rank, level, prestige, career and per-map stats, Hideout, weapons and mastery, Battle Pass and challenges, achievements and archives, emblems and titles, last 20 matches and leaderboard positions. The Your full profile on the website ↗ link, at the bottom of the Activity’s main menu, opens yours; the website’s search (Ctrl + K or /) finds any player by Discord username, without logging in.
Logged in to the website with Discord (Log in), you also see “Private” panels on your profile, hidden from everyone else: Ankou Coins, Moon Nectar, Hideout francs, Stash contents, consumables, Megas in stock, Double XP tokens, the Still and today’s daily order.
Why doesn’t my match show up on the leaderboards?
Only ranked matches count: starting round 1, not on Easy difficulty. A match started at round 5 or later is unranked, like any match on Easy. Guests do not appear on leaderboards. See Leaderboards, Barracks and Archives.
How do I delete my account?
Settings › Account › Delete my account…, then type DELETE to confirm. Everything is permanently erased, purchased Ankou Coins included. See Settings.
Where can I see what changed in the game?
In the main menu, Patch notes (next to Settings) lists every update, newest first, one line per change, tagged New, Improved or Fixed; the buttons at the top show only one kind of change. A New badge lights up on the button when an update has come out since you last read them.
Reporting a bug, contacting us
- Write down what happened (map, round, what you were doing) and, if possible, take a screenshot.
- On the Discord server, open a post in the bugs forum: when the team marks it “Fixed”, the bot replies in the post and lets you know by DM.
- During the beta, if you left early after your first matches, the ANKOU bot may message you only once to ask what went wrong: just reply to that message, the developer reads everything.
- Otherwise, write to the contact address given in the Legal notice.
Leaving Performance data on (Settings › Account) also helps find what makes the game lag or crash.
Legal pages
The legal pages are available from Settings › Account › Legal information:
Checked against the game on November 9, 2026