Returning home, Hirozawa Furukawa skillfully turned on the TV, inserted the game cartridge, and started the game.
Wonderful BGM began to play from the TV.
As the screen lit up, the start screen appeared.
It was similar to the poster, with a sun point light source in the middle, radiating outwards, and then diffusing in an exquisite position.
If heaven and earth were originally fused together, then the sunlight was like a sharp sword, cutting them right in the middle.
This was a bit like the ancient Chinese legend of Pangu creating the world.
Except the original text is—
The light and clear rose to become the sky.
The heavy and murky sank to become the earth.
Here, it was the opposite.
Below was a vast sea of clouds.
The entire screen revealed a kind of fearless romanticism.
Seeing this, Hirozawa Furukawa's eyes lit up.
Could one say Pokeni was lazy? Directly making the game's start screen the same as the poster?
But then again, this kind of laziness was actually quite fitting, because the image was indeed very beautiful, in Pokeni's consistently exquisite style.
This work had a clear difference from the fairytale style of their previous Blanket Man; it was more like the galgame style Pokeni was good at, especially similar to Your Name.
The only thing that made Hirozawa Furukawa feel a bit regretful was that the male and female protagonists in the middle were silhouettes, so he couldn't see what they looked like.
***
Select [New Game].
The game begins.
What appears at the very beginning is a series of animated cutscenes, somewhat similar to the opening style of Diablo, which he had played before.
In a heavily backlit environment, there is a massive window in the distance, blurred by the light.
In the mid-ground, there is a long conference table.
The main subject, positioned towards the back of the scene, is a man in extravagant attire that somewhat resembles Japanese-style European aristocratic clothing.
The man's figure is obscured by the light streaming from behind, leaving him in darkness, with only his black silhouette visible.
It was clearly a deliberate design choice, intended to hide his identity until it could be revealed as the plot progressed in later levels.
Furukawa Hirozawa wondered, could this be the protagonist?
A suspenseful BGM began to play, making one's heart tremble slightly.
The voice of a man full of conspiracy and arrogance resonated in the scene, and at the same time, corresponding subtitles appeared below the animated images:
[We are not like you]
The voice of a man, full of conspiracy and arrogance, emerged on screen. At the same time, corresponding subtitles appeared below the animated image:
[We are different from you]
[But why did you interfere with such a thing?]
[What is your purpose?]
[However, it is a pity]
[You are utterly filthy]
[No one in this world sees the world the way you do]
Hehehe, the man's voice chuckled: [Descendant of sinners]
[Be swallowed by the sky]
The shadowy man held up a cylindrical metal object in his hand. It was impossible to tell what it was, and then he let it go gently.
Immediately in the next image, the cylinder floated up, hit the ceiling straight on, and stood there tilted.
Clang...
A harsh metallic sound rang out in the game.
Huh?
Furukawa Hirozawa clicked his tongue. As expected, it was Urobuchi's script again.
Right from the start, there was a heavy sense of suspense.
However, what he didn't know was that although the game's script was written by Urobuchi, the story did not originate from him, but from Aoki Haruhi.
And Aoki Haruhi's inspiration for the story came from Patema Inverted, originally created by Yasuhiro Yoshiura.
***
At this moment, the screen suddenly went black, and the suspenseful background music that had just been playing stopped abruptly.
In the center, a large line of white text appeared:
***
At this moment, the screen suddenly went black, and the suspenseful background music that had been playing abruptly stopped.
A large line of white text appeared in the center:
[Chapter 1: Patema in the Dungeon]
About a second later, the screen lit up again.
In the center of the television was a top-down view, as if captured by an aerial drone looking straight down.
The overall structure consisted of several concentric circles, surrounded by lush, green vegetation, with a large circular plaza in the middle.
The lighting of the entire scene was incredibly bright, forming a stark contrast to the dark scenes from before, making Furukawa Hirozawa squint his eyes.
At the same time, the background music completely shifted from its previous style, turning into beautiful and pleasant light music. It sounded like sitting outside a house in the spring, where every time a breeze blew, the wind chimes hanging under the eaves would sway gently, emitting a soft, melodic sound.
It made one feel involuntarily relaxed.
Immediately after, there was an iron door with a crack in the middle, through which light shone, creating a rainbow-like spectrum of colors.
It was as if you were sitting in front of this iron door, and someone on the other side was shining a flashlight through it.
A circle of light, due to the scattering effect in the air, became extremely bright in the center, while forming a colorful, circular halo around it.
This composition is just too amazing, isn't it?
Furukawa Hirozawa couldn't help but think.
***
By this time, the opening sequence had already been playing for over a minute. Although there was a prominent "Press A to SKIP" prompt in the bottom right corner, Hirozawa Furukawa, out of respect for the plot of a P-Company game, watched it with rapt attention.
[One]
[Two]
The door was pushed open, and a young girl jumped out.
She was wearing a thick protective suit, with a respirator and goggles on her head, and holding a flashlight in her hand.
The flashlight's beam flickered, illuminating a faintly glowing passage.
"Whoa~"
Patema exclaimed, then pulled the mask off her face with one hand.
Whoa.
This time it was Hirozawa Furukawa's turn to exclaim.
The girl was incredibly cute, with a pale cyan bob cut, two large, sparkling red pupils, and a smile playing on her lips.
Kawaii!
Hirozawa Furukawa clicked his tongue. As expected of Pokeni, they really understand the players' hearts.
As long as it's a P Corp game, you can rest assured about the girls they design; they are definitely varied, of different types, yet incredibly cute.
Even a heroine like the Hedgehog Girl, designed to be covered in sharp spikes, is incredibly cute.
In short, she is just too cute!
The camera pulls back and rotates from a front-facing perspective, transitioning to a side-scrolling view.
At the same time, operating instructions appear on the screen:
[Use the directional keys to move left and right, press the B button to jump, and the A button to interact with items and NPCs in the scene.]
Wow...
It was only then that Furukawa Hirozawa realized that the game had seamlessly transitioned from the opening cinematic to the actual gameplay.
This transition was incredible, wasn't it?
It was so natural that he hadn't even noticed it, and for a moment, he had even thought he was still watching the opening cinematic.
Only when he saw the little game character standing still, waiting, did Furukawa realize that the game had begun.
Now, it was time for the player to take control.
***
The entire game screen is rather dark, yet the surrounding scene remains clearly visible, and the lighting is extremely soft. In terms of the use of light, P Corporation's games are truly the best Hirozawa Furukawa has ever seen.
Moving left and right a little, Hirozawa Furukawa gained some understanding of the environment the heroine was currently in.
This place appeared to be some kind of underground factory, with patina-colored structures all around, massive metal pipes distributed throughout the area, and many rusty iron bridges.
Hirozawa Furukawa controlled the heroine, Patema, to start running.
Since it is a side-scrolling game, you only need to head to the right.
In the game, when the heroine's footsteps land on the metal floor, they produce a heavy, resonant sound.
However, this game adds many puzzle-solving elements. Although it is a side-scroller, there are sometimes upper and lower pipes; you have to go to the upper pipe first to find a key, and then return to the lower pipe to open a door...
Something like that.
This game is not quite like Super Mario; it doesn't have a time limit, and if you can't get through certain areas, you have to think back and see if you missed anything earlier.
So far, the game experience has been quite good.
The game labyrinths designed by Mikami Shinji, along with the various small clues full of suspense and puzzle-solving elements, are all very immersive. You not only get to experience the joy of collecting in the game but also feel a strong sense of accomplishment upon reaching the next area after solving the puzzles, which makes Furukawa Hirozawa feel quite clever.
The only thing that puzzles Furukawa Hirozawa is—
Where is the promised gravity inversion?
Why isn't it here yet?
***
After scouting around, Hirozawa Furukawa roughly organized the clues he had gathered so far:
Patema is a young girl living in this underground metal fortress.
She isn't exactly ordinary.
She holds the status of the village chief's daughter, but is filled with curiosity about the outside world, especially yearning for the unexplored areas within those metal factories, so she sneaks out from time to time to explore.
Because it's dangerous, she's no stranger to being scolded by the Elder.
But none of this can stop her from exploring.
In the game, one can find some very interesting items, such as a flashlight that flies upwards, a notebook, a wrench...
Patema can store these items in her backpack.
Among them is a key item—
A photograph.
On it is a scene of the surface: green grass, a blue sky, with white clouds floating above.
From a conversation with her father, it was revealed:
That world is the surface they can never return to, and exploring that area would very likely lead to death.
Having organized these clues, Hirozawa Furukawa's confusion only deepened.
Actually, from the previous game trailers and official promotions, he already knew some information:
Gravity inversion is the core element of this game.
So, does that other world mean it's in the sky?
That's what Hirozawa Furukawa wondered.
Does it mean he has to dig through the ground?
***
He didn't know.
Furukawa Furukawa shook his head and continued the game.
Overall, the game's difficulty wasn't very high, and the presence of puzzle-solving elements actually made his entire gaming experience quite enjoyable.
Of course, there were still dangers, because some terrifying subterranean creatures would appear in the game; if they touched you, it was game over.
Also, if you failed to jump across some of the broken bridges, you would fall to your death.
And in the metal zone, you might even encounter the legendary [Bat-people], who would attack the heroine, so you had to try your best to avoid them.
These so-called Bat-people were a group of humans wearing black protective suits who walked upside down. They hung from the ceiling, and their eyes glowed with a red light, which looked very scary.
The first time he saw this thing, Furukawa Furukawa was startled; he shuddered and almost dropped the controller.
But after getting a little used to it later on, he wasn't as scared anymore.
In short, these [Bat-people] were truly terrifying, and generally speaking, Furukawa Furukawa didn't want to provoke them.
After wandering around the underground metal zone, Furukawa Furukawa walked to the right, to the end of the path.
Rather than calling it the end of the road, it was more like the bridge here had broken. Leaning forward slightly to check, I discovered that the entire right half of the screen was a huge abyss; falling down would certainly result in being smashed to smithereens. Yet, I couldn't see any connecting path on the right side.
I couldn't even see the edge of a broken bridge.
Based on Hirozawa Furukawa's experience, there was no way he could jump across a chasm of this size.
Unless he could fly across.
"Huh? Is there really no path here?"
It seemed the correct path must be somewhere else.
Hirozawa Furukawa thought this to himself and started to head back the way he came.
However, after wandering around for a long time and still failing to find any other path, upon returning to the edge of the abyss, Hirozawa Furukawa felt a bit dumbfounded:
Could it be that I have to jump down?
If I die, I'll have to start this level over again.
But there were no other options. Could it be that he had encountered a bug, or had he bought a defective cartridge?
He couldn't be that unlucky, could he?
Sega's game cartridges usually had a high quality rate; could he really have run into such a rare event?
Hirozawa Furukawa frowned.
Gritting his teeth, he jumped forward with all his might.
His heart skipped a beat along with the action.
***
Thud!
The heroine fell to the ground.
At the same time, the entire screen suddenly went black.
Nani?!
Furukawa Hirozawa's heart skipped a beat. Could it really be a bug?
But the next second, the screen lit up again.
The game switched to a cutscene.
***
Patema, the heroine, was dazed and confused, standing up unsteadily, having sustained some injuries.
But what bothered her most was that her backpack had fallen through the large hole and was caught on a piece of metal mesh below.
It was indeed metal mesh.
Furukawa Hirozawa looked closely and realized the mesh looked like the kind used to block balls at baseball fields or other sports arenas.
Looking further down, the backpack was stuck firmly on it, while below that was a bottomless sea of clouds.
Yes, a sea of clouds.
The scene from the poster appeared in Furukawa Hirozawa's mind.
A vast, white, bottomless expanse.
And once you fell into it...
Terrifying!
Furukawa Hirozawa felt like his heart was about to give out.
***
And just at this moment, a young man appeared on the game screen.
However, he was standing upside down, head facing downwards, next to the metal mesh—in other words, at the edge of the giant pit.
A bat-person?
No, Hirozawa Furukawa quickly realized that this guy must be the male protagonist.
Just as he was thinking this, the entire screen began to rotate, flipping one hundred and eighty degrees.
As the screen flipped, it became the male protagonist standing on the ground, with the sky full of thick clouds above his head.
At his feet was the massive pit.
The heroine was climbing out, head facing downwards, her feet firmly gripping the metal mesh.
Nani?!
Hirozawa Furukawa felt as if his brain had suddenly flipped upside down as well.
All of his senses felt completely different.
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