Terror Games Are as Easy as Breathing to Me

Entering mid-November, the "Outlast" project was roughly seventy percent complete.

The remaining thirty percent mainly involved voice acting, corresponding scene construction, and performance work.

For Chen Xu, the biggest gain from developing "Outlast" was a deeper understanding of the editor's applications.

At the same time, with his current 2048M resource quota, the monthly allowance was entirely sufficient for "Outlast"'s game content.

Aside from game development, the Nebula Game Platform also quietly went online during this period.

Chen Xu promoted it once on his official blog.

But it didn't stir up much of a splash.

No industry giants eyeing it, no media coverage flooding in—none of that happened.

It was just that some media outlets, lacking news, tucked the story into a sub-column.

Unless you specifically went looking, you really wouldn't see it.

The games available on the platform were currently only "To the Moon" and "Undertale."

As for sales, the two games had sold a total of 172 copies.

But the total playtime added up to less than 50 hours a day.

Clearly, the players who bought them were likely Chen Xu's fans, simply purchasing an extra copy on his platform to support a designer and game company they liked.

Chen Xu wasn't discouraged by this, after all, platform development doesn't happen overnight.

Days passed, and early December arrived.

The entire development of "Outlast" had wrapped up.

Corresponding promotions also began rolling out one after another.

One day, Chen Xu suddenly posted an official blog.

The blog's message was simple: a line of text and a game poster.

'Only by escaping can you survive!'

'December 15th, Outlast begins!'

Below this text was the game poster for "Outlast."

In the poster, the background looked like a hospital room, with scattered medical instruments on the floor and tables.

On the wall were two large characters: Outlast.

In night-vision mode, the color appeared black, immediately evoking thoughts of bloodstains.

Meanwhile, under a bed in the corner, a terrified person lay crouched, their right index finger pressed to their lips, looking extremely eerie.

With Chen Xu's official blog post released, major media outlets began reporting on "Outlast" related information.

And the game "Outlast" was also pre-loaded onto the Official Game Platform.

Of course, it was still in pre-sale mode.

Priced at 65 yuan, it wasn't a high price.

After all, "Outlast"'s game volume wasn't very large.

At the same time, various gaming communities and forums sparked discussions about "Outlast."

This wasn't player-driven, though. Despite gaining some fame from "Undertale" and taking first place in the Sci-Fi Conquest Game with "To the Moon," Chen Xu's reputation alone wasn't enough to create a buzz.

What caused all this was, naturally, the power of money.

As days went by, "Outlast" finally arrived at its launch time.

In the gaming section of Shark TV, a livestream room called Commentator Old Boy.

"Why is it only me? Brother Huang went to the hospital for a checkup, probably coming back later."

"Don't keep saying it's a horror game. I told you, horror games are no pressure for me, as easy as breathing."

"You want me to stream a horror game because you think I'll get scared badly, but when you see my expressionless face! It'll feel just like breathing—you'll be really disappointed then, right? Disappointed as hell."

"Alright, let's do this. You all know, I have no pressure playing horror games because I've played too many before. So let's try it first. If it's not scary, we'll play other games when Brother Huang gets back."

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll turn on the camera for you. But honestly, you'll be really disappointed. The expressions you're hoping for, I won't show them at all."

"Because I'm a very calm person. Horror games are as simple as breathing for me."

Sun Yixie, narrating a game replay, looked at the barrage in the livestream room with a very composed demeanor.

He said "as simple as breathing" three times in a row.

He felt quite confident in his own courage.

Opening the Official Game Platform, ignoring the barrage saying 'Big bro can't even open the game on his own,' he struggled a bit, installed the game, then turned on the camera and entered the game.

A brief crackle of static, and then the game's interface appeared.

The entire screen was tinged with a cyan hue, like the color palette of old Hong Kong horror films or ghost movies.

The background was a building resembling a hospital, with sparse lights and some dynamic cloud layers drifting by, looking deeply unsettling.

"A little bit of a feeling—just a little, mind you—but like I said before, horror games are as easy as breathing to me."

Sun Yixie spoke as he glanced at the barrage comments.

He still carried himself with considerable confidence at this point.

"As for difficulty, let's go with Normal for the first run."

Entering the game, it started with pitch darkness, a low narration, and an eerie soundtrack mixed with the crackling sound of a car radio.

"My name is Miles Upshur, an ordinary journalist. Deep in the Colorado mountains, a long-abandoned mental hospital has reopened—Jushan Mental Hospital."

"But one day, a mysterious person sent me a letter, telling me that a huge secret lies hidden in the depths of this hospital. To investigate this matter, I came here."

Accompanied by the car radio's narration, the game's background world was briefly introduced.

Sun Yixie felt no emotional stir whatsoever, remaining as calm as he'd claimed earlier.

Because most horror games—or horror movies, for that matter—followed this same pattern.

After the narration, the game's visuals appeared.

But it was still in an uncontrollable mode.

The protagonist drove his car toward Jushan Mental Hospital.

The dim, gloomy tones, along with the crackling car radio, immediately set the atmosphere.

Soon, the car reached its destination, stopping at an entrance to Jushan Mental Hospital.

The game's tutorial then appeared: pick up the camera and a letter from the passenger seat.

The content of the letter was the same as the earlier narration. The protagonist, a journalist, had come to Jushan Mental Hospital to dig up a big story and uncover the truth.

After picking up the letter, a mission prompt appeared on the screen: Enter Jushan Mental Hospital.

From this point, the player could move freely.

Stepping out of the car, the night, combined with the wind rustling around him, the leaves whispering, and the mental hospital—a place that sounded anything but friendly—suddenly made Sun Yixie's heartbeat quicken just a little.