I summoned the Fourth Scourge in Warhammer

Chapter 13: The Video That Sparked Public Opinion

It's late at night and everyone is asleep, but for the internet, this is precisely the time when traffic is at its most active.

On China's largest video website, a content creator with the account ID "Soft Doctor" released a brand new video. The moment subscribers received the push notification, the video's views, bullet comments, and number of comments began to skyrocket at a visible speed, its popularity curve as steep as a rocket launching into the sky.

The video begins with Ruan Wenbo's familiar face to viewers.

"Hello everyone, I'm your software expert." Ruan Wenbo greeted the audience as usual in his videos, his voice carrying a hint of fatigue, but mostly excitement.

The screen was immediately flooded with a dense barrage of comments.

[Captured alive! Captured alive! Brother Bo, you've finally shown up!]

[Missing person returns!]

Goodness, I thought you'd been abducted by aliens.

Ruan Wenbo continued, "I know everyone must be very curious about where I've been all day, not updating any videos or speaking in the group. The reason is simple—I was completely immersed in a game, the one that's recently caused a huge uproar online, the one whose trailers are like movies. That's right, it's Warhammer 40."

He changed the subject and got to the point, his tone becoming serious.

"First of all, I want to say that the game's development team has an almost pathological obsession with 'realism'."

"As soon as I entered the game, before I even had a chance to figure out what was going on, the stale air in the lower levels made my eyes water and my nose run. After finally getting on the troop transport, the bumpy ride left me feeling dizzy and like I was about to vomit. When I got to the battlefield, I had to scavenge for all my weapons and ammunition from piles of corpses. I even found a piece of someone's uniform in the meat soup that the logistics team was cooking. The most ridiculous thing is that you have to find a safe place to log off in this game, otherwise you might actually be attacked by something while you're sleeping!"

His witty remarks made the live chat burst with laughter.

[Hahaha, I admire your courage for daring to go without a gas mask!]

As an iron-willed warrior of the empire, you can climb back up on your own even if you're thrown off a vehicle.

[Hilarious! I woke up to find myself completely eaten by the mutated rats that had come down from their nest.]

However, dissenting voices have also emerged.

Wait, is this game really that hardcore? That sounds way too discouraging.

It doesn't feel like playing a game; it feels like being tortured...

As if anticipating the audience's reaction, Dr. Soft's expression turned serious. He said to the camera, "But I also noticed that the development team didn't intend to deliberately torture players with so-called 'realism,' nor did they simply pile on environmental materials to create a superficial realism. Their realism is a kind of realism with internal logic. And this kind of realism brings an unparalleled sense of immersion. I can say with absolute certainty that there is no game on the market right now that can compare to it in this respect."

He began to give examples.

"For example, after a battle, I and several other beta testers spontaneously dragged the bodies of fallen Astral Army soldiers to a relatively intact location to lay them to rest. Because of this small act, we could clearly feel that the other NPC soldiers in the camp became more friendly and respectful towards us. Later, when the political commissar returned, he didn't punish us for abandoning our posts; he simply told us to return to our positions immediately, even softening his tone and telling us to ensure our own survival before considering the dead. Before this, whenever we violated tactical regulations, the political commissar would communicate with us by yelling and kicking us in the butt." "Another example is the game's severe death penalty. It will erase all your faction merits and reset your network of relationships in the eyes of NPCs. And the one who executes this penalty of erasing faction merits is your immediate superior. So, this means… if the player becomes their own superior, as long as that superior is willing to reinstate you, then theoretically, you don't need to worry about your position being reset or your merits being erased due to death!"

This revelation instantly caused an uproar in the live chat.

Wow, that's awesome!

[You've already learned how to exploit bugs after just one day of playing? 666, that's amazing, Bo-ge!]

[How can you call what happened before a bug? Anything that benefits the player is called a feature!]

Dr. Soft looked at the camera, gave a knowing smile, and continued, "At the same time, I also want to praise the game's development team. Their attitude was really excellent. After this closed beta ended, we weren't immediately kicked off the server, but were invited to a special space for a face-to-face meeting with the official planners! The planners very seriously asked us if there were any changes needed for this closed beta, and they answered almost every question we had. And for things that couldn't be done immediately, they were very clear about what they were doing."

"For example, there's no need to worry that the method I mentioned earlier for avoiding death penalties will be censored by the developers. This method is exactly what I learned from asking the game planner face-to-face. The planner personally acknowledged the rationality of this approach. Clearly, while pursuing realism, the development team hasn't restricted players but has given them a high degree of freedom. They have absolute confidence in the self-consistency of the world they created, believing that no matter how much we skip classes or look for bugs, it won't cause the game to break down."

The barrage was boiling again.

Wow, this official team is really something! They've really broadened their horizons!

I've never seen an official team that encourages players to exploit bugs... I mean, exploit game features.

Now that you mention it, I guess I'll have to wait until the official release to find bugs in their game!

As the video drew to a close, Dr. Soft's smile faded, and he gave his final summary.

"Although this experience only lasted one day outside the game and three days inside the game, I believe that this closed beta test was a complete success."

"The development team clearly doesn't intend to make this a mainstream game; at least at this stage, I don't see any such intention. Their target audience is very clear and simple: hardcore gamers who have a lot of free time and are willing to spend a lot of effort to study and immerse themselves in the game. Whether this approach is good or bad is a matter of opinion. But at least in my view, this approach may not be so bad."

The final shot focused on Dr. Soft's sincere gaze, while the comments section was filled with final discussions.

[A hardcore game... So how do they plan to recoup their costs?]

[Hardcore gameplay is great! That's how it should be! Letting a bunch of low-quality players into the game isn't fun at all.]

[It's a pity, as a working professional, I don't have enough time, so it seems I'll miss out on getting into this...]

The video ended, and the screen went black. But the storm of public opinion it stirred up had only just begun. This video was like a depth charge dropped into a calm lake; its shockwaves quickly broke through the limitations of a single video platform and began to spread to every corner of the internet.

(End of this chapter)