If the flame is lit, the protagonist will be sacrificed (the protagonist will become a "shell" monster), and every time the flame is exhausted, someone will need to sacrifice their soul to keep the flame alive.
Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, but both are incredibly difficult to decide.
There's no perfect ending!!! These NPCs will all suffer eventually! Even the protagonist isn't immune!
Zhou Liye: "..."
The audience: "..."
Zhou Liye frantically rubbed his hair, turning it into a complete bird's nest: "What kind of cosmic malice is this?! You're too devilish, Master!"
A month after the release of "Mortal Souls", many players gave the platform's homepage a strange label.
#MasochisticTrainingSimulator#
#MasochisticSoul#
#The Leader's Malice#
#Praise the Flame#
# :)#
#DepressingGames#
The ratings from various media outlets are also quite interesting.
VR Gamer: 98/100
PolyDrake: 9.0/10
Gaming Studio: 9.7/10
GameBlog: 10/10
In summary, academic media outlets tend to give higher scores, while media outlets that place more emphasis on player reviews are more likely to have their scores lowered.
The entire rating sheet is shaped like a C, meaning that many people gave full marks, but there were also some who gave the lowest marks.
The latter's assessment of the game was: "A masochistic soul, from purchase to deletion."
After all, many people cannot accept high difficulty, so if they are discouraged by the first small monster, they may give a bad review.
But for academics, that is, true insiders, the level design of Mortal Soul is unparalleled!
The reason this game is fun is certainly not because it's too difficult.
It's important to understand that there are countless games in the world with extremely high difficulty, but most of them go unnoticed. This is why Mortal Souls is known worldwide for its exceptionally high difficulty.
What truly impressed industry insiders was its level design!
Each level, and even each boss, can be overcome with completely different routes and methods.
The entire level map has no superfluous content; almost every inch has corresponding gameplay elements, which is almost unbelievable.
One of the testers from the Jialian team couldn't resist posting on his personal account even before the reviews were released:
The more I play the games on Blue Star, the more I appreciate Chief Designer Ming's genius. Each game is constantly improving; calling the game "Mortal Soul" a masterpiece wouldn't be an exaggeration. How could he create such exquisite maps?
There are many things that only experts can see the intricacies of.
Players only know that the game is fun.
However, the designers analyzed it from a more objective perspective, setting aside their own personal biases and emotions during their travels, revealing the true nature of humanity... which is truly impressive.
Many people at Blue Star Studio have heard of the level design proposal that Mingyan made in the conference room back then.
A designer at the time was excited to design a classic rolling stone trap.
It's a trap where rocks fall from a gentle slope, and players have to dodge them based on their direction.
Then Mingyan revealed a mysterious smile and said, "Rolling Stone? Why not let it roll back?"
Designers: 0v0!
And then! The players were happily walking forward after dodging the rolling stones when they were suddenly crushed to death from behind, completely bewildered!
Who the hell would have thought that a rolling boulder could go uphill from the bottom?
At that moment, I felt absolutely awful.
That's not all. Mingyan added, "Next time, players should understand that they need to dodge the rolling stones twice. Why don't we set up a chasm for them on this road, so they'll fall down from there?"
The designers' eyes widened even more: OvO!
Just thinking about it makes me excited.
And sure enough, the players fell for it—happily hiding in the groove, intending to wait peacefully for the rolling stones to pass by twice, but little did they expect…
The moment I stepped in, the floor collapsed! I fell into a deep well and had no way to get out!
As the saying goes: Some people may still be alive, but in reality, they are already dead...
The real way to get through this trap is to race against the rolling stone... After dodging it the first time, quickly run upwards and you can narrowly avoid it the second time.
However, most players actually need to explore several times before they understand this method.
After being toyed with and manipulated many times, the players were finally tamed into masochists.