"It's actually a pixel-art game?"
Liu Liu was a little surprised.
After all, pixel-art games were rare in the current market.
"The graphics are pretty good too..."
Hearing Liu Liu mutter, the chat immediately filled with question marks—
'Sis, are you dizzy?'
'One second: pixel art. The next: good graphics.'
'Hahahahaha, you call these mosaic characters good graphics?'
'You fake fans just don't get it. Compared to Golden Wind's previous two games, aren't the graphics better?'
'That's true. After all, one had stick-figure-level art, and the other had clipping right in your face...'
'Hahahahaha, what a bizarre angle.'
'And yet I can't refute it.'
'So every game makes a tiny bit of progress, huh?'
'Hahahahaha, by your logic, Golden Wind might make a next-gen masterpiece someday?'
'Just give them a teeny tiny bit more time...'
'...'
The chat joked around.
Still, although this game used a seemingly rough pixel-art style—
just as that chat comment had said, compared to the crudely drawn Mario Bros. and the ridiculous Who's Your Daddy with its blatant clipping, Vampire Survivors was indeed quite an improvement.
"But this art style doesn't really feel like a ridiculous joke game,"
Liu Liu said as she downloaded the game.
"Every previous Golden Wind game was weirder than the last. Did they change styles this time?"
As she spoke, the download finished. As usual, the game wasn't very large.
Then the game launched!
The music began!
Liu Liu's eyes immediately lit up!
The lively 8-bit music carried a wave of retro atmosphere, like opening a dusty old book and being transported back to many years ago.
"Wow—"
Liu Liu sounded delighted.
"This music is so good! It kind of feels like the Famicom style!"
Liu Liu truly was an old-school gaming addict.
That was right!
To match Vampire Survivors' retro style, Gu Sheng had specifically used 8-bit music from the Famicom era!
Both its rhythm and melody drew inspiration from the once wildly popular Contra.
And the entire piece had been composed from scratch by a master at Game Factory who specialized in game music.
That one track alone had consumed nearly a third of the budget.
Gu Sheng had plenty of tricks for burning money in creative ways.
Of course!
Such carefully crafted details naturally earned the appreciation and resonance of countless chat viewers—
'I got goosebumps. It feels like I'm back in my childhood.'
'Fun, fun. This soundtrack has some real substance.'
'The immersion is intense. I've already started up up down down left right left right ABBA.'
'Leave it on, it's interesting. (smirk)'
'Pixel art with 8-bit music—Golden Wind is really taking retro all the way.'
'It's been so many years since I last saw a pixel-art game.'
'The key is that this game looks pretty damn high-quality.'
'They're really thoughtful. This designer's got something.'
'Exactly. They can make joke games, and they can make serious games too.'
'For this music alone, I'm voting for it.'
'...'
The viewers were incredibly pleasantly surprised, and their first impression was excellent.
Meanwhile, Liu Liu entered the game—
Onscreen, four selectable characters appeared: a warrior wielding a whip, a mage using a staff, an assassin throwing daggers, and a runemaster who attacked with strange diamond-shaped runes.
Which character should she choose?
"Zhuang Zhuang, who did you pick?"
Liu Liu asked her younger brother over voice chat.
"I picked the mage. It's pretty useful, though the attack speed is a little... Hey, hey, hey, don't touch me! Don't touch me!!!"
Zhuang Zhuang was clearly already playing.
It sounded pretty intense over there.
Liu Liu was itching to get started, so she casually chose the first default character, Whip Bro.
"You'll do. A basic character—usually characters like this have fairly balanced stats, so they're good for starting out."
With that, she hit confirm and entered the game.
The screen flashed.
From a top-down view, a pixelated character holding a whip appeared on the grass, looking rather dumbfounded.
The next second, he drew the whip from his waist and swung it through the air with a sharp crack.
"Huh?"
Liu Liu froze.
"Auto-attacking?"
She clearly hadn't pressed anything, but the character had attacked on his own.
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
As she spoke, Liu Liu tried moving the controller's analog stick.
Whip Bro swayed left and right along with it.
Other than that, no matter how Liu Liu tried the other buttons, Whip Bro didn't do anything else.
"What the—???"
Liu Liu was stunned.
"In this game, I can only control up, down, left, and right?"
She had just said this game wasn't messing with players!
And now it was giving her a setup like this?
"Zhuang Zhuang! You can only move up, down, left, and right in this game?" Liu Liu could hardly believe it.
She had never played such a... simple game.
"Not just that," Zhuang Zhuang's voice came through the chat. "You can also move in the four diagonal directions."
Liu Liu: ...What was the difference?
"This game... isn't it way too simple... too bare-bones?"
Liu Liu truly couldn't believe a designer could be this lazy. He had even made attacking automatic!
It looked boring as hell, didn't it?
There was no skill involved at all. What was she supposed to play?
Just as she was about to complain!
Several vampire bats surrounded her onscreen.
Interrupted, Liu Liu hurriedly moved the stick and dodged to the side.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
As she weaved and darted around, the whip lashed out, killing the surrounding bats. Several blue gems dropped onto the ground.
At the same time, even more bats closed in from every direction.
They weren't very fast, but their numbers couldn't be underestimated.
Liu Liu quickly collected the blue gems.
Ding!!!
As the experience bar at the top of the screen filled, the game paused. Amid dazzling gem effects, a pop-up appeared in the center of the screen!
"Ah?"
Liu Liu jumped in surprise.
"This is—?"
Inside the pop-up were three equipment items—Duplicator, Peace Dove, and Candelabrador.
"You get equipment drops when you level up?!"
Liu Liu exclaimed.
"This game is way too easy."
As she spoke, Liu Liu chose "Duplicator" from the three options. Its effect was to duplicate an attack once.
However, the moment she made her choice!
Three bats lunged at her head-on!
"Hey!"
Liu Liu let out a short cry and took half a step back.
But to her surprise, three more bats had surrounded her from behind!
This was bad.
Liu Liu's heart tightened.
Blocked in front and pursued from behind, the sudden increase in monsters was becoming difficult for her to handle.
However, just as she had nowhere left to retreat and was about to collide with the monsters!
Crack!
A whip shadow suddenly appeared behind Whip Bro, instantly killing the three bats!
"Ohhhhh—!!!"
Liu Liu was overjoyed!
"Duplicator! Holy crap! This Duplicator is amazing!!!"
The duplicated attack instantly pulled her out of danger!
Seeing three more experience gems drop to the ground, Liu Liu hurried over to collect them!
"I get it now, everyone!"
The visible improvement made Liu Liu start to enjoy the thrill of leveling up.
"This game is easy! You just pick one out of three whenever you level up! Once I get a high enough level, it'll be crack crack crack, whipping every—"
Before she could finish!
Liu Liu's delighted voice caught in her throat.
Because the next second, countless bats appeared around the edges of the screen—dozens of them!
They swarmed her from all directions with overwhelming force!
Only then!
Did Liu Liu suddenly remember the inconspicuous tag on the game's download page—
Bullet hell.
Before you continue