It's different from the demo!
Zhu Yao was a little surprised and, following Yu Nan's suggestion, started wandering around the room.
She received a small oil lamp and a black cloak.
Zhu Yao chose to "put on the cloak".
Then select "Light the oil lamp".
After circling around again and confirming that there were no new discoveries, Zhu Yao finally went outside.
“The initial scene will have more items added; this is just the roughest version right now,” Yu Nan suddenly explained.
Zhu Yao gave a soft "hmm" to indicate that she had heard it.
It's completely different from that demo that looked like a child's prank.
Zhu Yao recalled what Lang Dao'er said in the video—that the game would be completely different when it was made.
The little boy walked out of the bedroom and saw a world of vines and strange rocks, which was different from the pixelated world of strange rocks that Zhu Yao remembered.
She didn't encounter the scarecrow either.
The world is vast and empty, with only the little boy wandering aimlessly.
There were no prompts on the screen.
Yu Nan didn't speak, so Zhu Yao knew that her trajectory was in line with the game's expectations, and decided to continue.
Anyway—Yu Nan is right next to her, so there's no chance that players will spend two whole days just to reach the ending.
Suddenly, the little boy on the screen tripped over a vine, fell, and tumbled to the ground.
His knee was scraped, and blood dripped onto the vines.
Instantly, the screen began to distort from the blood-dripping vines, and then a black hole resembling an Anywhere Door appeared.
The little boy was sucked into the black hole.
Finally, a line of text appeared on the screen.
"The World of Vines".
The little boy woke up amidst the green vines.
There were no other plants nearby, only still vines.
Zhu Yao could see that in the distance there was an unusually large vine that pointed straight to the sky.
It seems the incident occurred in that place.
Zhu Yao guided the little boy toward the vines.
Having seemingly endured a long trek through the first world without food or water, the little boy was exhausted and walked slower and slower.
At this point, the giant vines were still far away.
Finally, as the sky over the vine-covered world was about to darken, the little boy fell straight down.
There was no game over message, nor did "Yu Miao" delete her save file.
The image seemed to freeze, except that the screen was getting darker and darker.
Finally, just as the world of vines went completely dark, the scene came to life.
Countless dark shadows emerged from the ground, as if wriggling.
Some jumped onto the vines, while others circled around the fallen little boy.
Finally, a dark shadow entered the little boy's body, followed by a second, a third... and many more dark shadows entered the little boy's body as if diving.
The little boy sat up straight, and instructions appeared on the screen.
Press X to turn on the oil lamp.
Zhu Yao lit the oil lamp.
Upon seeing the light, the shadowy figures scattered and fled in all directions, like birds and beasts seeing fire.
For a moment, the only thing on the screen was the little boy and the light of a single oil lamp.
A dark shadow entered his body, and the little boy seemed to regain his strength.
A black "stamina bar" appeared on the screen.
Level: 1
Zhu Yao controlled the little boy to carry the lantern forward. His stamina bar began to decrease, so Zhu Yao tentatively stopped, but the stamina bar did not recover.
Zhu Yao simply turned off the lights.
The screen instantly went dark again, and countless shadowy figures burrowed into the little boy's body. His stamina bar began to surge, filling up instantly.
An animation resembling an upgrade appeared.
Level: 2
At this moment, Yu Nan covered Zhu Yao's hand with her own and lit the oil lamp.
"That's not a good thing," Yu Nan warned. "Try not to move around at night, and it's best to keep the lights on all the time."
Zhu Yao glanced at Yu Nan silently and then controlled the little boy to rest on the vine.
The light remained on, though it was only a small blob.
You can see dark figures lurking in the shadows, seemingly ready to snatch the little boy's body the moment the lights go out.
“You can play without turning on the lights.” Yu Nan hesitated for a moment, then added, “This game is very open-ended, it just takes a different approach.”
"However... I haven't finished yet... so..."
Yu Nan was a little embarrassed…
"I'll go first with the light-on method." Zhu Yao instantly understood.
After a long night, dawn broke over the vine-covered world.
At this point, two more icons appeared.
The first one should be the actual stamina bar.
The second one is something that looks like a watch.
"You can adjust the speed now," Yu Nan explained.
Zhu Yao adjusted the time speed, turned it on at 6x speed, and controlled the little boy to continue walking towards the giant vine.
Indeed, the little boy's walking speed increased, and his stamina bar decreased faster. If Zhu Yao stopped, the stamina bar would recover.
It looks like the second bar is the real stamina bar.
So, what can the first black one be upgraded to...?
Everything started to get interesting.
Zhu Yao was attracted by Yu Nan's novel gameplay.
Just as it was getting dark the next day, Zhu Yao arrived at the base of the giant vine.
Zhu Yao turned on the light, controlled the little boy to sit down silently, and turned on the fastest speed to wait for the night to pass.
“Actually, climbing up at night and climbing up during the day lead to different worlds,” Yu Nan suddenly explained.
"Is everything ready?" Zhu Yao asked.
"Not yet..." Yu Nan replied awkwardly.
Sure enough... every time Yu Nan offered an explanation, it was because she hadn't finished...
If I'm not mistaken, Yu Nan has probably finished planning the daytime route, but hasn't done the nighttime route yet.
"Is there any difference between the daytime route and the nighttime route?" Zhu Yao asked tentatively.
"The route at night will be especially terrifying!" Yu Nan said seriously. "It's extremely scary, almost like a horror game."
Zhu Yao suddenly had an absurd idea.
Was Yu Nan afraid of not taking the night route?
I set it to the fastest speed, and time flew by.
Daylight arrived, and Zhu Yao controlled the little boy to start climbing the vines.
They quickly climbed up the vines and could see the swirling clouds below.
A cloud drifted by, and the screen began to distort once again.
"World of Clouds"
Zhu Yao seemed to be floating in mid-air, surrounded by soft, white, cotton-like things.
It is a cloud.
The next second, the little boy began to fall.
"The moment to test your hand speed has arrived," Yu Nan said, her expression like that of a child who had just succeeded in playing a prank.
The little boy fell faster and faster, and several times Zhu Yao saw something flash by.
Finally, Zhu Yao successfully controlled the little boy and caught one of them.
It was a tree branch, but it was immediately snapped off.
The little boy continued to fall, but at a slower pace, before gradually accelerating again as he plummeted.
Zhu Yao instantly understood: the little boy was falling faster and faster, and the faster he fell, the harder it was for him to grab the branch. Only by grabbing the branch could he slow down.
Zhu Yao began to concentrate on looking at the tree branch.
After pulling and breaking several more branches, the little boy finally managed to pull the branch back up without breaking it. Instead, he hung steadily in mid-air and climbed back up the branch.
"Should we enter the world of 'trees'?"
Options appeared on the screen.
Yu Nan explained, "This level tests your hand speed, but there are other ways to pass it. If someone can't catch it, they will fall into the underground world."
"Even if we don't enter the tree world now, we can still jump down to the underground world. However, the underground world, like the dark world, is very scary."