It wasn't just Zhang Yi and Song Ren who had such feelings.
Every player who entered Human: Fall Flat for the first time shared this sentiment.
Initially, upon seeing the game's store description, many players' first impression was one of disdain. After all, the game's presentation was quite unappealing: a noodle-like blob person with nothing on its body, and whose movements were extremely goofy. How fun could it possibly be?
However, after entering the game, especially in multiplayer mode, many players discovered that it was actually quite interesting.
Paired with its silly content, the entire gameplay experience became full of joy.
Moreover, the game itself wasn't frustrating at all. Although it appeared to consist of distinct levels, each level's internal scenario was actually divided into several phased sub-levels.
This meant that as long as one player advanced to a forward area in the game, the progress would be saved. Subsequent players could then simply choose to jump off a cliff, experience a freefall from the sky, and then respawn at the furthest progress point saved by another player.
At the same time, as long as one player cleared the level, all players were deemed to have cleared it.
This also made clearing levels much easier in the game's team-up mode.
For example, in the current level Zhang Yi and his group were on, if it were a single-player mode, one person would need to place a box on a black button switch. But in multiplayer, this wasn't necessary at all; one person could simply stand on the switch while the rest of the teammates cleared the level.
Of course, this was the ideal scenario. More often than not, it involved players mutually sabotaging each other.
"You guys go in first. Once you trigger the save point, I'll just commit suicide," Zhang Yi said, his eyes lighting up as he looked at the openable elevator door.
"Alright, Old Zhang! The organization will remember your sacrifice!" Hearing Zhang Yi's words, Song Ren was impressed and immediately wanted to take the lead.
"Hey, hey, hey! Old Song, what are you doing? Ladies first, isn't that right? How can a big tough guy like you go first?" Zhang Yi quickly interjected, stopping Song Ren's action as he charged ahead.
"Fine," Song Ren replied, not suspecting anything, and stepped aside.
Wang Han and Joey, who were at the front, walked past one after another. Wang Yifan followed behind them, and finally, it was Song Ren's turn to pass through.
Looking at Zhang Yi, who was still standing on the button, Song Ren controlled his character to raise his floppy hand and waved it in the air: "Old Zhang, I'm going first! Next time, let me be the one to step on the button."
"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and go!" Zhang Yi pretended to be impatient.
"Hehe!" Song Ren chuckled slyly, then controlled his little character to walk towards the automatic door.
He hummed a tune as he walked, appearing very happy.
In the game, the little characters walk in a wobbly manner, so their speed isn't actually very fast. However, compared to the little character's walking speed, the automatic mechanism door's opening and closing speed was much quicker.
And so, just as half of Song Ren's body passed through the door, the reflexes he had honed through parrying, gun parrying, and Foresight Slashes in Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Monster Hunter: World, played a huge role.
Zhang Yi's timing for closing the door was perfect. Coupled with the game's rubber-like little characters, who walked as if boneless and often had their front half of their body tilted, Song Ren's upper body had just passed through the automatic door when it slammed shut.
At this moment, Song Ren's upper body was on Wang Han's side, while his lower body, specifically his backside, was firmly clamped by the door, with his two legs still on Zhang Yi's side.
"Damn it! Old Zhang, you bastard!" Seeing himself clamped, Song Ren was instantly stunned. How could he not realize now that Zhang Yi had long planned this?
What the heck with 'ladies first,' he simply wanted him to get clamped inside!
"Hahahahahaha..." Zhang Yi's gloating laughter echoed through the voice channel.
"You damn, Old Zhang, let me go!" Song Ren controlled his hands, desperately clawing at the automatic door, trying to pull himself out, but it was all in vain.
"What if I say no?" Zhang Yi, in the voice channel, was laughing so hard he was almost choking.
"You don't have the heart to," Song Ren persisted, still flailing frantically.
"Alright, I'll let you out," Zhang Yi said with a laugh, returning to the mechanism and opening the door.
With the automatic door's liberation, Song Ren finally escaped his torment. However, instead of continuing to clear the level, he turned and ran towards Zhang Yi.
"I'll teach you to close the door!" Song Ren controlled his wobbly little character, rushing to Zhang Yi's side.
The two little characters, like performing a cringey dance, tangled together and wrestled. Then, while fighting, they both fell off the cliff, plummeting to the save point where Wang Han and the others were.
But their war wasn't over. Song Ren got up first, while Zhang Yi was still lying on the ground. Then, Song Ren grabbed Zhang Yi's leg and ran towards the cliff, trying to throw him down. Meanwhile, Zhang Yi's hands were gripping the ground tightly.
"Let go! Old Song, I was wrong!"
"Not letting go! We're not done today!"
"If I say 'sorry,' can you let go?"
"If saying 'sorry' works, then what's the use of police?"
"Then what if I say 'duibuqi'?"
"What's the difference between that and 'sorry'?"
"I'm speaking Mandarin!"
Watching Zhang Yi and Song Ren in the game, the three onlookers burst into laughter. The scene was simply too comical.
No matter how normal an action, performed by the game's little characters, it always looked utterly idiotic. And the players in the game, just like Zhang Yi and Song Ren, seemed to have caught a Goofy Buff, never tiring of it.
At this point, neither Zhang Yi nor Song Ren had any desire to clear the level. Clear what level? Controlling the rubber-man-like little characters to pick up and throw the opponent off a cliff – wasn't that more interesting than clearing levels?
"Ignore these two big goofballs. Let's the three of us continue clearing the level," Wang Han said, unable to stop laughing as she watched Zhang Yi and Song Ren bicker like two big fools. What kind of bizarre team was this? They were already fighting in the second level. Looking at this team, Wang Han felt she might never see the game's final level.
(End of Chapter)
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