Chapter 196: Don't Starve Launches (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chapter 196: Don't Starve Launches (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

September 11th. This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival had just passed, leaving only the final day of the three-day holiday.

During this time, many of the bosses in Dark Souls: Death Mode had finally been gradually defeated by players.

The much-mocked King Uhum was no longer standing all alone.

In the meantime, numerous players had been flooding Chen Xu’s official Weibo account with all kinds of @-mentions and questions.

All kinds of players showed up.

Some asked about the game type of Chen Xu’s next project, others inquired about the true story behind Dark Souls, and still more questioned whether there would be any subsequent new works in the Dark Souls series.

But on this particular day, many players were surprised to discover that the previously silent official Weibo account of Nebula Games—which had been completely quiet—

had actually posted a message about a new game.

'New game Don't Starve, now launched on the Nebula Games Platform.'

'This is a sandbox-like game combining adventure, survival, role-playing, crafting, and exploration. Players must survive in a mysterious, unknown world by searching for, mining, and utilizing various limited resources.'

'The game supports multiplayer. You can team up with your friends to explore and survive together in this mysterious, unknown world.'

'Game Features: A comprehensive item crafting system that lets you experience the joy of creation; a distinct Gothic art style; a vast and mysterious explorable map offering sandbox-style free gameplay.'

Similar to previous small-scale games like Sanguosha and Overcooked,

this time, Chen Xu also simultaneously developed both a PC version and a mobile version for Don't Starve.

Of course, considering differences in control methods and future MOD support across platforms,

the two versions each have their own major regions, with data interoperability only available in the Vanilla Version.

This means that while players can still play together online even with added MODs, they can only connect with others on the same platform.

Additionally, players don’t need to purchase the game twice, as data is interoperable.

After playing on PC, you can continue your progress seamlessly on mobile.

However, this only applies to saves from the Vanilla Version.

After Chen Xu’s official Weibo post went live,

advertisements for Don't Starve began appearing across major gaming websites, communities, and the Nebula Games Platform.

Of course, the promotion wasn’t nearly as grand as that for previous titles like Dark Souls: Age of the First Flame or It Takes Two,

but it still left many players taken aback.

“What’s going on? Did Chen Xu develop another game?”

“Let me check—it looks like a low-budget production?”

“A mini-game? Let me take a look. This art style is kind of weird!”

“Why are you so amazed? Didn’t Chen Xu say on his official Weibo it’s Gothic style!”

“Bro, what exactly is Gothic style?”

“How would I know? I only know what Gothic Lolita is.”

“????? Something’s off—officer, I need to report this!”

“Don’t derail the conversation. What does ‘sandbox-like game’ even mean? What kind of game type is that?”

“Not sure. Maybe Chen Xu just made it up?”

“Survival, and with this art style… damn it, could this actually be a horror game?”

“It’s not impossible! Maybe after making the demo for Silent Hill PT, Chen Xu felt unsatisfied and wanted to go further.”

“You guys are overthinking it. Didn’t Chen Xu clearly state on his official Weibo there are absolutely no horror tags?”

“Pfft. Honestly, I only believe half of what Chen Xu says these days. Remember how at the gameplay Expo, he turned The one with the big hammer into a life philosophy lecture? If you believe everything he says, you’ll get sold out and still help count the money!”

“In any case, I’ll just take a wait-and-see approach for now.”

“Whatever, I’m just getting my hands on it. It only costs 26 Yuan anyway. If it’s not fun, I’ll just refund it.”

Many players discussed under Chen Xu’s official Weibo post.

Some decided to wait and see, while others expressed strong excitement—after all, survival-mode games like this one seemed quite interesting based on the description, and at 26 Yuan, the price wasn’t high.

After seeing Chen Xu’s Weibo post, many industry designers also felt puzzled.

After all, Chen Xu was no longer an unknown figure in the gaming industry.

On the PC platform, Chen Xu had released multiple games that profoundly influenced the industry.

Starting with Undertale, which popularized meta-game elements, followed by Overcooked and It Takes Two, which brought cooperative games into the spotlight.

Then came Dark Souls, which amazed many designers—how could such a high-difficulty hardcore game attract so many players?

Meanwhile, in the VR field, Nebula Games hadn’t fully entered yet, and no designers had experienced it firsthand.

But judging from the PC version’s gameplay videos, it was already considered a classic. Some horror games released afterward even directly adopted the looping mechanic.

Now, although Don't Starve was a small-scale game, the tag ‘Sandbox genre’ still drew significant attention from many industry designers.

‘Sandbox genre? What kind of genre is that? Did Chen Xu invent it just for marketing?’

‘Not exactly. Sandbox and sandbox-like games already exist in the market, and some have achieved decent results—though they remain relatively niche.’

‘Don’t focus only on the game. Haven’t you noticed something different about this Don't Starve compared to Nebula Games’ usual releases?’

‘What’s different?’

‘The platform! Normally, Nebula Games’ titles receive extra discounts on their own platform but are also released on other platforms. But this time, there’s no announcement about Don't Starve launching anywhere else!’

‘So you’re saying Chen Xu plans to release exclusively on his own platform? Does Nebula Games even have a large enough user base for that?’

‘Why not? Don’t underestimate Chen Xu. I think this is likely a test. After all, Chen Xu hasn’t declared it an exclusive.’

The launch of Don't Starve on Nebula Games had captured the attention of numerous industry designers.

In fact, it wasn’t just designers—traditional game developers and distribution platforms like NetDragon and TengHua were also closely watching Nebula Games’ latest move.

………………

The industry’s attention had little effect on ordinary players.

As for Don't Starve launching exclusively on the Nebula Games Platform, although many players discussed it,

those genuinely interested in the game didn’t overthink it and simply chose to purchase it directly.

Especially the player base Nebula Games had accumulated over time.

Each time a new Nebula Games title launched, there were always special discount conditions for buying it on their platform.

At first, players bought simply because of the discounts, but over the past couple of years, many had developed a habit:

Whenever buying a Nebula Games title, they instinctively headed straight to the Nebula Games Platform.

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