Probably because, like Ben, everyone thought this was a staff-only area with cosplay props, so no one came over.
Ben was the first to approach.
With a staff member's guidance, he sat in the water-tank sofa and zipped himself in. From the outside, it looked like half his body was inside the tank.
"A brand-new game!?"
He picked up the hammer, eyes wide with excitement.
Because as soon as he grabbed the hammer, the monitor in front of him lit up.
Then a Nebula Games logo appeared.
A valley scene came into view, with a hammer hanging on a rock beside it.
On the screen were three options: "Start Game," "Options," and "Exit Game."
Look at what he just found!
A new game! What a surprise!
Some nearby players also saw this scene and were all shocked.
But when they noticed there were still three spots left, they all rushed over.
Those who didn't manage to grab a spot lined up on the side.
After hearing the staff's explanation though, the players immediately started protesting.
"What's going on!?"
"Yeah! For a new game demo, there are only four slots, but why is the demo time so long?"
"Exactly, half an hour per session is way too much!"
"Yeah, yeah, so many people are lining up here!"
The players waiting in line weren't happy at all.
From the staff, they learned that this unknown game had a demo session that lasted a whole half hour.
That meant even the second person in line would have to wait thirty minutes.
And there were only four spots.
The problem was, the game actually looked pretty interesting. It even had motion controls, and the big hammer in their hands was the controller.
It was obviously an action game. Smashing monsters with a big hammer would feel great!
Noticing the commotion, Lucas came over.
"Lucas, fine, you don't have a new Dark Souls here, but why make the demo so long?"
"Yeah, that's right!"
As soon as Lucas appeared, many players spoke up.
"Everyone, calm down first. The reason we set such a long session time is because this game is a bit special. It requires a certain level of control from players, and it also tests perseverance. That's why the demo time is longer," Lucas explained.
He was telling the truth.
"Hmm… how about this, let's watch quietly for a bit. Just watch ten minutes, and you'll understand. This game needs some time before you can feel what makes it unique. That's why we want every player to have enough time to experience it properly," Lucas reassured them.
After hearing Lucas, the players were still a bit unhappy, but they quieted down and focused on the booth.
It even drew in some players who had been lining up for the Dark Souls challenge and It Takes Two.
As the staff managed to restore order, Lucas smiled, turned around, and quietly stepped back.
Meanwhile, Ben, the first to try, entered the game with excitement.
But the scene that appeared next left him, and the players watching, stunned.
Scattered stones on the ground, a dark pot-shaped thing, and a big hammer lying beside it.
Then, the pot began to shake, and a man climbed out from inside.
A bald, muscular man with a stubble beard, his upper body covered in muscle.
He gripped the hammer tightly with both hands.
His look was quite similar to Ben himself outside the booth.
"This journey is way too hard. You'll never reach the top. You should just give up!"
At that moment, a cartoonish old man popped out of the ground, muttering complaints, just like the Crestfallen Warrior from Dark Souls.
The game's control interface appeared on screen.
Normally, you would just use a mouse, but here the hammer in Ben's hand replaced the mouse.
But isn't this game way too simple?
That's what the players watching thought to themselves.
Still, no one said it out loud. After all, Lucas started out making indie games.
Compared to Dark Souls and It Takes Two, his earlier games never had standout graphics either.
Ben tried swinging the hammer in his hands. Since it was inflatable and only had a motion sensor inside, it wasn't heavy at all. The seat was custom-made and comfortable, giving him plenty of space to swing freely.
As Ben swung, the muscular man in the game swung too.
The gameplay wasn't complicated: just swing the hammer to move forward, backward, up, or down.
But this game felt so strange!
Not just Ben, even the players watching thought the same.
The goal of the entire game was simple and clear—climb a mountain with the hammer.
And the controls were just swinging the hammer.
But unlike the players only watching, Ben quickly realized something different.
The game was actually harder than it looked.
Swinging the hammer to move forward sounded simple enough.
But once he actually tried it himself, he realized it wasn't as easy as he thought.
Especially with the first tree in front of him—he had to hook the hammer onto the branches and slowly flip over.
But in the game, the hammer's point of force was way too sensitive.
Every little movement showed up in the game.
For example, if he swung the hammer hard and slammed it onto the ground, the rebound force would push the character up, almost like jumping.
Or he could hook onto the edge of the trunk, pull hard, and flip over that way too.
But knowing that was one thing. When he actually tried, the hammer just wouldn't obey.
The hammer in his hands kept swinging around, but he was still stuck on this side of the tree, unable to get past.
The other three players trying it out were basically in the same situation as Ben.
Meanwhile, the players watching outside were finding it a bit funny.
Because they were all sitting in these water-jar-shaped sofas, swinging their hammer controllers, yet the characters in the game weren't going anywhere. The sight was actually pretty comical.
"This guy's been stuck here for two minutes!"
"Everyone else is stuck too. Guess it's really hard?"
"No way, right!? Looks simple enough to me—just hook onto the edge and swing over!"
Hearing the whispers from the players around him, Ben's mouth twitched. He really wanted to say, "If you think it's easy, you try it!"
But since he was a player who had beaten Dark Souls, he did have some gaming skill.
After trying a couple more times, he finally made it past the first tree.
Looking over at the others still stuck at the tree, Ben felt a little proud.
He kept moving forward with the hammer, and by now, he had a rough idea of what kind of game this was.
It was just a matter of getting through obstacles until reaching the end, right?
The only difference was that the controls were all about swinging a giant hammer.
But wasn't this game a little too easy?
There wasn't much sense of urgency or pressure.
Controlling the pot guy forward, Ben felt a little puzzled.
Soon, he reached a small canyon, and the next task was climbing.
He could clearly see some protruding spots, which were obviously meant for players to hook their hammers onto for support.
"The controls are a bit weird, but actually it's not that hard. You just have to watch how much force you use when swinging the hammer," Ben summed up, while also noticing that the other three players had now cleared the first tree too.
"Yeah, it's a bit tricky, but once you get past it, it feels pretty good," another player nearby said.
"True. Just like Dark Souls back then, with this kind of game you have to keep a good mindset, because it'll definitely get harder later," one player said with some feeling.
"Yeah, let's keep it up. Games should always be played with a smile," another added.
"Of course, you've got to play with a smile," Ben replied, and everyone seemed motivated.
But soon, they noticed something off.
"Why does the modeling in this game look so messy?" a spectator asked, voicing what many were thinking.
Because the scene in front of them looked strange—a house suddenly appeared on the mountain, with half of it sticking inside the rock.
There were also things like concrete pipes from construction sites, which looked really out of place.
It felt especially jarring.
The overall art style seemed a bit odd too.
Still, even though it looked strange, Ben and the others didn't really care.
They just kept playing—after all, they weren't stuck.
Now they were on a steep, narrow slope, with a house, wood, and rocks all serving as footholds.
Swinging his hammer, Ben slowly climbed up, but one small mistake sent his character tumbling all the way back down, wiping out all the progress he had just made.
Even so, Ben didn't overthink it or get discouraged. After all, that stretch wasn't too long. He just picked up the hammer and kept going.
This time, he was extra careful, hooking onto the edges bit by bit, finding stable points to climb.
"After making a mistake once, you just learn from it, like in Dark Souls," Ben said, glancing at the other three players' screens with a smile.
One of them had reached the same height as him, while the other two were still stuck in the earlier area.
"Yeah, good luck, man!" the player who was keeping up with Ben encouraged him with a grin.
Calming his excitement, Ben kept controlling his character forward.
Next was a pile of uneven rocks, leading into a narrow space. They needed to climb up onto a steel plate that looked like part of a construction crane.
The path forward was especially tight.
The two raised spots on the sides made the scene look a little awkward.
Ben took a deep breath, slowly raised the hammer with both hands, then swung it down hard.
In an instant, the strong man in the game leapt high into the air. Ben timed it just right and swung the hammer again, hooking onto the hanging point.
He was ready to push through in one go and jump straight onto the steel platform.
The next moment, with Ben's hammer swing, the man in the pot shot up into the air.
According to Ben's plan, he should have landed on the steel platform. But in reality, his direction was off.
He flew the opposite way.
"No!" Ben shouted with wide eyes.
But it was useless.
Like a falling rock, the man in the pot dropped straight back down to the bottom of the valley.
At the front was the same tree from the very start.
Ben's mouth hung open slightly, his eyes frozen on the screen, his whole body stiff.
Then, in the game, that old man popped up from the ground again.
'Back again? I told you you wouldn't make it. But I think you should listen to a song to relax.'
The game instantly started playing a BGM.
'As long as the heart is there, the dream is there. Win or lose, live with pride, it's nothing but starting… all over again!'
Ben's hand holding the hammer trembled, his face looking blank.
And then, from the side, came another surprised gasp.
Ben looked over.
That graceful falling curve… why did it feel so familiar?
The other player stared at the screen showing the valley again, their face just as blank as Ben's.
This time, another BGM started playing.
But it wasn't the same one Ben just heard.
It was a new, unfamiliar melody.
'Back to the very beginning, the road where you first started in memory…'
At that moment, the group of players watching couldn't hold it in anymore.
Even though they didn't want to laugh at someone else's pain, the scene was just too funny!
"Haha… I can't! This Lucas guy must have done it on purpose, right?!"
"I swear Lucas is cursed, this game is insane!"
"No way it gets worse, right? Like falling all the way from the top or something!"
"Judging by the way it's going, I think that might really happen!"
"Damn, now I finally get why they said you need a 30-minute trial!"
Three updates first, more later (before 1:30).
(End of The Chapter)
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