Anomalies

Overview^[1]

Anomalies are a major game mechanic in Animal Hospital. Rejecting anomalies from the hospital is one of the main objectives of the game.

Stats

Insert: Monsters
Link: Enemies

Background

On some occasions, if an anomaly is Treated, it will say, "I'm hungry...", and can attack another patient while leaving. Anomalies that can be identified without using any equipment. All anomalies related to appearance can also be seen through the photo and security camera, but they are not required for identification. Letting appearance anomalies pass will typically result in death rituals, monster emerging or the anomaly turning into a Mimic and trying to eat patients or players closest to them. There are four variants of anomalies with the unnatural facial appearance symptom. The patient will lose their real face and will constantly give a slight stare at the player as they move. All four variants are guaranteed to have a low-pitched and distorted voice. Photo anomalies are anomalies that can only be detected when a player takes a photo of the patient at the window using the camera. Photo anomalies will not subtract sanity from the player; however, cursed photos will. To be safe, players should wait for the photo to load before inspecting it. There are several varieties of cursed photos in the game. If the player picks up the photo before it fully processes, it will cause the player to lose 10 sanity points. Security camera anomalies are anomalies that can only be seen if a player looks at the security cameras. The patient may appear normal at the window and photo camera, but will look abnormal on the security camera.

Tips and Strategies

Anomalies can't faint in any method, not even fire. If someone walks into a room of fire without fainting, they are an anomaly. Anomalies can be killed by allowing them to come in and treating them with the wrong treatment. This is a faster way to complete early and later shifts, but at the cost of lower rewards on the shift's summary. Anomalies can also be killed by tasing or shooting them with a gun. Though, in some cases, rather than killed, they will instead get up and run out of the hospital screaming. If a Hollow Eyes Anomaly dies after a Death Ritual, its death is always counted as a normal animal's death on the "Hospital Deaths" counter. If you treated all the patients but the shift summary doesn't show up (or the message "The doctor is coming" doesn't appear), it means one or more of the patients left over is an anomaly. When tasing an anomaly, you gain +2 sanity points. However, shooting the anomaly with a gun does not reward you any sanity points. The Head Banger isn't a normal anomaly, and it results in -20 sanity if asked to leave. Head Banger can appear as both an anomaly and a non-anomaly. When tasered, it may deplete your sanity by 15% as if a non-anomaly was tasered (possibly a bug), so it's not recommended to do so. To get rid of it without losing sanity, hold a coffee when asking it to leave. You can take 2 sips from the coffee before giving it to the Head Banger. You can also wait until it breaks the glass.

Known bugs

The photo may not be picked up or processed properly. It has no correlation to the species of the patient and will not affect any other future patient in the game. A patient's photo may not have proper static. A patient with an anomalous face can appear as a normal patient in their photo. It may count as a cursed photo and can make the player lose sanity. The patient's arms can sometimes be seen moving in the photo. Sometimes the Patient's head is facing the Check-In camera while the Player is taking a picture of them. The Player can take a picture of the patient, then look at it through the security camera to reveal camera anomalies. This shows further proof that the camera acts as more of a screen rather than a still image.