Chapter 686: Why Does This Game Feel So Familiar?

Chapter 686: Why Does This Game Feel So Familiar?

‘Late Sengoku period, the flames of war swept across the land.’

Amidst the hurried footsteps, Zhang Yi saw the scene was set in a blood-red maple forest. In the distance, a tattered deserter, covered in blood and grime, limped towards the depths of the woods.

‘Even the remote Ashina, nestled deep in the mountains, was engulfed in the ravages of war.’

Rustle…

As maple leaves rained down, the deserter finally passed through the forest, but the sight before him remained hellish.

Sounds of battle echoed everywhere. Not far off, a soldier pinned another beneath him, using his weapon to decapitate him.

Crimson blood spurted from the neck, dyeing the grass red, like the maple leaves falling from the sky. The deserter sat on the ground, terrified, watching as the soldier slowly approached him, raising his blade.

However, the next second…

‘Whoosh… Thwack!’

A sharp arrow shot from afar, piercing the soldier’s neck. With a thud, the soldier’s corpse fell before the deserter.

‘Is the war… finally over?’

The camera slowly pulled back, zooming out into the distance.

Far away, thick smoke billowed, and the setting sun painted everything in a deep crimson.

Suddenly, the camera shifted, revealing two great generals locked in fierce combat on a twilight grassland.

One general wore a red demon mask, tall and mighty, wielding a greatscythe.

The other general was a gaunt man with a blood-splattered face.

The two battled fiercely on the field; the greatscythe swung wide and powerful, appearing incredibly ferocious. Yet, it never quite touched the lean general's body.

After two rounds of engagement, as the greatscythe cleaved towards him, the lean general sidestepped, a flash of blade accompanying his movement.

Seizing his opponent’s opening, the sharp blade pierced the demon-masked general’s instep.

Crying out in pain, the demon-masked samurai staggered, on the verge of collapsing.

Taking advantage of this, the other party swiftly climbed onto the demon-masked general’s back, driving the sharp blade through his throat. Then, with a fierce upward yank.

‘Pfft…’

Blood gushed from the wound like a fountain.

‘Enemy General Tamura, slain by my hand!’

At the same time, the narration revealed the general’s identity. It was none other than the Swordmaster from the previous promotional video—Isshin Ashina.

“So this is Isshin Ashina? What does the Usurpation War mean?” As he listened to the narration, Zhang Yi in the game pondered.

The scene then shifted to a wilderness strewn with countless corpses.

A burly samurai discovered a surviving orphan on the battlefield.

‘A lost wild dog, perhaps?’

‘Oh? Will you come with me? A hungry wolf.’

The protagonist’s childhood origin was revealed: trained by Great Shinobi Owl, the Wolf became a formidable ninja, with half his face illuminated by the light filtering through a crack in the door.

At the same time, the Wolf also saw the master he would serve for life.

Next came Owl’s teachings.

‘Never forget the Shinobi’s Iron Code; it is second only to your parents in importance.’

‘From today, he is your master.’

‘You must protect him with your life. If he is taken, you must retrieve him.’

‘Do you understand? Wolf!’

Then the screen went dark, and further plot details were revealed through the narration. Twenty years after Swordmaster Isshin Ashina launched the Usurpation War, the Ashina clan’s power waned, and the Wolf ninja lost everything. Both the Great Shinobi Owl who raised him, and his master.

Until one snowy night, a mysterious woman holding a red umbrella dropped a letter into the dry well prison where the Wolf was held.

‘Ninja… For your master, please awaken.’

As the letter fell, the Wolf, leaning against the corner of the wall at the bottom of the well, slowly raised his head, his gaze falling upon the letter on the ground. Simultaneously, the game officially began, and the game’s UI interface appeared before Zhang Yi’s eyes.

He picked up the letter from the ground and glanced at the mission displayed on it. It instructed him to go to a place called Kagetsu-rou, but he was currently unarmed.

At this moment, Zhang Yi thought of something and paused. He realized a very serious issue: the game had no difficulty settings!

After watching the cutscene, it just directly started the game?

Opening the settings, Zhang Yi confirmed this. And more importantly, the display mode of this quest item, why did it look so familiar? It felt like he had seen it in some unforgettable game before?

Just then, the voice communication in the VR gaming pod suddenly popped up. Zhang Yi glanced at it; it was from Old Song.

“Old Zhang, did you notice?” Before Zhang Yi could answer, Song Ren spoke first from the other end of the line.

“No difficulty, and that yellow glow on the quest item, doesn’t it feel a bit like déjà vu?” Zhang Yi swallowed, saying.

“And I don’t know if you noticed, but the game doesn’t seem to have a mini-map!” Song Ren’s voice was a little dry, completely lacking the robust tone he had just ten minutes before entering the game.

No map, no difficulty options, and now he was unarmed.

Dark Souls, Bloodborne… those painful memories surged once again.

What the heck? Why did this game feel so familiar?

These settings were, to put it mildly, not just similar to Souls games; they were identical.

“Maybe it will be different later? After all, from the promotional video, it doesn’t look much like a Souls game. And didn’t you notice that even though there are no difficulty options, no map, and the item highlight is similar, this game really has no stamina bar? How could a Souls game be hard without a stamina bar?” Zhang Yi said to Song Ren, also reassuring himself.

In the dry well, Zhang Yi didn’t follow the prompts but thought for a moment. He found that it was indeed very different from Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The most direct manifestation was its extreme flexibility, even allowing him to cling to walls and double-jump. Besides that, the point that made Zhang Yi feel it was least like a Souls game was the absence of a stamina bar.

Think about it, if Dark Souls and Bloodborne had no stamina bar, then Orphan of Kos, Laurence, Black Dragon Mimi'er, Sister Friede, and Knight Gael would all be pushovers.

He wouldn’t say he’d beat them on the first try, but he was confident that no BOSS would take him more than 30 minutes.

Thinking this way, perhaps he was just overthinking it?

After all, Nebula Games wasn't without games that, while lacking difficulty selection, weren't inherently difficult.

And perhaps the difficulty selection would be related to items acquired later, including the map, which would slowly unlock and become part of the game’s world-building, just like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild?

It wasn’t impossible!

(End of Chapter) <>