Chapter 159: A Card Game This Big? 9/17
Soon, Chen Mo’s Weibo post exploded. Comments and shares skyrocketed, especially within the otaku community, where the song began spreading like wildfire!
Actually, there were six or seven Chinese versions of this song. The one Chen Mo chose was relatively faithful to the original, staying closer to the meaning of the name “Pure Land of Bliss.”
In Chen Mo’s previous life, this song had actually become popular before *Onmyoji*, but after a major creator made an MMD for *Onmyoji*, the two became inextricably linked.
Because both “Pure Land of Bliss” and *Onmyoji* were wildly popular in the otaku world and shared a key trait—they were both highly addictive and hard to quit—Chen Mo decided to release the song during the pre-launch hype phase as the theme song for *Onmyoji*.
Within just a few days, “Pure Land of Bliss” swept through the dance sections of major video sites.
The song spread at an almost unbelievable speed. On the first day, it exploded in popularity. By the second day, girls were already trying to learn the dance. Soon after, a flood of cover songs and dance videos appeared!
“Pure Land of Bliss” practically dominated the dance, cover, and otaku sections of all major video sites. Many people listened to it countless times, memorizing every single dance step.
Throughout this process, the name *Onmyoji* quickly became known to more and more players.
As the popularity of “Pure Land of Bliss” continued to surge, the promotional campaign for *Onmyoji* also came in full force.
First, on Weibo, many famous domestic otaku artists released fan art for *Onmyoji*. There were cute ones, romantic ones, and a whole lineup of handsome guys, beautiful girls, and adorable little girls—all based on the original character designs from *Onmyoji*.
Some of these were commissioned works, while others were created by the artists voluntarily. Soon, among key groups with otaku tags, the topic of *Onmyoji* started heating up.
Many internet meme writers also created jokes related to *Onmyoji*, mainly focusing on the interactions between different shikigami in the story. The Weibo topic was also buzzing with activity.
But that wasn’t all. Chen Mo quickly released another video titled “*Onmyoji* Mobile Game Voice Actor PV Full Version.”
In this video, all the shikigami’s original art and voice actors were revealed. Although it was short—each shikigami only had one line of dialogue—the voice actor lineup left the audience utterly stunned.
“Holy crap, this voice actor lineup is blinding my titanium-alloy dog eyes! What is this? All top-tier Japanese anime voice actors?”
“Kugimiya? Inoue Yoshikazu? Kubo Taro? Toyosaki Ayaka? Damn, Chen Mo is going all out! This is insane!”
“Ahhhh! My ears are pregnant!”
“And these character illustrations are amazing! They’re so beautiful I want to lick the screen!”
“Can someone explain to me? This is a card game? A real card game?”
“Wake up, man. Maybe these are just cards with no models. Remember the crap from *I Am MT*? It’s already good if they give you animated cards. I think it’s mostly just hype!”
“Chen Mo spent so much money on art, music, and voice actors. Wouldn’t it be better to spend a bit more on models? If he could make 2D models like *Demon Slayer 2*, the visual quality would totally crush *Demon Slayer 2*!”
“Not necessarily. I think Chen Mo definitely won’t do the same as *Demon Slayer 2*. He never follows others. Besides, if a card game doesn’t have cards, is it still a card game?”
“Enough talk! Hurry up and wait for the game to launch! I can’t wait!”
……
Finally, amid the players’ eager anticipation, *Onmyoji* officially launched!
This time, Chen Mo released the game simultaneously on the Thunder Game Platform and the official app store. This was to maximize the capture of the majority of card game players.
Chen Mo didn’t spend as much money on promotion as Imperial Dynasty Interactive, nor did he buy any major IPs. Yet, the popularity of *Onmyoji* was no less than that of *Demon Slayer 2*.
The reason was that Chen Mo chose the otaku niche as his breakthrough point. Among these people were artists, dancers, meme writers, and fan fiction authors—a group with an exceptionally strong ability to produce content.
And the quality of *Onmyoji* itself was nearly perfect. Especially in terms of character design and voice acting, it stood out uniquely in the domestic mobile game market, even in the entire gaming industry. It quickly won over a large number of otaku fans.
These otaku fans then promoted *Onmyoji* on their own, with major accounts cross-promoting and artists creating derivative works. Combined with Chen Mo’s main promotional resources, the effect of user-driven viral spread was quickly achieved.
Add to that the explosion of “Pure Land of Bliss,” the reputation of Chen Mo’s previous works, and the card game craze sparked by *Demon Slayer 2*… All these factors combined to make *Onmyoji* capture the attention of a massive number of players before its launch.
Chen Mo spent far less on promotion than Imperial Dynasty Interactive, but the results were just as good.
A flood of players entered the Thunder Game Platform and the official app store to download *Onmyoji*.
However, everyone soon noticed that the game’s file size seemed a bit large?
“Damn, the internet is so slow! Why can’t it download? It’s been two minutes and it’s still not done?”
“Mine isn’t done either. Wait, holy crap, this game is 1 GB!”
“Huh? 1 GB? Are you kidding me? This is a card game!”
“Holy shit, it really is 1 GB! No wonder it’s downloading so slowly!”
“Damn, I don’t have enough space on my phone. I have to delete stuff!”
“Is a card game really worth this? *Demon Slayer 2* was 480 MB, and I thought that was insane. Now *Onmyoji* is hitting me with 1 GB?”
“Did Chen Mo relapse? Ten years making games, nine years making CG? Did he stuff a bunch of CG animations in there?”
“Damn, isn’t this just asking for trouble?”
“I think this is a good thing. It means Chen Mo isn’t screwing with us. The game must be high quality. Think about those voice actors and character designs. This time, it shouldn’t be just a card-based presentation.”
“Makes sense. I’ve finished downloading. Let me check out the game!”
Entering the game, there was first a simple CG.
“This story takes place in an era where humans and spirits coexist…”
A deep Japanese voiceover, accompanied by eerie yet mysterious background music, narrated the game’s backstory and main character setup.
“This dazzling, fantastical world of monsters and demons is about to open for you…”
The CG ended, and the game’s login screen appeared. Four distinct characters appeared on the screen, each with a different expression.
Seimei, Kagura, Minamoto no Yorimasa, and Hachijo no Kiyohime.
The players were all amazed. The level of detail in the graphics was incredibly high—completely blowing away every card game on the market! If someone took a screenshot and claimed it was from a PC game, no one would doubt it.