Before playing Honkai Impact 3rd, Fallen might have been willing to hype up Girls Odyssey a little.
But after experiencing Honkai 3rd and then trying Girls Odyssey…
He racked his brain, yet couldn't find a single word of praise.
In Honkai 3rd: fluid, natural character movements, powerful hit feedback, beautiful art style, innovative gameplay…
Meanwhile, Girls Odyssey: stiff animations, awful hit feedback, uncanny character designs, and gameplay… almost 80% identical to Honkai 3rd.
Most features were just renamed.
Even the red-haired big-sister type looked like a cheap knockoff of Himeko.
And don't even mention the music and voice acting…
It felt like a half-finished game.
The more he played, the more his face twisted into a mask of pain.
"Guys… this game… isn't terrible, I guess… but I'll stick with Honkai 3rd."
And with that, Fallen hit ALT+F4—
Then immediately relaunched Honkai 3rd.
Chat exploded.
[Hahaha… I'm dying. Where are Tencent's fanboys now? Cat got your tongue?]
[Even Fallen can't roast anymore, he's just broken lmao]
[Not gonna lie, Zera looked hot in the promo short, but… why does she look so cursed in the actual game?]
[Look at Fallen's pain-face… now I get why he avoids "testing" games]
[Dead… he wants to flame them but doesn't dare lol]
Seeing the barrage, Fallen could only force a bitter smile.
He was a fairly well-known streamer in the gaming scene.
Which meant he usually weighed his words carefully while live.
With a giant like Tencent, he couldn't just openly trash them on stream.
But with Honkai 3rd as a direct comparison, he couldn't find any excuse to speak kindly of Girls Odyssey.
"Sigh… guys, calm down. Honestly, I think we should give Girls Odyssey some time. I'm sure plenty of players have already sent feedback to the devs."
"As long as Tencent makes adjustments, maybe studies Honkai's anime-style rendering, the game could still be playable."
"After all… it is technically the only substitute for Honkai 3rd."
[So that's the best excuse you could come up with after all this?]
[Honk honk… you guys are overthinking. Fallen just feels guilty for spending money in Honkai 3rd and wants to get his money's worth.]
[When you compare the two… miHoYo's actually insane. A small studio completely bodying Tencent!]
[miHoYo: oh please, you flatter us—it's all thanks to our competition making us look good]
[This one's on Tencent—they underestimated the fight]
...
Meanwhile, plenty of Honkai 3rd players also downloaded and tried Girls Odyssey.
Without exception, that uncanny art style gave them a jump scare.
Hardly anyone lasted more than half an hour.
And those who did? Mostly people who had never touched Honkai.
But even they struggled with Girls Odyssey's bizarre visuals.
Within just two hours of launch, Tencent's inbox was overflowing with complaint letters.
"How's the data, Xiaoyi?"
"Downloads look good, but… the rest of the numbers aren't ideal."
Zhao Wenbo checked the backend—retention rates were pitiful.
He knew Honkai 3rd's momentum had been unstoppable these past weeks.
He wasn't delusional enough to think they'd beat miHoYo at launch.
But the gap shouldn't be this wide…
Only one-tenth of players even lasted beyond thirty minutes??
"Where did it all go wrong?"
Zhao Yi scratched his face awkwardly. "Most player feedback… says the graphics aren't polished, and the art style feels weird…"
"Graphics?" Zhao Wenbo's face turned cold. "Bring me the head of the art team."
Moments later, a balding man hurried in, visibly nervous.
"President Zhao…"
"Explain. What happened."
The man looked troubled. "President Zhao, I can guarantee—our character models aren't inferior to miHoYo's."
"Then why is player feedback all about graphics issues?"
"This…" The man sighed. "It's the rendering. At first, we assumed miHoYo was using the same rendering tech. But when we tested, we realized there was a difference. By then… the game was already near launch…"
Hearing this, Zhao Wenbo finally reined in his anger.
It wasn't entirely the art team's fault. Even he hadn't expected this.
"Go back. Work harder these next few days. See if you can adjust the art style at least somewhat."
"As for developing a brand-new rendering system… I'll have to get approval from higher up."
Hearing that, the bald man finally exhaled in relief.
What he didn't know… was that Zhao Wenbo already planned to make him the scapegoat.
After all, so much money and manpower had gone into the game, only for launch to blow up in their faces. Someone had to take the fall.
"Xiaoyi, draft a public apology. Announce our collaboration with Yu Weiwei."
"Have her team help with PR. And tell the art team to work overtime—fast-track her character model."
"This time… we cannot afford to lose this badly again…"
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