Chapter 87 - #87: The Focus is Companionship!

Chapter 87: Chapter #87: The Focus is Companionship!

When the decaying, suffocating world of Bloodborne was fully unveiled to the global player base, it genuinely left them struggling to breathe.

The game’s world was a masterclass in exquisite, grotesque beauty.

The creature design was absolutely staggering.

The towering, eldritch abominations that players encountered were dripping with sinister, cosmic malevolence.

The horrific, absurd, and deeply evil fantasy elements were seamlessly woven into every single cobblestone and blood-soaked alleyway of the city.

The Great Ones were powerful, higher-dimensional entities from the deep cosmos. They were vast, apathetic, and fundamentally incomprehensible.

They didn’t possess "consciousness" in any way that the human mind could rationalize, and any mortal who attempted to absorb their arcane knowledge was instantly driven to absolute madness.

Yharnam was heavily rooted in Lovecraftian cosmic horror—a dark, unspeakable, distorted reality that could only be described as a living nightmare.

Before Bloodborne had launched, various gaming journalists and vocal players had openly questioned Nova’s mechanical capabilities.

They wondered what kind of final product he could actually deliver.

After all, the developer had built his reputation purely on brutally difficult, 2D side-scrolling platformers.

Developing a massive, fully-realized 3D action-RPG was an entirely different beast.

Now, those critics were dead silent.

Sitting behind the heavy oak desk in his office, Ethan Vale was quietly reading through the overwhelming flood of player reviews.

Just scrolling through the Steam store pages filled his chest with a profound sense of satisfaction.

Because finally, after all this time, he had completed his very first System task.

’Seriously, how long has it been? What kind of transmigrator takes this long just to clear the tutorial milestone?’ Ethan thought, shaking his head with a self-deprecating smile.

Even though the System had mostly faded into the background, serving as a quiet catalyst for his new life on Terra, leaving that very first quest unfinished would have bothered him for the rest of his days.

It was the ultimate cheat code for a transmigrator—he was definitely going to utilize it.

[?? Phase One Objective Reached: Accumulate 1,000 [Super Difficult] official player ratings. Reward Granted: Holographic Projection Technology.]

[□ Phase Two Initiated: Accumulate 100,000 [Super Difficult] official player ratings

(0 / 100,000). Reward: Full-Dive VR Gaming Pod Manufacturing Technology.]

It had been exactly one month since Bloodborne officially launched.

In that time, the majority of the dedicated player base had managed to clear the main story, and the hardcore pro gamers were already executing flawless, Level 4 Waste of Skin speedruns.

The player reviews pouring into the storefront were incredibly diverse, but most of them focused on the profound psychological trauma the game had inflicted.

[

User: jacksepticeye

[This is the very first time I’ve ever given a game a [Super Difficult] rating without a single ounce of rage. From the initial inside joke, to the shared, global trauma of getting slaughtered in Central Yharnam... it’s a masterpiece. I will never forget Gehrman slowly standing up from his wheelchair in that field of white flowers. "Tonight, Gehrman joins the hunt." 10/10. Very Easy.]

]

[

User: pewdiepie

[I honestly thought I had built up an immunity to Nova’s level design. I got brutally tortured and killed the entire way through. I lost my mind. By the end, my eyes were bloodshot and I felt like a rabid beast myself. But I still refuse to give him the satisfaction. 10/10. Very Easy gameplay.]

]

[

User: heyZeusHeresToast

[Sometimes I genuinely feel like every single step of Nova’s design is a calculated psychological attack. Celeste healed my soul. Bloodborne destroyed my entire spirit. 10/10. A relaxing, Very Easy walk through a Victorian town.]

]

Except for the few initial players who had rebelliously rated the game as legitimately hard out of pure spite, the "Very Easy" review tag had become the ultimate, unspoken inside joke of the global gaming community.

Every time a player clicked the ’Very Easy’ box while their hands were still physically shaking from a boss fight, they felt a profound, spiritual connection with the designer.

The community had collectively agreed: leaving a ’Very Easy’ review on a Sprout Studio game was the highest form of respect.

It was their way of saying, I survived your nightmare, and I acknowledge your absolute brilliance.

The catastrophic success of Bloodborne completely shattered the industry’s preconceived notions about Sprout Studio.

Ethan Vale had officially cemented himself in the absolute highest echelon of elite AAA game directors.

While Ethan was busy scrolling through the reviews, a sharp knock echoed through the office.

Marcus Shaw poked his head through the doorway. "Hey Ethan, Valentine’s Day is coming up. Do we have anything special prepped?"

Marcus walked into the room, eyeing Ethan with a sly, gloating smile.

It was incredibly obvious that he was fully expecting his business partner to drop another devastating, relationship-ruining co-op game on the market to ruin the holiday.

Ethan stared at him, genuinely confused. "Do people really think I’m that sadistic?"

Hearing Ethan’s sincere question, Marcus actually paused.

He did a quick mental check.

Was his best friend actually that diabolical?

It only took him three seconds to reach a concrete conclusion.

"Dude, it’s not just me saying it..." Marcus laughed, walking over and sliding his smartphone across the desk. "Look at the trending polls on Twitter. Literally the entire internet thinks you are."

Marcus had pulled up a massive, viral poll that a major gaming community had initiated three days ago.

[Do you think your relationship is stronger than diamond? This Valentine’s Day, are you and your partner ready to take on Nova’s next game?]

Looking at the massive sample size, over 90% of the respondents had voted YES. The replies underneath the poll were an absolute goldmine of gamer bravado.

[

kindred: My girlfriend and I are locked in. Let Nova’s game be the ultimate touchstone of our love!

NicoGab: Ah, the annual Sprout Studio breakup festival is approaching. I love this time of year.

goonerpromax: I’m single, but it’s fine. I’ll just make my homie put on a skirt and play with me.

TRise: I genuinely don’t know how many couples are going to survive this year. In the old days, couples went to pre-marital counseling. Now? You just have to survive a Sprout Studio co-op game to prove you’re ready for marriage.

]

’Unbelievable,’ Ethan thought, feeling surprisingly defensive.

He honestly wanted to log onto his official account and clear his name. He hadn’t intentionally set out to become the global destroyer of relationships; the previous games were just convenient titles to complete his early System tasks! He still had plenty of genuinely touching, wholesome games filed away in his mind.

Now that his first major task was complete, he was perfectly satisfied. Why would he deliberately torture couples again?

"Ahem... I actually wasn’t planning on doing a torture game this time, but seeing as the atmosphere is already set..." Ethan coughed awkwardly.

In his mind, games built entirely around two-player cooperation weren’t inherently meant to torture people or trigger massive breakups. The true magic of the game he was currently envisioning wasn’t the mechanics themselves; it was the person sitting next to you on the couch.

"Wait, you actually have a co-op game lined up?!" Marcus asked, his eyes lighting up with corporate excitement.

Ethan waved him closer, and Marcus practically sprinted around the desk to look at the monitor.

"I already have the core concept mapped out. It’s a mandatory split-screen co-op experience. The main feature is asymmetrical puzzle solving..." Ethan quickly outlined the general gameplay loop to his partner.

"I’ll have the finalized design document on your desk in two days. Pull a dedicated team off the main floor. The scope isn’t AAA, so we can absolutely get this built and polished before Valentine’s Day."

"Hell yes! Consider it done," Marcus grinned, nodding enthusiastically.

The current Sprout Studio was a massive, well-oiled machine, completely unrecognizable from their cramped dorm-room days.

With their aggressive expansion and influx of elite industry talent, spinning up a dedicated strike team for a smaller indie title was incredibly easy.

Later that afternoon, the official Sprout Studio Twitter account quote-retweeted the viral Valentine’s Day poll.

They added a single, ominous line of text:

[Are you ready?]

When the original poster who created the poll saw the official Sprout Studio account retweet him, his soul practically left his body.

It was just supposed to be a private joke among gamers! He had just made the poll for some casual internet engagement. He never in a million years expected Nova himself to actually see it, let alone accept the challenge.

Oh no, we are actually doomed.

May Gaia have mercy on all the couples in the world.

( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°)

FINALLY! THE system revealed itself? Did it take too long? Well, it did. HAHAHAHA. Now I wonder how the MC will disclose it to the world. For reference, the Holographic Projection Technology will work like BARF from Spider-Man: Far From Home]

You can support me at patreon.com/Chaos_King and read 25! Yes, 25 advanced Chapters.