As the bald muscle man Kratos plunged headfirst into the sea.
A gurgling sound reached Zhang Yi's ears, and at the same time, the screen before him went temporarily dark.
After about three or four seconds, a line of subtitles gradually appeared before him: Three weeks ago, the Aegean Sea.
A clap of thunder roared in his ears, followed by the sound of a storm, and the game screen appeared before Zhang Yi.
At this moment, he was on the deck of a large ship, and simultaneously, the narration from before continued in his ears.
'However, Kratos's past was not so.'
'He was once a warrior who aided the gods!'
Standing on the deck of a dilapidated ship, the muscular strongman named Kratos held two burning Blades of Chaos in his hands.
Despite the stormy weather, the rain falling on the Blades of Chaos could not extinguish their burning flames, and Kratos's bulging muscles looked even more astonishing.
At the same time, as the narration faded, countless longsword-wielding monsters continuously emerged opposite Kratos on the ship's deck.
“A bunch of rabble, let me send you back to the Underworld!” With Kratos's roar, the game officially began.
“It's starting already!?” Zhang Yi was a little caught off guard looking at the system prompt before him.
The corresponding control scheme wasn't very complex; it was basically typical action game gameplay.
However, it also integrated brainwave capture technology, making it more convenient and prominent compared to previous iterations.
Following the prompts, Zhang Yi controlled Kratos, swinging the Blades of Chaos in his hands, continuously harvesting the monsters on the ship.
Almost none of the monsters blocking Kratos's path were capable of putting up a fight.
One by one, they were all torn to shreds by the flaming Blades of Chaos.
Just like monsters in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice drop coin-like currency when they die, these monsters also dropped Red Souls-like substances, all absorbed by Kratos into his body, but without needing to be manually picked up like in Sekiro.
Light attacks, heavy attacks, stunning the monsters before him, then watching Kratos smash a monster's head with a punch, or tearing it directly into shreds, or cleaving it into pieces with the Blades of Chaos and tossing them into the sea.
All sorts of execution animations, coupled with the visceral impact of each strike, made Zhang Yi feel quite excited.
Because, it was just too satisfying!
The game was extremely violent, yet it possessed a certain aesthetic beauty.
As Kratos roared, slaughtering each monster, the feeling was simply exhilarating.
“This easy difficulty really is a Hack-and-Slash Game! It’s incredibly satisfying!” Zhang Yi exclaimed, his heart pounding with excitement.
Seeing the deck cleared, Zhang Yi even felt a lingering sense of wanting more.
It could be said that the combat system of God of War was completely different from that of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
After all, while Sekiro leaned towards action, it was still fundamentally a Souls game.
But in God of War, the muscular Kratos fully demonstrated what violence truly meant.
Moreover, the game also had difficulty options; although Zhang Yi knew very well that if he chose the highest God of War difficulty, he would probably be the one being crushed by the minions right now.
But that was just a 'what if'; right now, he could choose the easiest mode.
At this difficulty, the experience was entirely different.
The monsters' health wasn't high, giving Zhang Yi a Hack-and-Slash Game feel.
Secondly, the action in God of War was styled around a violent aesthetic, allowing Kratos to cleanly execute a monster in just two or three hits.
This elevated the game's visual effects to the extreme, and simultaneously pushed the sense of exhilaration to its peak.
Earlier, Zhang Yi had been thinking that if this game was either a Souls game or a satisfying one, he would inform Old Song. After all, Old Song had lost five DOTA matches in a row today, and Zhang Yi guessed his blood pressure was indeed a bit high, so he didn't intend to mess with him like before.
But now, the sudden enjoyment of the Hack-and-Slash Game fun and the visual impact of the violent aesthetic made him completely forget about Old Song.
His mind was filled with anticipation for what would happen next.
As for choosing God of War difficulty?
What did that difficulty have to do with him?
Aren't difficulties there for players to choose from?
Those who liked Hack-and-Slash Games could pick the easiest, and those who wanted to be tormented could choose God of War difficulty.
Anyway, as far as he was concerned, the game God of War only had one difficulty: Easy.
He declared it; even the King of Heaven himself couldn't change it!
Watching Kratos brutally tear apart the enemies blocking his path in the game, Zhang Yi was filled with emotion.
Although Chen Xu had developed many games, he hadn't really made many Hack-and-Slash Games.
Well... it wasn't exactly 'none'; on the lowest difficulty of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, players were like ironmen, killing and blowing things up all the way. Of course, veteran difficulty was a different story.
Most of his other games, like Bloodborne, Monster Hunter, and the Dark Souls series, were games where monsters treated players like grass to be mowed down.
And games like God of War, which allowed for adjustable difficulty, Nebula Games hadn't really released in a long time. Even the recent DOTA had a high-level AI to torment players.
Now, this God of War was truly satisfying Zhang Yi.
The attack moves derived from the two Blades of Chaos — horizontal swings, vertical slashes, upward strikes, aerial attacks, heavy slams — mercilessly slaughtered monsters, along with extremely violent executions, all made Zhang Yi feel utterly exhilarated.
And these were indeed the most essential aspects of God of War. Since the birth of the God of War series, regardless of changes in gameplay elements, the superficial packaging of the entire game had never changed: the exhilarating feeling of Kratos utterly destroying monsters!
Wielding Blades of Chaos, axes, and various other weapons, and slaughtering minions and bosses in all sorts of ways – that was the characteristic of God of War.
In God of War, simply defeating minions was just the beginning.
The real satisfaction for players came with the progression of the game's story, unlocking more combos, and then using various combos to stylishly brutalize monsters.
Additionally, there was how to effectively use the terrain to eliminate minions. For instance, on the highest God of War difficulty, one of the most effective methods for players was 'wall-pinning' – using the terrain to kill minions.
Furthermore, just like the Dark Souls series, the BOSS battles in God of War were also one of its most classic core elements.
When facing massive monsters, Kratos's minuscule size created a stark contrast with the BOSS.
Then, soaring and slamming, he slaughtered them with weapons like the Blades of Chaos, showcasing the ultimate violent aesthetic. The visual impact was incredible; truly, God of War was an absolute feast for Kaiju enthusiasts.
(End of Chapter)
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