Ever since the monster designs for Dark Forest were revealed, the game's popularity had remained sky-high. It consistently held the top spot on major gaming media sites, drawing countless players.
The sheer breadth of discussion surrounding it had forums everywhere buzzing with excitement and anticipation.
It was practically a household name in gaming circles.
Gamers had been waiting until their eyes went dry!
Because this was the first game marketed as horror that was actually terrifying.
To them, it was absolutely incomparable to the garbage currently on the market.
Even most people who did not play games had heard of it. They might not know much else, but its popularity and the fact that it was developed independently by a Chinese creator were enough to make non-gamers offer their support as well.
Of course, that meant the coins on Danmu Network videos.
Just as the game was gaining momentum, a bombshell announcement dropped!
Dark Forest had been listed on the Cyber Platform!
It even had its own dedicated page now!
Its release date had been announced too—it would unlock at midnight three days later!
Without question, this news gave everyone exactly what they wanted when they had been waiting most desperately.
What did being listed on the Cyber Platform mean?
It meant official national recognition, legal protection, and that it was a legitimate game! It could also be purchased worldwide!
At that moment, a post about Dark Forest exploded once again in the trending section of the Fourth Calamity Club.
The original poster was a forum editor, and the post covered Dark Forest's specific release date as well as its CG promotional trailer.
From the post, netizens learned that the game would not be releasing in its Official Version. Instead, it would use the EA Early Access model, allowing everyone to play ahead of time while the game continued to be polished.
Players were no strangers to EA. Small studios did it all the time, and everyone was used to it.
Some foreign games spent two or three years in EA testing alone. By the time the Official Version came out, players were usually already tired of them.
Nobody had minded Dark Forest using the EA model. In fact, some had supported it. But a few remarks from the developer, Shuo Guang, sparked heated discussion among players.
The post had reposted the remarks, which roughly said:
"Early Access will initially release the game's first three chapters for everyone to enjoy. But rest assured, the game is by no means short—the playtime will absolutely not be under ten hours!"
"This game has undergone multiple rounds of testing. I can responsibly tell everyone that you will not encounter a single BUG during play! It absolutely will not affect the gameplay experience!"
"The game map is randomly generated. Every time you die, resource points will appear in different locations, so you cannot memorize routes. Please make sure you can accept this mechanic before purchasing responsibly!"
"This is a horror game. Those with psychological sensitivities and younger players are not advised to purchase it."
"Please do not play at night. This is for your own good."
"See you at midnight in three days."
When netizens saw the developer's words, they were stunned. Was he really that confident?
No bugs?
Where did he get the nerve to say that?
Some players with too much time on their hands immediately took offense and swore they would find bugs in the game!
But far more players focused on the first point.
The game would take no less than ten hours to complete?
Was that a joke?
This was only the EA stage!
It was not one of those grind-heavy games that could be played over and over.
A horror game in EA with a first-playthrough length of no less than ten hours?
That was already longer than some major shooters!
Was this really developed by one person?
As for the rest of the game-related details, few people discussed them. Whether those mechanics were good or bad could only be determined by experiencing them firsthand. Just looking at them gave no one the right to comment.
Then there was the promotional video.
Whether a game was appealing depended heavily on its trailer.
Especially for a horror game.
So players eagerly clicked it open in the post and started watching.
But very quickly, they were deeply drawn in.
The trailer opened on a forest without daylight, without branches or leaves, without soil or grass.
There were only tightly packed dead trees, forming a "prison."
A point of view led the audience racing forward, leaving those decayed trees behind.
Music gradually rose, slowly stirring the viewers' emotions.
At that moment, they felt as if they were inside that forest, fleeing for their lives without pause.
And before that rapidly advancing viewpoint, a glimmer of light soon appeared.
In the next instant, white light flashed, and the scene brightened.
A low, tranquil, elusive melody that struck straight at the heart suddenly swelled!
The view changed in an instant. It was no longer a silent forest, but ruins.
The shattered remains of a church.
In this abandoned place, where wind blew in from every direction, a round window in the ceiling overlapped with the moon above, suggesting the holiness and grandeur it had once possessed.
But as the camera moved forward, the moon gradually shrank until the ruins completely blocked it. The light vanished, foretelling that hope was gone and only desperate survival remained.
The next shot was gameplay footage.
A man in a hat and coat held a torch as he moved carefully through a swamp. Towering trees blocked the gentle moonlight from above. Flocks of ominous crows flew overhead, startling fallen leaves into rustling. Only the faintly warm torch in his hand cast a patch of scarlet-orange light.
The scene shifted, and the CG returned. This was a village.
The sky had lost its azure color, becoming murky and hazy.
Below stood rows of old wooden houses, built within a forest that resembled the claws of a demon.
In the open space were flocks of chickens and the corpse of a sheep that had been dead for some time, wrapped in some sort of fungal threads.
An elderly woman dressed plainly, with a hen perched on her shoulder, stood among the chickens and gazed toward the horizon, seemingly waiting for someone to return.
The next shot was gameplay footage.
The man in the hat and coat walked through a messy, filthy village.
Trash covered the ground. The roads were muddy and rotten. Handcarts had been carelessly overturned, tractors had long since rusted away, the well had been nailed shut with wooden boards, and the ground was stained with blood.
It seemed something terrible had happened in this village.
Then, a crazed stray dog suddenly appeared in the beam of his Flashlight.
This was still CG footage.
The oval, distorted building was covered in cracks.
The bedding spread across the floor was mottled with grime.
Under the glow of an incandescent bulb, a boy holding a violin slowly turned his head in the distance.
The towering shadow on the wall twisted with him, carrying an eerie sense of menace.
Only when one saw the side of his chilling yet faintly comical Mask could they feel the loneliness and sorrow he radiated.
The scene shifted, and the gameplay footage returned.
The man in the hat and coat held a Flashlight as he cautiously moved through a thicket of giant trees where one could not see their hand before their face.
Around him, several graceful women in pure white wedding dresses twisted their bodies and spun as they danced.
Though scattered apart, they formed a wall of people amid the lightless giant trees, blocking Hat Man's path.
The trailer continued in the same rhythm, with CG scenes and gameplay footage complementing each other, giving the watching netizens a peculiar sensory experience.
The CG seemed to display the forest's terrifying nature, while the gameplay showed what the protagonist saw and experienced.
It was as if it were telling players that no matter how bizarre the CG scenes appeared, they would eventually witness them firsthand in the game.
It undoubtedly heightened the players' anticipation!
The trailer was not long, only one minute and forty-three seconds. Yet the eerie music and alternating CG and gameplay made them watch it twice, three times, even four times!
Some veteran players even tried to dig useful information out of the trailer to prepare for the upcoming EA version, hoping to fully understand the story hidden within this forest.
They believed the developer would not disappoint them. After all, the game looked quite polished.
Thus, this CG promotional trailer once again had players eagerly awaiting its release. They flooded the comments, saying that on the first day without Dark Forest, they missed it.
Fortunately, three days was not long.
To Meng Shu, it passed in the blink of an eye.
But for the players filled with anticipation, it felt rather long.
Still, after all that waiting, the players finally reached the day!
When the ticking clock finally reached midnight, Dark Forest—
Officially unlocked!
Before you continue