Chapter 531: Surprise or Shock?
This video wasn’t just posted on Weibo; it was also uploaded to major video websites overseas. Moreover, the entire CG was in English voice-over, with subtitles in multiple languages tailored to different regions. Although there wasn’t much description, just the video alone was enough to excite players from all over the world!
As Chen Mo continued to release more and more high-quality games, Thunder Entertainment had already garnered immense attention domestically. Overseas, with the rapid spread of a series of ultra-classic works like *Warcraft*, *Diablo*, *Minecraft*, and *League of Legends*, Thunder Entertainment’s influence was steadily accumulating. Especially for those die-hard fans of Thunder Entertainment, after watching this CG, a question inevitably arose in their minds.
What kind of game was this exactly?
This CG, with its distinct characteristics and rich connotations, quickly sparked heated discussions among players worldwide.
**Among the domestic player community:**
“Is this Chen Mo’s new game? It’s a Western fantasy theme too!”
“Chen Mo excels at Western fantasy! But it looks like the world’s setting and overall atmosphere are dark fantasy style.”
“Chen Mo can definitely handle dark fantasy, but I want to ask: why didn’t he use the *Diablo* IP and instead made a brand-new game called *Dark Souls*? The worldviews clearly don’t match at all!”
“This should be made with the Pangu System, right? Another Western fantasy theme—is he trying to go head-to-head with *Knight’s Glory*?”
“But… aside from the video CG, we haven’t seen anything else. We don’t know the specific game content or how the combat works.”
“I think it’s probably a hack-and-slash game like *Diablo*, right? Lots of mowing-down combat, perfect for showcasing the Pangu System’s physics engine.”
**There were also many discussions abroad:**
“GA just revealed some info on *Knight’s Glory*, and Thunder Entertainment drops a trailer for a new game? Interesting.”
“Is this Chinese company trying to compete head-on with GA in Western fantasy? Isn’t that a bit foolish?”
“Hey, buddy, you’re really out of the loop. Thunder Entertainment already has classic Western fantasy games like *Warcraft* and *Diablo*. Clearly, their lead designer, Silent, has a deeper understanding of Western fantasy than some European and American designers. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they release another classic Western fantasy work.”
“Exactly. In fact, I’m vaguely looking forward to it. Honestly, hoping for GA to put out a better Western fantasy title is less reliable than hoping for Thunder Entertainment. Everyone knows GA’s track record, and Thunder Entertainment already has so many successful precedents!”
“But you can’t tell much from this video! I’m not worried about the world-building—a company that made *Warcraft* and *Diablo* definitely has that covered. But whether it can beat *Knight’s Glory* will depend on the gameplay!”
“I think this promotional video is pretty average. It’s clearly trying to be mysterious, with a lot of implied meaning, but it all seems completely fragmented. Just from this video, you can’t really get a sense of the world’s background.”
“We’ll have to wait until the game comes out to know for sure!”
Clearly, the quality of this game CG was top-notch, fully living up to Thunder Entertainment’s reputation as a “film studio.” However, many people didn’t quite understand the specific world-building content of the CG.
Of course, this was all within Chen Mo’s expectations.
The world background of *Dark Souls* was unlike any previous Western fantasy theme—it was completely unique. Trying to integrate the entire worldview and explain it all clearly in a few-minute video was highly unrealistic. Moreover, Chen Mo never intended to explain it clearly, because much of the world-building was scattered across collectible elements like weapons, items, and maps, requiring players to slowly explore and piece it together themselves.
This video primarily focused on content from *Dark Souls 3*, combined with a small portion from *Dark Souls 1*.
The opening mentioned the establishment of the Age of Fire, mainly to give players a basic concept: how was this world created? Why did people need to link the fire? And what exactly were the Lords of Cinder?
After clarifying these concepts, it moved into the opening storyline of *Dark Souls 3*.
Of course, Chen Mo didn’t explain things too thoroughly. Details about Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight; the Witch of Izalith; Gravelord Nito; Seath the Scaleless, and so on, were all omitted. This was mainly to hide some plot points and prepare for the future release of content related to *Dark Souls 1*.
The focus was primarily on the storyline of *Dark Souls 3*, giving the main roles to these ancient Lords of Cinder.
…
Soon, a grand speculation about what Chen Mo’s next game would be erupted among players worldwide!
Of course, domestic players were the main battlefield, because they were (or thought they were) the ones who knew Chen Mo best.
Clearly, this was a work created with the support of the Pangu System, so the game would inevitably highlight the Pangu System’s physics engine. It was almost certainly a VR game as well.
At the same time, judging from the world background, it was unmistakably dark fantasy. And in a sense, this world was even more despair-inducing than the world of *Diablo*!
Because in *Diablo*, at least there were plenty of angels opposing the demons. Even if those angels weren’t exactly saints, they at least appeared to be on the player’s side. Also, while the areas around cities were filled with monsters, the cities themselves still had some living villagers.
But from this *Dark Souls* video, especially the latter half, there were basically no normal living creatures to be seen…
Pilgrims draped like crawling bugs, a sludge-like Aldrich, a giant Yhorm wielding a cleaver-like sword…
Only the Abyss Watchers, the Legion of Farron, looked somewhat normal, but even they had their helmets lowered, clearly not to be messed with.
Moreover, the video’s narration explicitly stated, “The Lords of Cinder will surely abandon their thrones.” What did “abandon their thrones” even mean?
The Unkindled would come flocking in—it wasn’t clear whether that was a good or bad thing. They were described as “nameless, unfit to be cinder, and accursed undead,” which made them sound like outright villains. Was the player supposed to fight them?
Based on the video, the entire world of *Dark Souls* seemed like a hopeless place. Everyone was living fine while the fire existed, but now the fire was fading. What was to be done?
Of course, these were all player speculations, some right and some wrong.
However, this kind of world-building actually sparked a frenzy among fans of dark fantasy!
In fact, after Chen Mo released *Diablo*, some other developers followed suit with dark fantasy games, but none were as successful as *Diablo*. The genre was far from mainstream.
Gameplay was one factor, but world-building was another.
Because after *Diablo*, these dark fantasy games didn’t overturn the hack-and-slash formula. Switching to VR didn’t bring any obvious advantages either, since the repetitive grinding gameplay of *Diablo* was still better suited for PC.
Moreover, the world-building of these games never reached the level of *Diablo*. The sense of despair and depth of story were far inferior. So, it had been a long time since the market saw a truly good dark fantasy work.
Many hardcore fans of the *Diablo* series were hoping Chen Mo would continue the series or port *Diablo* to VR.
But Chen Mo was always carefree and did whatever he wanted. No one knew what his next game would be.
So, *Diablo* fans waited and waited, but *Diablo 2* never came.
When they saw the *Dark Souls* trailer this time, some *Diablo* fans felt a bit disappointed (since it didn’t use the *Diablo* IP, dashing their hopes of slaughtering the Lord of Terror again), but the vast majority were still quite excited.
It had been a long time since a good dark fantasy game appeared on the market. With Chen Mo personally overseeing *Dark Souls*, the quality was guaranteed.
And from the opening video, the world-building was absolutely excellent. The only unknown now was the gameplay.
Many *Diablo* fans had already decided that even if Chen Mo played it safe, rehashing old ideas and optimizing the *Diablo* gameplay, they would still accept it.
What could they do? Some die-hard fans were just that easy to please.
But what they didn’t know was that this time, Chen Mo would bring them a huge surprise.
…Or shock.