"Outlast"

After the interview.

In less than twenty minutes, before Chen Xu could even return from the Game Department to Nebula Games, the major media outlets had already published their interview reports.

"Revealed: Nebula Games' next game is likely to be..."

"Chen Xu: I think I should be a Warrior of Love"

"No plans for a new game yet, but according to Chen Xu's hints, Nebula Games' next title is likely a heartwarming love story!"

"A rising new star indie game developer: Warrior of Love—Chen Xu!"

The buzz around Sci-Fi Conquest Game hadn't fully faded yet, and "To the Moon" was still sitting on the official platform's recommendation slots.

These media interview articles also introduced quite a few players to Chen Xu.

Even the official blog's follower count had reached 800,000.

Given the current momentum, breaking one million was just a matter of time.

At the same time, on the official blog's big-V verification profile, his representative works now included "To the Moon" and a "Warrior of Love" tag.

And beneath the related interview articles, many players were buzzing with discussion.

"Warrior of Love? What the hell is that!?"

"Think about it carefully—Chen Xu really does seem like a Warrior of Love. Forget the 'Magic Mirror,' every character has a pure love arc, even if the other dark, depraved stuff is kinda... that..."

"And the Pacifist Ending of 'Undertale' is full of love. As for the latest 'To the Moon,' need I say more? The whole thing revolves around love."

"When you put it that way, it actually makes a lot of sense!"

"But I'm more curious about what Chen Xu's next game will be."

"It should be a very heartwarming game, right?"

"Exactly, since he's a Warrior of Love."

As for the online situation, Chen Xu didn't pay too much attention to it.

Because at that moment, having just arrived at the Nebula Games office, he was alone in his office doing a lottery draw.

One by one, golden lights bloomed before his eyes.

The special effects looked impressive.

But the thing was, it was way too realistic.

Fifty consecutive draws.

Among them, thirty-seven were ordinary skill books—plot, music, level design, all present.

Four were rare skill books: one for architecture, one for psychology, and two for music.

The remaining nine were all Memory Capsules.

"One more draw left. Might as well use it." Looking at the points just enough for the last draw, Chen Xu didn't overthink it and used it directly.

With a flash of golden light, to Chen Xu's surprise, this time he actually got something!

It wasn't a rare skill book, but a Special Item, just like the Memory Capsule.

"A single draw pulling a miracle? That's some superstition! But what is this thing?" Chen Xu fell silent.

[Fear Converter] (120 days)

Effect: Converts players' fear value into ten times the points (cap of 6,000,000)

Clearly, this was a time-limited item, a double-experience card with a cap, but only limited to players' fear.

What wasn't clear was whether the cap applied before or after conversion.

But Chen Xu guessed it was probably the cap after conversion.

"And this item is different from the Memory Capsule—it's time-limited. Is this hinting that I should make a horror game next?" Chen Xu felt a bit speechless.

As for what the next game would be, Chen Xu had actually been thinking about it.

First, it wouldn't be a small project like before. At the very least, this time he'd aim for a 3D game.

But at the same time, the scale couldn't be too large.

Even though in this parallel world, game development was simpler compared to his previous life.

That didn't mean no technical accumulation was needed.

It was like building with blocks—everyone had the same parts to use, but what you could build depended on your own skill.

The same went for games, especially when it came to FPS and action games.

For example, action games were all about impact feedback.

And how do you create impact feedback?

Sound effects, controller vibration, special effects, UI screen shake, and various physics collision detections.

And there was a more core element: Freeze Frame.

The same logic applied to FPS games.

So for his next project, Chen Xu didn't plan to make anything too complex.

"Thinking about it that way, a horror game doesn't seem impossible. I can add some action elements, and for a horror game, those action elements don't have to be the main focus." Chen Xu rubbed his chin, thinking to himself.

But even though he had an idea in mind, Chen Xu didn't act immediately. Instead, he first looked up the general state of horror games in the parallel world online.

Simply put, it wasn't much different from his previous life.

Whether in the film industry or the gaming industry, horror games rarely had big-budget productions.

They were mostly the type that bet small to win big.

However, compared to his previous life, the market share for pure horror games was significantly larger.

There were even individual titles with sales nearing ten million copies.

Of course, those were the older types—basically discounted to rock-bottom prices during holidays, and they'd been on the market for years.

As for horror games that felt more suited to the VR platform, there were none at all.

After all, the development costs for VR games were enormous.

And horror games themselves were a relatively niche category.

Unless someone had a particular passion for horror culture, no one would develop a horror game for the VR platform.

The risk was simply too great.

As for horror games on the PC platform, they were divided into two types. One was the low-budget approach.

For example, the model used by Undertale and To the Moon.

The other was to develop them as small-to-medium-scale titles.

After roughly understanding the market and related developments of horror games in the parallel world, Chen Xu quickly made his decision.

He would go with the small-to-medium-scale model. The revenue from Magic Mirror, Undertale, and To the Moon meant that Nebula Games currently had some capital to work with.

Besides, although the horror game market was niche, that was only compared to traditional genres like FPS and RPG.

If done well and it sparked enough buzz, a horror game could still sell big.

Next came the question of which game to make.

When it came to horror games, Chen Xu had quite a few directions to choose from.

But after careful consideration, Chen Xu decided to go with Outlast as his next game.

Mainly because it was a good fit.

In terms of game length, Outlast took about five hours to complete—though speedrunners could finish it in under an hour.

Secondly, compared to horror games like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and The Evil Within, Outlast had a clever trick up its sleeve.

In this game, the player controlled a journalist who could only run away, never fight back.

For Chen Xu, Outlast was essentially a game to help the team get in sync and to let him test the game engine more deeply.

As for action and shooting mechanics, those could be reflected in the game's monsters, while the player-controlled protagonist would only perform basic actions like running and climbing.

In almost every aspect, Outlast was a game that met Chen Xu's expectations.

The only thing he needed to worry about was censorship.

Unlike Eastern-style horror games like Silent Hill or Fatal Frame, Outlast was pure Western horror—meaning it was quite bloody.

Although the parallel world's censorship system was well-established, whether it would pass review ultimately depended on the Game Department's decision.