In an apartment complex in the capital, Zack was in a voice channel discussing tactics with Ben and Wells.
They had just started to see hope of beating Yhorm the Giant in Death Mode.
It had been a long time since Death Mode launched, and so far, only top bosses like Lord Gwyn were still undefeated.
Most of the other bosses had already been taken down and even toyed with by some pro players.
Lucas had predicted this. The AI in Death Mode wasn't as "smart" as people thought—you could still figure out its patterns.
And as strategies kept coming out, it became possible to clear these fights, as long as players had enough skill.
Now, even regular players working together could beat Death Mode bosses—it wasn't impossible anymore.
"You've been at it for hours and only got Yhorm down to half HP. Might as well play Lucas's new game!" Hannah, watching Zack's screen, rolled her eyes.
They were shouting so excitedly that she thought they'd already cleared it.
"We were already in Yhorm's second phase! We just got too hyped and messed up. We'll kill him today for sure. As for Lucas's new game, it's not going anywhere. Besides, Ben's leaving tomorrow—we can't let him leave with regrets, right?" Zack said.
"Zack, what's with that tone? I'm just going on a business trip, not dying! And Don't Starve has both mobile and PC, right? I can still play it on the train tomorrow!" Ben's voice came from the speaker.
"Fine, you guys keep playing. I'll go check out Don't Starve. But seriously, your teamwork… yikes!"
Hannah dropped that line and headed back to her room. She logged into her Nebula Games account and bought Don't Starve.
The game wasn't big—by the time she finished reading the description, it was already downloaded.
She clicked the icon and launched the game.
First came a CG cutscene.
Unlike the polished CG of Dark Souls, Don't Starve's animation looked more like a simply drawn cartoon.
With a background track that was a mix of eerie and cheerful, the camera followed a crow-like bird flying toward a mansion in the wilderness.
At the window of a villa, a cartoon character with disheveled hair is conducting an experiment, and next to him appears his name: Wilson. But the next moment, his experiment fails, and Wilson slumps onto the couch with a look of frustration. Just then, an eerie voice emerges from the nearby radio.
'It seems you've run into some trouble.'
'I have some knowledge I can share with you.'
'If you believe you are prepared.'
Hearing the voice from the radio, Wilson is overjoyed and quickly nods in agreement.
The next moment, a flood of knowledge rushes into Wilson's mind.
With the help of these memories, Wilson resumes his experiment.
One by one, he assembles the parts, and finally, after cutting his hand with a knife to use his blood, a strange machine appears before him.
'Good. Now, activate its mechanism.'
But Wilson hesitates.
The next moment, the voice from the radio roars.
'Hurry! Activate it!'
Wilson pulls the switch, and a pair of dark hands grabs his ankles, dragging him straight into the ground.
At the same time, a mysterious shadow appears outside the house, emitting an eerie laugh.
The eerie art style, combined with the bizarre music, makes Hannah instinctively curl up slightly.
The atmosphere is downright sinister!
"This isn't a horror game, is it!"
A sense of worry stirs within Hannah.
After the CG animation ends, the game officially begins, and the UI interface appears on the screen.
The game UI is very minimalistic, with only five different options.
Start Game, Load Game, Workshop, Options, Exit Game.
Among these, the Load Game option is grayed out since the game hasn't officially started yet.
As for mods, Hannah clicks into the Workshop to take a look, but there's nothing inside.
Finding nothing particularly noteworthy, Hannah selects Start Game.
[World Generating… Inserting Food]
[World Generating… Inserting Hostile Creatures]
[World generating… inserting shadows]
As the progress bar moved along with the tips, it only took about three or four seconds before Hannah entered the game.
The style was pretty similar to the previous animation, except it wasn't as detailed as the CG cutscene.
The whole game looked like an oil painting, mixed with cartoon-like characters drawn in lines. Surprisingly, it didn't feel out of place at all.
While Hannah was still commenting on the game's visuals, a strange, long-faced magician suddenly appeared in front of Wilson, who had just gotten up from the ground.
"Hey, friend, you don't look so good."
"Friendly tip: You'd better find some food before night falls."
As soon as he finished speaking, the man vanished into thin air.
At the same time, the in-game camera started to shift, and the character's UI popped up.
Inventory, toolbar, and in the top-right corner, there were days, health, sanity, and hunger.
Based on the introduction and her own understanding, Hannah got the basic idea.
Days, hunger, health, and sanity—pretty much what they sounded like: time, whether you've eaten, whether you're sick, and your mental state.
Aside from time, if any of the others dropped to zero, the character would probably die or keep losing health.
There was also a crafting menu with different options: [Tools], [Campfire], [Survival]…
Clearly, this was some kind of tech tree. There were still empty slots, so who knew if that was just the design or if more features would unlock later.
Hannah controlled Wilson to wander around and pick up whatever she could. Anything she could grab, she took.
"This map is huge! Let's make an axe first, then start chopping trees."
After picking up a lot of supplies on the ground, Hannah realized this game's map was ridiculously big.
According to the toolbar, she could craft an axe right now.
And after making the axe?
Of course, the first thing to do was punching trees.
After all, if you want to survive, you need a home, and that means a house.
Bricks probably don't exist in this game, and even if they do, you can't make them right now. So the only choice is to build a wooden house.
If you want a good start, you punch trees first.
In a survival game, before you even figure out how it really works, chopping a few trees right away is always the right move.
(End of The Chapter)
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