Sitting at her computer, Luke felt weighed down.
From the cheerful humor at the start, to the mix of brutality and humor in the middle, now there was only the most merciless side of war.
Three men, one woman, and one dog—that was the full cast of the game's main characters.
As a game meant to show the cruelty of war, it used a graffiti-style 2D cartoon look.
The playful cartoon style clashed sharply with the horrors of war. In the game, there were also many collectible items, each recording real historical events.
It made the game feel like it was telling a true story from history.
Unlike most anti-war games, this one didn't focus on the surface of war—it showed what war was like on the inside.
It didn't describe war from a big-picture view.
None of the characters had anything to do with war at first. They were all dragged into the Great War because of politics.
Karl, Emile, Freddie, and Anna cared more about the safety and happiness of their families.
Not a single one of them wanted to contribute to the war.
For them, this was a war born from pathetic pride, cruel misunderstandings, failed diplomacy, blind nationalism, and years of distrust and hatred.
None of these things had anything to do with them, except that they destroyed the small happiness they once had.
Freddie fought to avenge his wife, Anna searched for her father, and Emile and Karl were forced into the army. On the battlefield, they didn't care about victory—only about whether their loved ones were safe.
The game let players feel the pain war brings through the eyes of these ordinary people.
As small figures on the battlefield, the characters faced gunfire, muddy trenches, freezing winters, and the threat of deadly weapons.
They all shared one wish—for the war to end soon so they could go home.
Luke couldn't help but feel the emotions the game was trying to express.
He moved Karl toward his escape from the prison camp almost mechanically, but his mind was still on Freddie and the dog, whose fates were uncertain, and on Emile, still outside the fort.
Then the next part of the game made his breathe a long sigh of relief.
Freddie wasn't dead—and neither was the dog.
Just like when he had saved Emile, the dog dragged Freddie out from the rubble.
Through Freddie's memories here, Luke's guesses about his backstory were confirmed.
The reason Freddie hated the war so much was because it had taken his wife's life.
On Freddie's side, Anna's father, the old professor, had also survived, and the two of them repaired a damaged tank.
Driving the tank, the two smashed their way out of the castle, while on the other side, Emile also managed to make it back.
The mission had failed, but bringing back the old professor and capturing a tank still excited the French army.
The group took a photo together, and Emile wrote a letter to Anna.
But the reunion was short-lived. Soon Emile and Freddie went their separate ways—Freddie heading to the Somme, and Emile sent to Vauquois Hill to fight the Germans in underground tunnel warfare.
Here, both sides dug furiously, the smell of gunpowder thick in the air.
The enemy and friendly forces were sometimes separated by only a thin layer of dirt, so even stethoscopes for medical use were turned into tools for war.
"This is just so heavy and suffocating," Luke said with a sigh, watching the game's scenes unfold.
Canaries locked in cages to test the level of poison gas underground, and miners dying one after another.
Even though the art style was still cartoonish graffiti, now it only felt depressing.
At this moment, a cry for help came from the right side of the screen. Luke controlled Emile in the game and dug toward the right.
Compared to before, when Emile only had a soup spoon, now he had better equipment—he had gone from a cook to a miner, with a military shovel replacing the spoon.
"Ah, this is a German officer, not one of ours."
After opening a path, Luke saw a German officer hanging in midair after accidentally triggering a cable, waving and shouting for help.
"Sigh, just another victim of the war. Hang on, I'll come save you."
Looking at the game screen, Luke sighed and, together with the dog, used a wheel nearby to lower the German officer.
Once on the ground, the German officer saw Emile running over and put away the gun in his hand ahead of time, then reached out his hand in a friendly way.
"Did I just make a German friend?" Luke said in surprise in front of the computer.
In the game, the path to the left was blocked, so Emile could only work with the German officer to find a new way out.
The two cooperated along the way and managed to escape.
When Emile was about to leave, a group of German soldiers found them.
But the German officer stepped forward to explain for Emile, helping him return to his unit.
Watching the two shake hands and show friendship, Luke smiled slightly in front of the computer.
"How nice. This part of the story is so heartwarming! In such a cruel war, scenes like this are truly precious." Luke sighed. "Have you ever read a novel called War Horse? There's a similar scene in it. It's so good… I feel healed."
"Looks like when Lucas Hart called himself a warrior of love, it wasn't just nonsense! This story really warms the heart." Luke smiled.
The heavy atmosphere in the game had been making her feel uneasy.
But now, this warm moment felt like sunlight breaking through in the middle of winter, filling her with warmth.
But… the warmth didn't last long.
In the game, Emile returned to headquarters and received a new mission: to deliver a box.
When the box reached its destination, a soldier lifted the white cloth covering it—it was full of explosives.
More importantly, the game then gave a close-up of the scene above where the explosives would be placed.
A familiar face appeared in Luke's view.
"No way! Isn't that my friend? No way!"
Seeing this, Luke had a bad feeling.
What happened next confirmed her fears.
The explosives went off, dealing heavy damage to the German army—and killing the German officer who had saved Emile.
[The French officer felt proud of the heavy losses dealt to the enemy]
[But Emile saw it as cowardly behavior. Filled with anger, he refused the medal]
Emile threw the medal he had just been given into the burning fire. Then Anna brought him even worse news.
Karl had been executed for trying to escape from the prisoner camp.
Like Emile in the game, Luke and the other players who reached this point were stunned.
At that moment, Luke thought of the praise she had given Lucas Hart earlier, but now she only wanted to say one thing: Can I rewind?
What happened to the heartwarming part? What healing? This was heartbreaking!
That earlier warmth… was just to make the pain cut deeper!
One moment they were friends, and the next—though I didn't kill him, he died because of me.
Luke knew this was war.
In fact, real war might be even crueler.
But emotionally, it was still hard to bear.
(End of The Chapter)
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