Chapter Summaries

Song Ren explored the unfamiliar Firelink Shrine, learned from a sarcastic mercenary that he needed to ring two Bells of Awakening, and searched for a route forward. He found a Fire Maiden imprisoned and headed toward a path lined with tombstones, suspecting it led to the Undead Settlement.

• Song Ren spoke with the mercenary-like Discouraged One, who told him the Bells of Awakening were in the Undead Church's Bell Tower and beneath Blighttown.
• Song Ren noticed that the Fire Maiden was missing and discovered he could level up at the Campfire without her.
• Song Ren explored Firelink Shrine, found humanity and a Firebomb, and fell into a pit containing chests with a Red Eye Orb, a Mace, Bone Shards, and a talisman.
• Song Ren found the Fire Maiden locked in a prison and saw that the Campfire's warp function was unavailable.
• Song Ren tested the skeletons along a tombstone-lined path and found that his Mace dealt them more damage than his Greatsword.
• Song Ren guessed that the path might lead to the Undead Settlement and decided to investigate.

Song Ren mistook the Catacombs for a route to the Underground Ruins and lit a Campfire there before realizing he had wandered into a dangerous, high-level area. With no teleportation available and no way back up the stairs, he was trapped near a Lantern Hollow that kept killing him.

• Song Ren entered the Catacombs, dodged its enemies, and found a Campfire guarded by a Lantern Hollow that threw Great Fireballs.
• Song Ren lit the Campfire, killed the Lantern Hollow, and messaged Zhang Yi about the game's difficulty.
• Zhang Yi told Song Ren he had reached the Undead Settlement Outskirts and explained that he had also entered the wrong area, the New Londo Ruins.
• Song Ren realized he had mistaken the Catacombs for the Undead Settlement and was stuck there, since he had rolled down the stairs and the Campfire could not teleport him back.

After realizing he had trapped himself in the Catacombs, Song Ren restarted and found the intended route from Firelink Shrine to Undead Settlement Outskirts. He struggled through its enemies, died to a Black Knight and a warrior in Havel's Set, then praised the game on a forum as a familiar Dark Souls experience.

• Song Ren gave up on escaping the Catacombs, created a new Knight, and chose the Master Key as his starting gift.
• Song Ren quickly returned to Firelink Shrine and laughed at Bloodstains showing players falling to their deaths there.
• Song Ren crossed the Sewer and reached Undead Settlement Outskirts, concluding that the Catacombs had been a trap for veteran players.
• Song Ren lit a Campfire, challenged a Black Knight blocking a narrow corridor, and died after its attacks exhausted his stamina.
• Song Ren used the Master Key to enter a tower, found a warrior wearing Havel's Set and wielding a Dragon Tooth, and died in one blow.
• Song Ren replied to a forum question by calling the game an exquisite, familiar sequel that Dark Souls players should experience.

Song Ren and other veteran players struggled through the traps and unfamiliar enemies in Dark Souls: Age of First Flame despite their confidence from previous games. By the end of the launch day, skilled players had reached the first bell, while most ordinary players were still fighting through the Undead Settlement Outskirts.

• Song Ren described the Undead Settlement Outskirts, Black Knights, and Havel as brutally welcoming after spending the afternoon playing.
• Song Ren complained in the Game Chat Group, where players shared stories of early deaths and frustration with the game.
• Players discovered that their experience with earlier Dark Souls games did not prepare them for the new enemies, bosses, traps, and interconnected map.
• The fastest players defeated the first gargoyle and rang the first bell with Solaire of Astora's help, while most players remained in the Undead Settlement Outskirts.

Players entered Dark Souls: Age of First Flame expecting an epic adventure but were repeatedly killed by brutal enemies, traps, and hazardous areas. They struggled through notorious locations such as Wyvern Valley, Blighttown, and Anor Londo, and the chapter left them enduring the game’s many deadly challenges.

• Players around the world complained on gaming forums that Dark Souls: Age of First Flame was brutally difficult.
• A player in Wyvern Valley approached two glowing items beside a dead dragon, only for the corpse to attack and send him back to the Campfire.
• A player entered the Goat-headed Demon’s arena and was overwhelmed by the boss and its two vicious dogs.
• Players struggled through Blighttown’s poor visibility, poisonous enemies, mosquitoes, and blowdart attackers.
• Players faced further deadly obstacles across Lordran, including Anor Londo’s archers, Sen's Fortress’s traps, and the Hollow Swordsmen in Cathedral Ward.

Players debated Dark Souls: Age of First Flame’s map, endings, and lore as the prequel achieved strong sales and drew widespread attention. The chapter left the story open to competing interpretations while highlighting the characters whose quests and tragedies had moved players.

• Players complained that Campfires could not be used for warping until they obtained the Lordvessel, while others praised the game’s interconnected routes and shortcuts.
• Dark Souls: Age of First Flame sold 2.4 million copies domestically and 3.1 million overseas in its first week, and its difficulty fueled extensive streaming and discussion.
• Players proposed competing theories about whether to Link the Fire and whether the Dark Souls, humanity, and the Abyss were connected.
• Players debated whether Gwyn had sacrificed himself to preserve the world or whether later gods used Undead to prolong their own rule.
• Players shared stories about Solaire, Artorias, Gold-Hemmed, the Discouraged One, Quelaag, Siegward, and Gwyndolin, reflecting on their varied fates.

Players discovered powerful early-game weapons and used them to make New Game Plus easier, while Chen Xu refused to patch the strategies. He revealed a Prepare to Die Mode for New Game Plus players, hinting that Galaxy Smart Technology’s AI would help make the challenge more punishing.

• Players shared strategies for obtaining the Wyvern Sword, Grave Lord Sword, and Black Knight's Halberd, letting them overpower enemies in New Game Plus.
• Ruan Ningxue and Yang Xin played Dark Souls: Age of First Flame at Nebula Games' experience store, while Qin Yi asked Chen Xu whether they should fix the weapon strategies.
• Chen Xu defended the strategies as ways for players to bypass difficult sections and handed Qin Yi a design concept for a new mode.
• Qin Yi saw that Prepare to Die Mode would unlock for players who had cleared New Game Plus and would feature Prime Gods and Lords of Cinder.
• Qin Yi realized Chen Xu planned to use AI technology from Galaxy Smart Technology to make the new mode a greater challenge.

Song Ren showed Wang Yifan and Qiao Yi how to obtain the Grave Lord Sword before noticing a major update that added Prepare to Die Mode to both Dark Souls games. The group learned that the new mode let players challenge bosses for rewards and leaderboard rankings.

• Song Ren demonstrated how to reach the Grave Lord Sword and explained his New Game Plus playstyle to Wang Yifan and Qiao Yi.
• Zhang Yi teased Song Ren for repeatedly practicing the same early-game route, and Song Ren defended his approach to mastering maps and builds.
• Song Ren noticed that Dark Souls: Age of First Flame had received a major update and opened the update preview with the others.
• Song Ren and the group learned that Prepare to Die Mode let players fight selected bosses solo or in teams of up to three, with adjusted stats, rewards, and clear-time rankings.

Song Ren and his friends discussed the new Prepare to Die Mode in Dark Souls: Age of First Flame, then Song Ren entered the boss challenge and chose Artorias. The chapter left him about to test how difficult the boss would be in the new mode.

• Song Ren, Zhang Yi, Wang Han, and Wang Yifan discussed the new mode’s difficulty, randomization, and equipment balancing.
• Song Ren opened the mode at Firelink Shrine with his +5 Guan Dao and examined the list of available bosses.
• Song Ren hesitated over the formidable choices, while Zhang Yi teased him that he would not beat any of them.
• Song Ren chose Artorias, believing his familiar attack patterns made him the easiest boss to challenge.

Song Ren challenged Artorias in Prepare to Die Mode and discovered that the boss could roll, block, and chain attacks with far greater fluidity than before. After Artorias outmaneuvered and killed him, Song Ren respawned at Firelink Shrine, convinced the boss was impossible to fight.

• Song Ren equipped a Guan Dao and Silver Knight Shield before entering the fog gate to face Artorias at full power.
• Artorias returned Song Ren’s Praise the Sun gesture with a Knight’s Salute, then began circling him as the battle started.
• Song Ren attacked Artorias and tried to retreat, but Artorias rolled to cancel his recovery and followed a leaping slash with a sweep.
• Song Ren adapted cautiously, blocking and dodging while steadily reducing Artorias’s health by about one-fifth.
• Artorias increased his attack frequency, rolled behind Song Ren, and killed him with a sweeping Greatsword strike.
• Song Ren respawned at Firelink Shrine without losing his souls and complained that Artorias had broken the expected attack pattern.

Song Ren failed to defeat Artorias in Prepare to Die Mode, so he and Zhang Yi recruited Wang Yifan to try multiplayer against the Undead Legion of Farron instead. The three were overwhelmed by the Legion’s coordinated numbers and agreed the challenge was beyond them.

• Song Ren died to Artorias and said Prepare to Die Mode was not suitable for him, while Zhang Yi agreed that the group could not handle it alone.
• Song Ren suggested teaming up against the Undead Legion of Farron, and Zhang Yi and Wang Yifan joined him in multiplayer.
• The three entered the Undead Legion of Farron’s arena and initially found the fight easier as they attacked together.
• When the fight entered its next phase, the Legion’s members revived and coordinated their attacks instead of fighting among themselves.
• The Undead Legion of Farron wiped out the party, and Song Ren, Wang Yifan, and Zhang Yi admitted they could not handle the challenge.

Players tested Dark Souls: Age of First Flame’s Prepare to Die Mode, while experts competed to defeat its peak bosses and claim leaderboard first kills. Chen Xu granted players a one-time way to change character names but refused to add another chance to redo their faces.

• Players discovered that Prepare to Die Mode made peak Artorias, Yhorm, and Gwyn far more dangerous, while many ordinary players preferred Random Mode.
• Top players at home and abroad studied boss mechanics, streamed their progress, and competed for first kills that would be recorded on a monument at Firelink Shrine.
• Players petitioned Nebula Games and Chen Xu to let them change their character names and redo their appearances rather than abandon long-played saves.
• Chen Xu added a one-time name-change exchange item at Firelink Shrine but rejected the request for another character-creation chance, saying Dark Souls lacked the technology.

Chen Xu weighed Dark Souls DLC plans, AI’s limitations, and Nebula Game Platform’s growth before setting the studio’s next direction. He revealed that Nebula Games would focus on smaller platform-building projects and introduced its next game, Don’t Starve.

• Chen Xu told Ruan Ningxue and Yang Xin that Prepare to Die Mode’s difficulty came mostly from combat pacing and numbers, while its AI still needed more development.
• Chen Xu decided that future Dark Souls DLC would fill out the game’s wider world and could be released later, potentially around the series’ third anniversary.
• Chen Xu concluded that Galaxy Smart Technology’s AI was not yet ready to serve as a core selling point for games.
• Chen Xu planned to prioritize smaller games that could strengthen Nebula Game Platform’s player base rather than rush into another major production.
• At a meeting, Chen Xu assigned Lin Tao to lead the Dark Souls DLC team and unveiled Don’t Starve as Nebula Games’ next project.

Chen Xu introduced Don't Starve as a survival game built around exploration, resource gathering, crafting, and enduring threats such as hunger, cold, and monsters. He chose it to test players’ interest in survival and sandbox games, and the chapter ended with the team preparing to see how players responded.

• Chen Xu showed Don't Starve concept art and explained its survival-focused gameplay to the team.
• Qin Yi and Ruan Ningxue questioned whether the game’s difficulty and smaller scale would discourage players, and Chen Xu clarified that players could choose the difficulty.
• Chen Xu explained that Don't Starve’s clear survival objective could ease players into sandbox mechanics and make its diverse maps, seasons, and random generation more approachable.
• Chen Xu chose Don't Starve as a test of player interest in survival and sandbox games, noting that the Nebula Game Platform and its Workshop already had a user base and modding foundation.

Chen Xu explained the survival mechanics and development plans for "Don't Starve," which he intended to use to test the sandbox-game market. He set a mid-September target for the game and asked Zhang Yida to prepare a marketing proposal, while "Dark Souls" players continued competing to defeat Yhorm the Giant King fastest.

• "Dark Souls" maintained strong sales in its second month, and players defeated Yhorm the Giant King in Prepare to Die Mode for the first time.
• Three foreign experts claimed the first kill, but a domestic strategy group broke their speedkill record less than ten minutes later, prompting both teams to compete for the best time.
• Chen Xu explained to Ruan Ningxue, Qin Yi, Yang Xin, and the others how Hunger, Health, and Sanity shaped "Don't Starve's" survival gameplay.
• Yang Xin worried that players might lose their hard-earned progress, and Chen Xu reassured the team that players could save and back up their saves.
• Chen Xu told Qin Yi to aim to finish "Don't Starve" around mid-September, then called Zhang Yida in to prepare a promotional proposal.

Chen Xu released Don't Starve on the Nebula Game Platform as a low-priced survival sandbox with PC and mobile versions. Players and industry figures debated its genre and platform strategy, while Nebula Games fans began buying it.

• On September 11, Chen Xu announced that Don't Starve was available on the Nebula Game Platform, with PC and mobile versions that shared vanilla save data.
• Players discussed the game's Gothic style, sandbox and survival features, and whether it might be a horror game, while some decided to wait and others bought it.
• Game designers and companies such as NetDragon and Tenghua watched the release, and designers questioned whether the Nebula Game Platform was the game's only platform.
• Nebula Games fans accustomed to buying its games through its own platform purchased Don't Starve there, while other interested players also bought it despite the lack of announcements about other platforms.

While Zhang Yi and Song Ren continued fighting Yhorm, Wang Han tried Chen Xu’s new game, Don't Starve, and began exploring its survival mechanics. After Wilson was dragged into the Wilderness, she gathered supplies and decided to craft an axe and chop trees.

• Zhang Yi and Song Ren discussed their attempt to defeat Yhorm while Wang Han urged them to try Don't Starve.
• Wang Han bought and launched Don't Starve, then watched a cutscene in which Wilson activated a strange machine and was dragged underground.
• Wang Han started a new game and watched a mysterious magician warn Wilson to find food before nightfall.
• Wang Han explored the large map, collected materials, and realized she had enough supplies to make an axe.
• Wang Han decided to craft an axe and chop trees to prepare for survival.

Wang Han explored the world of Don't Starve, gathering materials and learning its crafting and survival systems. After she attacked a bee hive, Killer Bees overwhelmed her and killed Wilson, leaving her with the First Day achievement.

• Wang Han gathered materials and learned that a Science Machine required gold nuggets, logs, and rocks.
• Wang Han crafted an axe and pickaxe, explored the enormous map, and scavenged while their durability slowly wore down.
• Wang Han attacked a bee hive with her axe, releasing several Killer Bees.
• Wang Han tried to fight the Killer Bees, but her axe failed to stop them and Wilson died after their final sting.
• Wang Han received the First Day achievement and felt mocked by its description.

Wang Han restarted the game, explored a new area, and learned how to mine gold and survive the night. After escaping the darkness, she used her torch to set the forest ablaze, leaving the game saved at dawn.

• Wang Han began a new game in a desert-like area and found that lightning-marked rocks could yield gold when mined.
• Wang Han encountered a Spider Egg that hatched into a Crypt Fiend, then found a Pig House while exploring.
• As night fell, Wang Han built a Bonfire and discovered that leaving its light caused her Sanity to plummet as eerie eyes and approaching footsteps appeared in the darkness.
• Wang Han crafted a torch and discovered she could use it to ignite trees, grass, and berry bushes.
• Wang Han set the surrounding forest ablaze until daylight arrived, the game autosaved, and her torch ran out of durability.

On the second day of the game, Wang Han gathered resources, built a Science Machine, and scavenged meat from a battle between Pigmen and Merms. After surviving the night and exploring through the seventh day, she prepared to make a Grass Suit and Spear so she could venture farther into the world.

• Wang Han made an axe and Pickaxe, gathered materials, and built a Science Machine that unlocked new crafting recipes.
• Wang Han explored for food and resources, then found Pigmen fighting Merms and stole meat and fish from the battlefield.
• Wang Han camped overnight without burning the trees, returned to her base, and made more tools before exploring new areas.
• Wang Han discovered Wormholes, encountered a Tall Bird, and learned that she could cook food by placing it on a Campfire.
• By the eighth day, Wang Han decided to gather supplies and craft a Grass Suit and Spear before exploring farther.