He finally set the ramen down, his gaze fixed on the screen. A cynical smirk played on his lips. "Huh," he muttered, shaking his head. "So this is what 50 megabytes gets you? I've never seen anything so ridiculous." But even as the words left his mouth, a sense of unease and intrigue settled over him.
He stared at the screen, a new question forming. "How do you even control this?" he mumbled to himself. There was no main menu, no tutorial to walk him through. He saw only a single, breathtakingly rendered planet floating in the center of the screen, beckoning him forward.
A sigh escaped him. "Can't complain," he said, the words full of self-deprecation. "The game was so small to begin with; I don't have much expectation from it."
He finally remembered the ramen bowl. He picked it up, finished the contents in a single, desperate gulp, and chased it with a glass of water. Wiping his mouth, he said, "Okay. Let's see what it has to offer
Then again he looked back at the screen. A single planet sat in the middle, with nothing but a black background behind it. He noticed it looked like Earth, but the continents and oceans were all wrong.
He tried to control the planet, moving the mouse and tapping keys, but nothing happened. He had expected it to be a simple game, a mindless joy of nuking planets like others he'd played, but there was no menu, no cursor, no button for destruction. Nothing was happening.
I tried to close the window, to open the task manager, but nothing worked. I shouldn't have downloaded it to begin with. This must be a virus. A cold dread settled in my stomach.
slamming my hands down on the desk in frustration. Ughhh, what should I do now? The panic subsided, replaced by a weary resignation. I couldn't close it, so what was the alternative? I took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll just try playing it. Let's see what I can do.
I leaned closer to the screen, my hand hovering over the mouse. I tried zooming in on the planet, and a low hum started up from my computer tower. As I zoomed in further, the hum grew into a loud roar, and the fans began spinning faster and faster.
"How can a 50-megabyte game put so much load on my PC?" I muttered, a new sense of unease settling in my gut.
I kept zooming, and the noise from my PC became a terrifying, high-pitched scream. I started to laugh, the sound bubbling up from some place deep inside me. It was a laugh of pure, unadulterated shock. "What the fuck is this?" I said, half in fear, half in awe.
then suddenly the noise died down...
As I zoomed further, the screen resolved into a vibrant landscape of forests and ponds. Birds flitted through the trees, and below them, a world of wildlife was revealed. I watched rabbits hop across a grassy field, buffaloes graze peacefully, and a bear deftly catch a fish from a stream.
"Woah," I whispered, my voice full of genuine astonishment. "What is this? This is my first time playing something like this."
I kept exploring, zooming in on different parts of the planet. I saw so many animals, so much life, but not a single human.
"All this is good, but what's the purpose?" I said aloud, my voice echoing in the silent room. "Is this an early access game? Is it not completed yet, and that's why i cant do anything ....?
Then, as I spoke, new text materialized on the right side of the screen. "Exploration Task Completed," the first message declared. Then another appeared below it: "Starting Tutorial." My eyes went wide. My heart pounded as I reached out and clicked the link, and in an instant, the world went dark. My screen went pitch black
From within that darkness, a white light emerged, solidifying into a progress bar.
1%
2%
3%..
..
.....
The progress bar filled at a glacial pace. With the stifling summer heat and a fan that only stirred the warm air, my skin was slick with sweat. I couldn't stand it. Leaving the pitch-black screen behind, I went to take a bath, hoping the cool water would clear my head.
I came back to the desk, feeling a little less sticky. A tired yawn stretched across my face as I sat down. The screen was still pitch black, but now the progress bar was almost complete, only a few minutes from the end.
98%
99%
100%
"complete"
The progress bar completed. A golden light flooded the screen, chasing away the darkness. In the center of the light, bold letters appeared: "Welcome to Galactic Conquest."
Fueled by excitement, I clicked the text to start the tutorial. The golden light vanished, and the screen went black once more. But in seconds, a planet began to emerge from the void. A voice echoed in the background, subtitled beneath the screen: "Here in Galactic Conquest, you are given a planet of your own. To get you started, we will give you options to start a civilization."
"First, you will have many options for where to plant humans or other races," the voice explained, its tone shifting to something more instructional. "Further instructions will be given through play." The voice's final sentence dropped to a serious, almost threatening whisper: "And you are not to speak about this with anyone else."
What?" I said, my voice barely a whisper. I was confused. What civilizations? And why can't I speak of it with anyone else? Is it because this is an early access game and can't be publicized yet? The thought formed in my mind as I stared at the planet on the screen
As I spoke, a series of shimmering, card-like options appeared on the left side of the screen. I stared at them, confused. "What... what are these cards?" I wondered aloud.