Players Cried Out in Misery

With Xin Xin's death after fighting desperately to survive, only to be killed anyway, the livestream reached its climax.

This also firmly secured her place at the top of the gaming category, impossible to shake.

She had even suppressed Zai Zong, leaving him the eternal runner-up once more.

On the very night Visage was released, more and more people began playing it.

Danmu Network's gaming category exploded overnight, attracting countless streamers to try it. The first four pages were filled with streams of the game, and their viewership was anything but low.

The overwhelming popularity even pushed the entire category ahead of all the others. In particular, it left those female streamers who relied on flirtatious poses to attract viewers with dismal traffic, thoroughly baffling them.

They grumbled inwardly: Why are there so few perverts today? This shouldn't be happening. Have they all become enlightened sages?

In the end, they could only helplessly finish their required streaming hours and log off, planning to flaunt some deep cleavage tomorrow to win their viewers back.

Meanwhile, streamers broadcasting Visage, whether top-tier names or newcomers, all attracted huge crowds of viewers with the game, gaining plenty of followers and gifts in the process.

Some entered Lucy's Chapter and were chased all over the house by the little girl with the broken jaw, screaming in terror.

Others entered Dolores's Chapter, becoming dizzy from rooms full of mirrors and wracking their brains over the exquisitely designed puzzles before working with their viewers to solve them.

Others entered Lacan's Chapter and were driven half-mad after being chased by ghosts through the hospital. They had died so many times they were numb!

There were also some talent-based female streamers who rarely played games but came to try it out, since VR horror games were something they had never heard of before.

Before a ghost even appeared, the realistic, immersive atmosphere and supernatural phenomena had already scared them too badly to move. They curled up in corners and trembled.

When the ghosts finally appeared and lunged right into their faces, some burst into tears on the spot, leaving their fans at a complete loss.

Because of Visage, some normally aloof streamers completely broke down, acting like helpless children in-game without a trace of their usual poise.

It also humbled plenty of skilled streamers. Those who landed headshots with every shot in shooting games and dominated racing games all knelt before this game, their former swagger nowhere to be seen.

Among them was a well-known shooting-game streamer named Hou Sai Lei. Before playing, he had confidently claimed that he had seen it all—raging artillery fire, mountains of corpses—and that none of it could make him so much as blink.

Yet in Lucy's Chapter, he screamed, "Throw down the building!" before his signal abruptly cut off. No one knew what had happened, which was rather worrying.

Although Visage scared the streamers into screaming and scrambling for their lives, they kept streaming it.

Because it was a traffic goldmine!

Visage taught these streamers exactly what viewers and fans wanted to watch.

Experience showed that fans loved seeing streamers get humbled and terrified!

Technical streams, gameplay streams, interactive chat streams, suggestive borderline-content streams—none of them were as effective as streaming a horror game and screaming in fright.

Because of this, streamers understood that if they wanted popularity, they absolutely had to stream horror games from then on!

It did not matter whether the game was good or whether it was actually scary. Just scream!

What? You could not scream?

Learn!

Treat it as a "professional scream."

It truly made small-time streamers.

Soon, as these people tried the game, both spectators and players who experienced it firsthand discovered a rather serious problem.

Players could not attack!

What the hell?

A horror game without a combat system?

Before release, most players had been guessing what weapons or methods they would use to deal with ghosts.

They had even mocked another group of people who believed there might not be a combat system.

Now, it seemed that the small group of netizens who had guessed that Visage might lack a combat system had become the biggest winners!

And they themselves had become clowns.

But what kind of nonsense was a horror game without a combat system?

Were they even supposed to play it!?

One streamer even cursed through tears, saying, "You're so noble, so amazing! You make a horror game without a combat system, and then make it this terrifying? You're trying to get players killed! What did the players ever do to you?!"

His words resonated with the players.

It was around four in the morning on Sunday, eight hours after the game's release.

Yet in the Fourth Calamity Club, countless people had stayed up all night because of the game, and many were discussing Visage's combat system.

"Can anyone with a huge dick tell me how you fight ghosts in this game? Or where the weapons are? I've died so many times I'm numb. Lucy's little jawless face even looks pretty to me now."

Many people with the same question saw the post and clicked in, hoping to find an answer.

In the end, every damn comment was just bumping the thread.

"I'm asking too. I'm in the hospital and just got jump-scared. My heart has gone cold, and I'm dead numb. I'm a streamer currently live. To preserve my image, I'm asking on an alt. If anyone knows, feel free to tag me. My reputation is at stake, so I won't reveal my name for now. Fellow netizens, this is urgent. Anonymous!"

"Please, someone save me. My sanity is almost empty, my Lighter is out of fuel, and I've used all my pills. Now there's a supernatural event every three steps and a ghost every five. What am I supposed to do? (crying)"

"I couldn't find a weapon either. I suspect there might not be a combat system. I tried picking up a chair to smash them with, but I died as soon as I got close. After respawning, I tried throwing it, but it didn't work. Then I tried throwing and smashing them with every item I could pick up, even spraying them with a Fire Extinguisher. Nothing worked."

"Ghosts are invincible! You can't fight them at all! You can only run when you encounter one! I, Li Someone, have played games for nearly ten years, but I've never felt this stifled!"

"Attention, attention! I found a Shotgun in Dolores's Chapter! The location is here (image). No idea about the other chapters. Good luck, everyone, hahahaha."

"Person above, I #&%￥#"

"No combat! This damn game has no combat! If you want to stop ghosts from spawning, you must maintain your sanity! Collect more Anti-Stress Pills and Lighters! Those two are the most important! If your inventory is full, leave items by the Entrance Hall's front door so you can swap them out anytime!! Do not stop collecting just because your inventory is full—you definitely won't remember where everything was!"

And so, after the game's release, promotion by streamers and major websites sent its discussions and popularity soaring until nearly everyone knew about it.

Within eight hours of release, it had reached the top of the concurrent-player rankings!

Then, the following day, it made Weibo Trending and spread to even more people.

In less than twenty-four hours, the game was being discussed frantically throughout the gaming community.

Every major website had posts related to Visage.

Weibo's topic section alone had nearly a thousand threads.

"This game really picked the perfect time! It unlocked at eight on Saturday night, and I thought I'd just take a look before bed. Instead, I played until now!"

"I never imagined our country could make such a heavyweight VR game. Who still thinks foreign VR StarCraft represents the best of the VR Game industry?"

"It feels so real! If I couldn't feel the equipment on my head, I would have thought I had actually entered the game world!"

"This game is fucking terrifying! And that dizzying effect after your sanity drops is simply a nightmare! Running for your life while dizzy and being chased by ghosts—I fucking broke down on the spot!"

"It's a good game. You can tell it was made with care. But it really is too scary. The three Past Residents' chapters all have such obscure plots that I have no idea how they relate to the protagonist. I hope some expert makes a story analysis."

"The developers' VR technology is incredibly mature, even far beyond foreign technology. The games they make are practically indistinguishable from reality—so damn awesome! It would be even better if they made an FPS game. Shooting in that would definitely feel amazing!"

"Exactly! If they made a VR shooting game, the visuals would definitely be spectacular! Using that technology for a horror game is a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I hope the developers consider making some other kinds of games."

"I'm dying laughing. My roommate got so scared playing this last night that he spilled instant noodles all over my bed. Watching him like that gave me enough laughs for the whole night, hahahaha."

"I want to thank Visage. Because of it, the roommate I secretly had a crush on asked me to play with her. I hugged her so many times while we played, and things have become very ambiguous between us. We've even agreed to see a movie together now. I think I might have a chance, haha."

And so, amid Visage's overwhelming buzz, at eight that evening, the producer Shuo Guang announced the game's first-day sales figures and shared his thoughts on Danmu Network.

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