Popular games among streamers usually have one of two reasons.
One is simply a masterpiece that attracts viewers as soon as it’s turned on.
The other is that the game is ridiculously hard, scary, or just plain terrible, causing suffering for the player, which in turn draws in viewers.
Horror games often use not only the internal atmosphere of the game but also the external anxiety arising from absurdity as elements of fear.
For example, a game where you have to shoot zombies but can’t do a moving shot.
Or making it so that you need items for saves, putting a limit on the number of saves you can do at once, or only allowing saves in specific locations at the same time.
Forcing players to operate light sources through items in a dark background, thus making it mandatory to play in the dark.
This game didn’t have weapons, so it didn’t fit the first condition, but it met all the other criteria.
Furthermore, save points were at the beginning of each chapter, so to save, I had to return to where I had started.
But since the game is a “maze,” no map is provided.
With monsters roaming inside the maze, it was quite difficult to leisurely navigate using left and right techniques.
And the fact that the save point was at the starting part meant that even if progress gets saved, I still had to start from the ‘beginning of the maze’ to go that far. If I died once, I respawned from that far place.
“…This is a crap game…”
[Oh, it’s not a crap game!]
[It still scored highly!]
[If it were a crap game, would it have sold that well? LOL]
A ton of viewers responded to my mumblings.
Yeah, I know. The level design is pretty unique and well done, and there are a lot of objects scattered throughout, so the paths I’ve taken kind of stick in my mind.
Monsters stubbornly chase me, but there’s still enough hiding places here and there.
As long as it’s not that skinless hellspawn monster, I won’t die in one hit, and the health automatically regenerates, so once I adapt, I can somewhat explore the maze.
But… but, I still couldn’t admit it!
Because I’m in pain right now!
“Eek!”
[LOL]
[Are you doing that on purpose?]
Why would I do that on purpose?
I don’t want to scream like some concept-obsessed person!
Thud.
Once again, my character’s neck snapped.
And then—
“Huh?”
Was the timing of the respawn not great? As soon as my character respawned, I heard a shuffling noise nearby.
It was a monster sporting chains on its feet, making its debut in this chapter.
[King Buro]
[Just for donations!]
Two donations came in one after another.
You think I would do that on purpose?
The amount for this mission was going over 150,000 won combined. Adding that to the donation I’ve received so far made it the highest amount I had earned over the days we had been streaming.
But why the heck would I do that!?
“Where… where am I supposed to go? The path is blocked!?”
[Ugh, ugh, ugh]
[If you give hints, you’ll get banned!]
“I won’t get banned!”
Ding ding ding.
[Please ring the hint bell!]
Ugh…!
When I used to watch streams, I didn’t understand why streamers hated the hint bell, but now I get it.
Streamers and viewers are fundamentally different creatures.
Accepting help from someone while grappling with my dignity isn’t something I can accept.
Of course, if they really want to help, I wouldn’t refuse, but I certainly don’t want to ask for help first.
Gasp!
I clenched my teeth to avoid screaming.
I turned around and ran with all my might from the suddenly appearing monster, barely finding a locker to hide in.
And without realizing it, I moved my hand towards the Esc key, then dropped it.
There’s a time limit in the game, so if players dawdle without passing a certain section—probably a stage—a skinless muscular monster spawns from outside the player’s view.
The walking speed of that monster is slower than the player, but unlike other monsters, it follows the player’s position with pinpoint accuracy.
Plus, since it knows the location, hiding in the locker is useless.
The problem is, I don’t know the timing for when that monster appears in the game. While I could identify it by its ordinary footfalls, that’s only because it’s different from the other monsters; the spawn location is random, and the sound isn’t loud enough to be heard from a distance.
Which means I won’t know if it has spawned until I see it directly.
If I press the Esc key to bring up the menu, time freezes in the game but—
[Look at that hand!]
[We can see your arm moving!]
…there’s no way the viewers are just going to let that slide.
In reality, even if I brought up the menu, I would end up getting caught anyway, but that was something my pride wouldn’t allow.
“Sister, if it’s too hard, I can take over.”
“Right. Alternating might make it a bit easier.”
At first, the two were a bit scared, but after watching scary scenes for a while, maybe they became immune because they returned to their usual expressions.
No, not just their usual expressions; they looked worried about me.
Maybe it’s because we had been gaming for four hours straight.
…Usually, I would take a break after just a bit over two hours of playing games, so it made sense, but this was somewhat of a pride battle.
Not just pride, but…
If I didn’t finish this today, I’d have to continue tomorrow.
I really didn’t want that.
I have to finish this somehow today and wrap it up for good.
I bit my teeth.
Ah, really.
If only I had a power to rewind time.
*
I went through countless absurdities.
“Eek!?”
Because I took too long, a hellspawn was chasing behind me while a rigid, creepy monster came charging at me from the front.
“Wait…?”
I got caught because I got snagged on a tiny object, and—
“Gyaaa!”
Got caught by a monster in front of the stairs.
I even ran towards the stairs, which were in front of me, even while a monster was coming from behind, so I had no room for excuses.
…Regardless, after enduring through all those numerous absurdities, about an hour later.
“I… did it…”
[Human Victory]
[Wow]
[Ooooh]
[LMAO]
That’s right. I cleared it.
Just because it’s a famous game, I thought the story might be grand, but it really wasn’t. After playing through till the end, the game’s fame was probably only due to its unique progression style.
The extremely simple goal of finding stairs to escape the hospital, with the clever traps the player encounters along the way.
Naturally, there were times where I had to break through or circumvent obstacles on my path.
So, judging purely by the game itself, I could say it’s an excellent game that relies solely on gameplay. The save points were downright annoying, but that was honestly a bit of a stretch.
Although I didn’t want to admit it, placing a monster that knows the protagonist’s position was a brilliant choice.
“It was nothing special.”
[?]
[?]
[What?]
I said that while ignoring countless hooks.
“Isn’t five hours reasonable for finishing a game?”
“Sister… that’s so pathetic…”
“……”
[LMAO]
[LOL]
To think Claire would say something like that to me, I must’ve been a bit pathetic.
“And, even though I cleared it in five hours, it’s already 2 AM. That’s well past my usual bedtime.”
Alice said that while yawning with her hand covering her mouth.
“……”
Hmm.
To be honest, I took so many saves while playing cowardly that it also took longer.
It did, but…!
“Anyway, we cleared it, didn’t we? Since the broadcast was longer than usual, isn’t that a win for everyone?”
I made that argument with a steel plate on my face.
[Hmmm]
[That seems to be the case?]
[But how am I supposed to go to work tomorrow, Sylvia?]
“Who forced you to watch the stream with a gun pointed at you?”
[LOL, it kinda seems like that though]
You’ve got a 10-minute timeout.
“In that case, since I kept the lights off until clearing the game and I played all the way through alone, I will consider all the missions a success.”
The total income from the missions had nearly reached around 400,000 won combined.
For a while, I could finally breathe easy.
I barely held back a smile on my face.
[Please do it again next time]
Would I?
As I ended the stream and tidied up around me,
“Sister.”
“……”
Then I heard someone calling me, and when I turned to look, Claire was sparkling at me with wide eyes.
“You’ll do it again next time, right?”
“……”
In that innocent and pure gaze, I momentarily lost my composure.
Looking over at Alice, she just shrugged and smiled.
Looks like she’s on their side.
Is it fun for them to watch me suffer?
But when I thought about it again, that must be the instinct of siblings. Normally, siblings often drag each other down.
“If you both promise to play next time, I’ll make sure to play when it’s my turn.”
“Sounds good! Actually, I was a little curious too. I could only watch because of the missions.”
“Since I’m interested, well…”
Good.
I’ll have to pick the next game.
…It has to be the scariest game I can think of.
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