Chapter 18: Gaming Experience

Following Chen Xu's announcement of the existence of Undertale.

Ordinary players hadn't noticed anything yet, only feeling that the battle was escalating. This wasn't just a war of words; it was a direct bayonet charge!

But for the well-informed gaming media, it felt like they'd been hit by a truck.

Good heavens, they originally thought it was just youthful exuberance, directly confronting. This was clearly a premeditated hype!

However, knowing was one thing, but the traffic brought by this big drama couldn't be missed. Under reports from various media, the popularity of both Undertale and Blooming quickly soared.

In the Hapai Culture & Sports media, Zhong Mei was quite exasperated by this. Because now, these two games were essentially bound together.

The reason their popularity rose so quickly, besides the public spat between his and Chen Xu's official Weibo accounts, was also because he had invested a significant amount in game promotion.

But now? It all became a wedding dress for Undertale.

………………

On July 15th, Undertale officially launched on the official game platform store.

Compared to Blooming from Zhong Mei's side, Undertale launched 3 days earlier. It managed to seize an early advantage.

Many Game Designers and players were paying attention to Undertale's performance. After all, this game wasn't a Gentleman's Game like Mirror (Game).

Although Mirror (Game) had a very impressive performance, it was an 18R Rating game after all. Now everyone wanted to see what the quality of this game called Undertale, developed by Chen Xu, would be like.

In the editorial department of a media company called Game Timespace, Wu Tian, who had only recently started his job, was sitting in front of his computer, preparing to review Undertale.

Even though it was just a common Independent Game, its recent popularity was undeniable.

The only thing that annoyed Wu Tian was that today happened to be Sunday. This meant he had to work overtime.

“Forget it, I'll bear with it. At least there's overtime pay.” Looking at the clock, Wu Tian sighed.

He remembered what the editor-in-chief had told him earlier: 'The company's overtime pay is quite good, just bear with it.'

After tidying up the miscellaneous items on his desk, Wu Tian launched the game called Undertale. It began with a simple LOGO icon, a black starry sky background, emblazoned with the large characters for Nebula Games, and a line of English text below.

After a brief black screen, what appeared on screen was a yellowed image, depicting a small girl with an indistinct face holding a long spear, and an equally faceless standing animal that, from its appearance, looked a bit like a rabbit, a dog, or perhaps a Hex?

Looking at the yellowed image, Wu Tian guessed in his mind. Just like a Comic Strip, the opening CG Cutscenes began to flip pages.

“Did they not have money for CG animation, so they used a comic-style approach for the opening Story-driven? This method is actually quite good.”

Wu Tian speculated in his mind. Just this opening had already given Wu Tian a good impression of Undertale. At least, his overtime journey today would likely not be a torment.

The images began to turn pages, and the Background Music started playing. Simple notes, but quite atmospheric.

‘Long, long ago, two races ruled Earth – Humans and Monsters.’

‘One day, war broke out between the two races.’

‘After a long struggle, the Humans emerged victorious, sealing the Monsters underground.’

‘Many years have passed since then…’

‘Mt. Ebott – 201X, legend says those who climb the mountain never return.’

A simple background introduction, nothing particularly outstanding. After naming the protagonist, the character woke up in a field filled with yellow petals. Following the game tutorial that appeared earlier, Wu Tian controlled the character to walk forward. Upon arriving at a gate resembling a castle entrance, he walked in, and a sunflower-like Flowey appeared there.

‘Howdy!’

‘I'm Flowey!’

‘Hehehe!’

‘You must be new to the Underground world, right?’

‘Oh my goodness, you must be very confused.’

‘Looks like I'll have to teach you the rules here.’

‘Flowey has no choice but to teach you personally. Ready? Let's begin!’

What a strange character, Wu Tian thought, looking at the Flowey in front of him.

“LV increases to make you stronger, shouldn't that be level? What the heck is Love?”

Wu Tian was a bit confused by Flowey's dialogue. Playing mysterious? And what are these friendliness pellets? He had a feeling this Flowey wasn't a good thing. Wu Tian thought to himself, and the subsequent game screen confirmed his suspicions.

Accompanied by an evil laugh, the seemingly friendly Flowey revealed its sinister face after telling him that LV is increased by touching friendliness pellets. Upon touching the white pellets, his health instantly dropped to 1 point.

‘You idiot! In this world, it's kill or be killed! Who would miss such a great opportunity?’

‘Die!’

As expected, the next line should be someone coming to the rescue. A standard plot kill in an RPG. Wu Tian's emotions were unmoved, watching the heart-shaped icon surrounded by countless white particles. He mostly understood the game's combat part, which was similar to bullet-hell gameplay in music games. It was just that the plot arrangement felt a bit old-fashioned; wasn't it just a traditional RPG?

Indeed, the next moment, just as the bullet-hell ring was about to touch him, his health, which had only 1 point left, suddenly refilled completely. At the same time, the bullets representing the attack disappeared. Flowey in the game also showed a bewildered expression and, after some expression meme lord antics, was directly knocked away by a ball of fire. A goat-horned female figure appeared, saving the protagonist.

‘What a cruel creature, tormenting such a weak and helpless child.’

‘Do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the RUINS.’

‘I come to this place every day to see if anyone has fallen. It has been a long time since a human came here before you.’

‘Come, let me guide you through these Catacombs.’

‘This way.’

After a brief conversation, the goat mother named Toriel led Wu Tian down the path ahead, showing him how to solve puzzles and use mechanisms. She also told him that when encountering enemies, he didn't necessarily have to fight them; he could also persuade the NPC.

Very simple puzzles, just pushing stones and memorizing not to step on leaves. “Although it’s not a tormenting journey, the quality is too bland. It even feels less interesting than the Match-3 game in Mirror (Game),” Wu Tian sighed, looking at a monster he encountered, not choosing to talk or hug in mercy.

Instead, he immediately entered combat. So far, the only things he found somewhat interesting were Flowey’s expression meme lord expressions at the beginning and this combat segment. Although it was a dodgeball-style gameplay, different monsters exhibited different combat styles. For example, a frog in combat would just be a frog jumping within a box. It matched the monster’s image perfectly.

“I hope this game's progression isn't tedious and drawn-out, so I can get off work earlier.” Sighing, Wu Tian shook his head. (End of Chapter) <>