The world’s number one game. The game with the largest league.
Developed by Eonix, Abyss has maintained its top position for the past few years.
With familiar controls for users, a variety of characters, excellent impact feel, and so on.
There were countless reasons why Abyss became the number one game. But objectively speaking, Abyss wasn’t really that well-made. The reason it did well in the first place was that after succeeding, anything could be slapped on as the reason.
Originally, it was a game that was thrown together from the start. Eonix didn’t even expect much from it.
According to a recent interview with a developer from Eonix, being assigned to the Abyss development team back then was almost like being sent to the Siberian wilderness.
The company was pouring budget and attention into different projects, so the employees tasked with development had zero motivation.
There weren’t enough personnel for development, and compared to other AOS games, it was mostly seen as a copycat with little appeal.
It shone briefly at launch as a promising game, but after that, it only went downhill. It’s not like it was on the brink of shutting down for no reason.
Abyss was truly the worst game. The bugs scattered throughout the game, and the patches from the management, were all a complete mess.
How that game managed to make a comeback and become a hit worldwide remains a mystery. Industry insiders from other companies who tried to benchmark its success could only scratch their heads in confusion.
It was like being pushed off a cliff and then clawing back up to the top. It couldn’t be said that they intentionally made a last stand, especially since the brutal shutdown notice was still fresh in the users’ minds.
Anyway, whether it’s because the foundations were so bad or what, there were still many elements in Abyss that left users scratching their heads.
Even long-time players who had grown accustomed to the game, and newbies who had just jumped in and were playing wildly, shared common questions.
– The game doesn’t seem that heavy, so why do bugs keep popping up?
– Why is the newly released hero always overpowered – like ridiculously strong?
– Aren’t you being too biased towards specific heroes? ex) Lennok
The questions above were typical concerns held by users.
Recently, however, there was a surge in inquiries, such as:
“Why does Camilla have a fear duration that’s 0.1 seconds longer than other heroes?”
This spike in interest in Camilla has been unprecedented. Starting with users who are suspiciously fond of her, Camilla made her way into the league, and her pick rate soared sky-high.
This became a topic that anyone even slightly interested in the Abyss couldn’t ignore, leaving only rampant user speculation. The Abyss side has never officially addressed the issue; they merely released vague answers implying Camilla is just a scaredy-cat.
“Hmm…”
The overall director of Abyss, the father of Abyss, the great Honggyun who created something out of nothing, found himself curious too. While scrolling through the user inquiries, the question hit him—why does Camilla have a longer fear time than the others?
“Why?”
“Uh, well…”
Just like saying ‘strike while the iron is hot,’ Honggyun, unable to quell his curiosity, immediately sought out Camilla’s creator to ask.
The character designer, Yuseongmin, responded:
“Camilla is technically a demi-god, right? She’s designed to be a spirit who suddenly acquires a physical body and fights while dancing—a dance she loved but couldn’t perform without a body until now.”
“That’s correct.”
Up to this point, Honggyun was well aware of the details. Any user interested in the heroes’ stories would likely know this too.
However, the secrets underlying these designs were known only to Seongmin, who designed Camilla.
“Camilla was originally designed with high soul sensitivity.”
“Excuse me?”
“Soul sensitivity—a stat from the open beta. Do you remember?”
A vague memory flickered. Upon hearing “open beta,” Honggyun dredged up memories from long ago.
“Yes, I remember… It was a stat that existed at launch but disappeared in the next season, right?”
Though it’s gone now, back then, there were neutral monsters like ghosts and eternal guardians in the strongholds, all related to souls and spirits.
“Each hero had different soul sensitivity, and depending on that, there were merits to capturing ghosts more effectively.”
“That’s right. At the time, it significantly influenced the game, so a corresponding disadvantage was necessary.”
“I needed a disadvantage to balance out my control over the game.”
“Ah….”
Honggyun let out a small sigh. He had figured out how things were progressing without needing an explanation.
“The rest is a predictable story. Camilla, with her high spirit sensitivity, received a patch that increased the duration of fear by an extra 0.1 seconds. After that, the spirit sensitivity was removed.”
“Why didn’t they patch the fear duration back to its original state?”
“I’m not sure either. I think they said there were persistent bugs whenever they tried to fix it. The balance team at the time would know more about that.”
“I see….”
It was a somewhat awkward conclusion, but his curiosity was satisfied.
Honggyun returned to his spot with a relieved expression.
*
“We’ll be going in groups of three. We’ll split into two teams and start the broadcast. For those of you worrying too much, just to clarify, it’s just a simple horror experience set. Yes, yes, they say it used to be a graveyard, but a lot of people died in our town long ago. It’s fine, it’s fine.”
This was the announcement from the Taker. As the concerns of the cast and viewers intensified, he was spewing out words rapidly. It was as if he had anticipated this kind of reaction, and his commentary flowed seamlessly.
[This is going to be hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Is it really okay?]
[Is Kayak going to fall over? ㅋㅋ]
[At least we’re not going alone; we’re going in as a group, so it should be less scary.]
[Hey, don’t make a fuss; we worked hard to prepare this, don’t ruin it.]
[My kid has a weak heart; they can’t even handle horror games, geez.]
[If that’s the case, just go home.]
[Sweet pseudo-boyfriends are the problem, yeah….]
[The kayak fans are actually excited about this.]
[I hope Kayak cries; it’s my long-time wish.]
[They’re saying they might give up halfway….]
[It’s not like you have to finish it completely; if it’s too scary, just leave midway.]
It wasn’t that I had no worries at all. The original me was the ultimate man, completely unafraid of ghosts, but this body was different.
It was oddly susceptible to fear. Seeing how I couldn’t handle alcohol, it seemed like I had a weak constitution from the start.
“Kayak will be paired with the high-skilled player, and Nicang, you will join them. Kayak’s team will be Team 1, and Han Kang’s team will be Team 2.”
“Kayak, just trust me.”
“Please don’t trust me….”
After the team assignments, Nicang looked at me with sparkling eyes while the high-skilled player seemed somewhat insecure. This person must be quite fearful as well.
“Team 1, we’ll head out first. Team 1, start!”
“I’ll go first. Let’s move out!”
The fear experience location was an abandoned school that had been unused for over ten years.
Schools, hospitals, old houses, and religious facilities like temples—these are the usual suspects in horror games. They’re practically optimized spots for triggering human fear.
“Um, am I really going to be in the front?”
“Come on, High-skilled Player, you’re the tallest! Just think of it like scouting. If it’s too scary, we can switch places halfway.”
[Oh lol, how is this guy a High-skilled Player?]
[He’s got the size of a mountain but is scared out of his mind lol.]
[His dramatics are hilarious lol.]
[But for real, if you actually go in, it’d be terrifying.]
[I’m 187 cm tall too, and I’d never visit a haunted house.]
[For real lol, being scared might actually balance him out.]
“Where should I stand?”
“Hmm… I think Kayak should take the middle. The center is key, you know? I heard special forces always have their leader go in the middle first.”
“I think Nicang should lead instead…”
“I agree with that.”
Thus, the lineup was High-skilled Player in the front, Nicang in the middle, and I took the rear.
All we had were three mobile phones (one was live streaming) and a small LED flashlight given to us by the Taker.
Apparently, the only reliable flashlight had been deliberately set up by the Taker to last only about 15 minutes. They probably didn’t want it to be boring if we just wandered around with the flashlight on. It was an incredibly meticulous design.
“Let’s turn off the flashlight for now. We should use it only when it’s really crucial.”
“Eep, this is scary….”
“High-skilled Player, can you walk just a bit faster? You’re moving way too slow. It’s not like we’re kindergarteners waddling along…”
At Nicang’s urging, the High-skilled Player turned off the flashlight and stuffed it in his pocket, making an effort to walk faster.
The way he trudged along with a sullen expression reminded me of a condemned prisoner being led to the gallows.
Both I and the clearly anxious High-skilled Player were dragging the group’s mood down. To lighten the atmosphere, Nicang spoke in a lighthearted tone.
“Come on, what could actually happen? Let’s hurry up and snag that prize.”
It was a reassuring yet unsettling statement, so I felt the need to add my two cents.
“…I hope so.”
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