Chapter 613: Apex of the Food Chain!
After finalizing the design concept draft for *Prototype*, Chen Mo called the core members of the studio together for a meeting to explain the game's design philosophy.
The design concept draft for *Prototype* didn't spark any major objections. The only lingering doubt was: Can this even pass censorship?
Just imagining it, the game's gore factor seemed to be on a whole new level. Picture the protagonist using his claws to slice soldiers into several pieces... Tsk tsk tsk, what a thrill!
But since Chen Mo had already struck a backroom deal with the Game Committee, there wasn't much more to say...
The development time for *Prototype* wasn't long—just over two months. But given the current strength of the entire production team, this timeframe was actually quite generous.
After all, *Prototype* was a relatively fast-paced game. Many scenes could be reused, and the overall playthrough wasn't too lengthy.
As long as they could successfully transplant that sense of exhilaration onto the VR platform, it would be a huge success.
Chen Mo didn't expect this game to break any sales records or earn sky-high ratings from major game review outlets. As long as it gave the players who enjoyed it a good thrill, that was enough.
Consider it a little compensation for the hearts of players who had been tortured hundreds of times by *Dark Souls*...
...
Online, the topic of "Chen Mo's New Game" had also sparked heated discussions among many players.
From the very start of his career, every game Chen Mo released had been preceded by plenty of buzz before development, yet he still managed to completely throw all the players off track...
Although the entire *Dark Souls* series had concluded, its influence remained profound.
One notable impact was that the style of *Dark Souls* had influenced almost all ARPG games on the market, forcing them to adopt its combat system and level design.
It wasn't that these games wanted to copy it—it was mainly because players were all shouting, "We want Souls-like combat!"
The hallmark of Souls-like combat was its effort to create a realistic battle atmosphere. Both the protagonist and enemies were designed to be relatively fragile. Every exchange meant life or death, so carefully planning combat strategies was essential. The timing of attacks had to be chosen wisely—never just rush in and start slashing wildly.
The Souls series also featured a stamina bar. Once stamina was depleted, the player couldn't perform any actions for a short time, leaving them vulnerable to enemy attacks. So if you couldn't kill an enemy in one round, you had to use the last bit of stamina to retreat, wait for it to recover, and then engage again.
This combat style required a longer adjustment period. You couldn't be impatient; steady and methodical play was the key to victory.
Some had defined the Souls series as "strategic action games," which, in some ways, was quite accurate.
After experiencing the combat rules of *Dark Souls*, many players found it hard to adapt to the combat systems of other ARPGs.
No stamina system, unlimited swinging? Trash!
Attack animations for different weapons not distinct enough, poor stagger design? Trash!
Can't roll to dodge? Can't show off skills? Trash!
Weapon system not rich enough? No special combat arts? Poor hit feedback? Trash!
Many ARPGs got caught in the crossfire and had no choice but to incorporate elements of *Dark Souls* to varying degrees.
Because *Dark Souls* had such a broad and deep impact, many people, when talking about "Chen Mo's New Game," almost instinctively assumed it would be another Souls-like game.
Even though the Souls series' story had concluded, players felt that Chen Mo's next work would surely continue the Souls-like combat style, right?
So when they heard Chen Mo say it was a "grass-cutting game," their first reaction was to keep a straight face.
The general sentiment was: You don't need to explain anymore. We get it!
Some even started memeing on forums: "Tell a joke: Chen Mo says his next game will be a grass-cutting game."
In many players' minds, Chen Mo's "grass-cutting game" had long become synonymous with "Souls-like game"...
But just when everyone was convinced that Chen Mo's next game would continue the Souls-like combat, he posted a Weibo update, releasing the opening CG for the new game in advance.
The text of the Weibo post was also very simple—just one sentence.
[Welcome to the apex of the food chain!]
Many players were baffled when they saw this line. Some even wondered if Chen Mo was making a wilderness survival game.
There were some foreign TV shows about wilderness survival, where adventurers, in order to survive in the wild, had to eat anything edible, earning them the nickname "the man at the top of the food chain."
Could Chen Mo's new game be inspired by that?
Filled with curiosity, the players clicked on the opening CG.
The first shot showed a yellow taxi in the ruins, with "N.Y.C Taxi" on its side, indicating it was a New York cab.
In the foreground of the shot was a chaotic pile of rubble, with scattered construction debris and exposed steel bars.
The camera panned, and a string of rust-red, unidentified substance climbed onto the roof of the taxi, then suddenly tightened.
Several fully armed, heavily equipped soldiers passed by. One soldier spoke into a walkie-talkie: "Threat neutralized."
The camera continued to pull back, and the soldiers relaxed their guard, moving on to search further ahead.
Now the distant view came into focus: broken buildings, fallen street signs, traffic lights blinking monotonously, and a long line of wrecked vehicles—a scene straight out of the apocalypse.
The camera rose to the top of a building beside the street, where a figure in a black leather jacket and a gray-white hood appeared in the frame.
"My name is Alex Mercer."
"I am the cause of all this."
"They call me a killer, a monster, a terrorist."
"Yes, I am all these things."
The camera pulled up, and Alex actually leaped straight off the rooftop, plummeting toward the ground!
"Boom!!"
Alex hit the ground like a cannonball, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. The wreckage of two nearby cars was sent tumbling away from the impact.
But Alex stood up as if nothing had happened and sprinted off into the distance.
Crows pecked at the corpses lying by the roadside.
Alex ran swiftly, easily vaulting over the wrecked cars blocking his path, then made a light leap.
A wall nearly ten meters high—cleared in a single bound!
To better showcase the height of Alex's jump, the camera switched to a side angle. The leap was graceful, but both its height and distance were far beyond human limits!
After landing, Alex rolled nimbly and continued running.
But the hard ground beneath him cracked into a shallow crater, with spiderweb-like fissures spreading outward.
Alex kept running, and the voiceover continued calmly.
"Three weeks ago, someone released a deadly virus."
"I woke up in the morgue."
"Now I hunt, kill, destroy, and change them."
Alex charged straight toward a building, running vertically up its side wall with ease, as if on flat ground!
Between countless skyscrapers, Alex soared up and down, moving as if on level terrain.
"I will find the truth."
"I will make them... pay!"
Alex's figure quickly disappeared into the distance, leaving only the cityscape, like a wasteland, in the background.