Despite being a devoted fan of Nebula Games, Ben decided not to stay up all night playing their brand-new game, "The Ritual."
Like most players, Ben had every reason to believe this would be a super scary game.
Especially since it was set in China. For foreigners who didn't understand the cultural context, the fear factor might drop significantly, and they might not even know what's supposed to be frightening.
But for players in China, it was a completely different story.
To be honest, he wasn't that interested in horror games themselves. It was simply because it was made by Nebula Games.
Of course, there was an even more important reason: he planned to drag Zack into this. Zack slept until daybreak, and there was no message from him on their communication channel yet.
This clearly indicated one thing: Zack definitely hadn't played this game yet. Otherwise, he would have already come to his place to provoke him.
So, Ben decided to strike first. He'd play it himself and then taunt Zack later.
What if they both pretended this never happened and moved on?
Impossible! One of them had to suffer!
With these mischievous thoughts, Ben took one last look at the bright sunlight outside his window, then put on his gaming gear and entered the game.
There was a brief black screen, followed by a buzzing sound like electricity in his ears.
"Ghosts feast on karma, those who deserve punishment, have their bones crushed and marrow sucked, and are subjected to endless suffering—'Scripture of Strict Laws.'"
Accompanying the electric buzzing narration, white subtitles appeared in the dark view.
Then, the buzzing intensified, and corresponding visuals appeared in the game.
He found himself driving a police car, with a partner in the passenger seat.
The car was driving on a muddy country road, and it was pitch black all around.
"Gulp..."
Even though it wasn't his first time playing a horror game, and he'd seen many similar scenes, Ben still instinctively swallowed.
He was especially worried about his police officer companion. He feared that something high-impact might happen right from the start.
Like his partner turning into a zombie or something.
Fortunately, that didn't happen. As they reached the entrance of a small town, the car suddenly broke down.
"This is so weird. The car was fine, why did it stall?" His companion, a police officer named Zheng Ming, tried several times, then unhappily pushed the car door open and got out.
"Brother Zheng Ming, the person who reported the crime is still waiting in town. How about we just leave the car here for now?" said the character Ben was controlling, Lin Lixun.
"That's not urgent. Besides, the breakdown isn't really our fault. If Captain Lu finds out the car is broken, we might get yelled at," Zheng Ming shook his head.
After a brief conversation, Ben got a general idea of the game's background.
The protagonist he was controlling was named Lin Lixun, a newly appointed police officer who had received a report.
Someone in Qinghe Town's house had their coffin catch fire during a funeral. The caller claimed it was arson, so Lin Lixun and another officer were dispatched to investigate.
Now, his flashlight was dead, and the car was broken.
So, the police officer named Zheng Ming prepared to fix the car, while asking Lin Lixun to go buy a battery.
"This is totally a horror movie, novel, and TV show trope!"
"Brother Zheng, how could you! In the middle of the night! How could you split up?"
Hearing Zheng Ming's words, Ben shivered.
As everyone knows, in horror movies, TV shows, or games, the main group is often picked off one by one.
And they always get separated in ways that invite disaster, with places like bathrooms or other enclosed spaces being frequent accident hotspots.
This creepy town, and Brother Zheng, you're really not going together?
Ben walked around the car twice, looking for anything he could investigate.
But he soon realized that the game's freedom wasn't as high as he thought, or rather, there wasn't much to explore.
The main controls were normal walking, running, and crouching. There was no jumping function in the game.
This was one of the features Lucas implemented in the VR version. The game still focused on puzzles.
Players piece together the game's plot and the truth behind events through clues from the environment and objects.
Naturally, there wasn't much action involved, and the environment didn't need to be very large, as the main areas of activity were only a few scenes.
However, for a horror game, the size of the environment isn't important. The key thing is whether the environment is creepy enough.
Right now, Ben felt it was creepy enough!
On the old brick wall beside the town street, a large slogan was painted in white:
"Believe in science, break superstition."
On the utility poles, there were also fake advertisements claiming to cure all diseases.
Combined with the locks on the shop doors, with heavy chains tying the tires to the posts, it instantly gave Ben a sense of a bygone era.
But it was precisely this sense of a bygone era that made Ben feel even more uneasy.
Because the feeling evoked by the environment was too familiar.
The background naturally added a layer of immersion.
At the same time, Ben wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but the light cast by the dim streetlights seemed very strange to him.
"Brother Zheng, I hope when I get back, you're still alive."
Ben looked back at Zheng Ming, who was fixing the car, swallowed, and gathered his courage to control his character and walk into the town.
The map wasn't very big. After walking a short distance through a street that looked like an alley, Ben saw a small shop selling cigarettes, alcohol, and groceries.
The dark red lighting was even more eerie than before.
However, what made Ben a little worried was that there hadn't been any major jump scares so far.
Except for the shop owner, whose blank expression when he paid made his scalp tingle a little.
The feeling he got was as if he were dealing with a puppet.
After giving the bought battery to Zheng Ming, the latter continued to fix the car and told Lin Lixun to wander around the town.
"You've got to be kidding me! You want me to wander around town? In this place? Can I just wait here for you to fix the car?" Ben felt exasperated by Zheng Ming's words.
But apparently, this was the game's setting. Otherwise, the game wouldn't proceed.
Suppressing his fear, Ben could only return to the town to explore.
But this time, Ben soon noticed something different.
An illusion of being trapped!
He had encountered a ghostly loop!
Before, everything was fine, but when he reached the entrance of the small shop where he'd bought the battery, if he tried to move forward, Lin Lixun would return to the original scene.
But this time, there were bloodstains on the wall, and the normally lit lights had turned dark red, like dried blood.
"This... why does this feel so familiar?"
Looking at the scene he had just passed, some memories involuntarily surfaced in Ben's mind.
In a game with a subtitle like PT, the map structure seemed to be just like this!
Subconsciously, he looked back, fearing that a female ghost was following him and would give him a surprise attack.
(End of Chapter)
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