Chapter 176: Dark Souls Prequel, Launched! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chapter 176: Dark Souls Prequel, Launched! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

The launch date for Dark Souls: Age of the First Flame was drawing ever closer.

Advertisements related to the game had already begun appearing gradually across various websites.

At the same time, Overseas Target Software had also started its warm-up promotion.

Compared to the domestic market, the overseas promotional efforts were even more intense.

This was because, during the month of July, most game developers hadn’t yet prepared to launch new titles.

On one hand, many had only just announced their games at the recent exhibition, leaving insufficient development time.

On the other hand, Chen Xu had already clearly announced that Dark Souls: Age of the First Flame, as a sequel to an established IP—and the follow-up to last year’s Game of the Year for Best Role-Playing Game—would launch in early July.

When a major title like this explicitly stated its launch date, few other companies were stubborn enough to risk competing head-on.

For players, this period of waiting was agonizing.

The promotional video released at the exhibition had been replayed countless times by fans.

Even many Souls scholars, combining clues from the original game, had created three-hour-long story background analysis videos using only that three-minute trailer.

Of course, aside from these hardcore Souls scholars, many regular players were also anxious, secretly fearing that Chen Xu’s official Weibo account might suddenly drop a message saying the game was delayed to “provide a better experience.”

After all, game delays were quite common in the gaming industry, and players dreaded the possibility that Nebula Games might pull the same stunt—even though Nebula Games had never delayed a game before.

But then again, up to this point, Nebula Games hadn’t released any major titles—aside from Dark Souls and It Takes Two, that is.

However, as June entered its final countdown, more Dark Souls advertisements appeared, the price for Dark Souls: Age of the First Flame was announced, and most reassuringly, the pre-order page had already gone live on the Nebula Games Platform’s shop, giving many players peace of mind.

This time, Dark Souls: Age of the First Flame was priced lower than the previous game’s 268 Yuan, selling for just 198 Yuan. As before, purchases made on the Nebula Games Platform would enjoy a 20% discount.

For overseas markets, the price was also reduced to $39.90.

Due to time differences and regional policies, the game would launch globally at the same time, except for a few regions where it would be delayed by about two days.

Time quickly approached the moment of game unlock.

Countless veteran Firelinkers had already pre-ordered and pre-downloaded the game, eagerly awaiting the moment they could finally dive in.

On community forums and in player chat groups, Dark Souls fans chatted excitedly, filled with anticipation for the upcoming Firelinking journey.

In one particular chat group, a group of players were chatting:

"Old Song, Old Zhang, have you guys downloaded the game yet?"

A player with the ID Old Song replied, "Of course it’s downloaded! What kind of question is that?"

"Exactly. I can’t wait," added another player, ID Old Zhang.

Old Zhang asked, "By the way, Old Song, which Class are you picking for your starting character?"

Old Song responded, "What do you think? Definitely the Deprived. As a true Firelinker, only the Deprived can truly showcase our skill."

Old Zhang said, "Same here. How about we have a race to see who makes faster progress?"

Old Song: "No problem!"

Their conversation quickly sparked enthusiasm among other Firelinkers.

"Almost there, almost there! Just five more minutes until we can play!"

"I wonder if the new Dark Souls will be harder?"

"It’ll definitely be harder, but I don’t think any of us will have real trouble. After all, we’re all qualified Firelinkers now."

"Exactly!"

The chat group buzzed with laughter and excitement.

But five minutes later, it fell completely silent, as if everyone had simultaneously gone offline.

In a residential complex in the Imperial Capital, Song Ren—aka Old Song from the chat group—clicked on Dark Souls: Age of the First Flame on the Nebula Games Platform with full anticipation.

The opening CGI was identical to the one shown at the gameplay Expo.

Clearly, Chen Xu had chosen to be frugal here, sticking to tradition—using the promotional video as the opening CG, or perhaps the opening CG as the promotional video.

Although Song Ren had watched it countless times by now, he still watched it again.

Besides, the time spent watching the cutscene wouldn’t affect his race with Old Zhang.

As the cutscene ended and the game’s UI interface appeared, Song Ren felt a bit nervous.

After all, this was Dark Souls. In the past, he had endured plenty of hardship in this game.

And based on the information Chen Xu had previously revealed, the new game’s difficulty seemed to have increased.

"It’s just a sequel! How could it possibly stop us Firelinkers?"

Cheering himself on with a battle cry, Song Ren entered the game.

The beginning was the familiar character customization and Class selection phase.

During the character customization, Song Ren noticed a special prompt:

[Detected that you own a Dark Souls save file. Would you like to use your previous character customization data?]

"Huh, this is a great feature! I can reuse the face I spent so much time on before!" Song Ren was pleasantly surprised, but he chose to ignore it and created a new, more distinctive face instead.

Could a Firelinker’s face be called ugly? No—this was personality!

As for Class selection, although he had proudly declared in the chat group that he’d pick Deprived, he quietly chose Knight instead.

After all, in the previous game, Knight was the most versatile Class for early-game progression.

Then came the burial gifts—the starting items. Here, Song Ren noticed some changes.

Just like before, items such as the Goddess's Blessing, Life Ring, and Black Firebomb were available.

But several items had been replaced: Twin Humanities, Telescope, Old Witch's Ring, and Master Key—none of which had existed in the previous game.

For a moment, Song Ren wasn’t sure what these new items did.

After some thought, he chose the Master Key.

The Black Firebomb was definitely useful for fighting bosses early on, but having already cleared the previous game, he had confidence in his skills.

More importantly, as someone who had played the original, he understood one of Dark Souls’ core features: hidden shortcuts scattered throughout the map that could only be unlocked later.

Now that he had the Master Key, could it possibly unlock these shortcuts?

Or perhaps it had other uses—like opening rooms with valuable loot that required a specific key, which the Master Key could open directly. Or maybe it was tied to rescuing NPCs locked in rooms, like the Thief from the previous game.

Whatever the case, he felt the Master Key was likely one of the better and more useful starting gifts.

After creating his character, Song Ren clicked into the game with excitement, ready to officially begin his Firelinking journey.

(End of Chapter) <>