mousepad-d2 Chapter 72 The Real Open World
Chapter 72 The Real Open World
William pressed his thumb firmly against the joystick on the handle, controlling Link as he ran down the sloping grassy slope.
He habitually looked at the bottom right and top left corners of the screen, trying to find the various UI icons that were plastered all over the screen like leeches in traditional AAA games.
A dense array of question marks, a long list of quest tracking items, or even a giant golden navigation arrow drawn to prevent players from getting lost.
However, there was nothing there.
The screen was so clean that only a few translucent specks of light drifted in the breeze, and the three red hearts in the upper left corner representing health points.
What the hell? There are absolutely no indicators on the minimap? Have these Chinese developers gone mad?
In this fast-paced era, if they don't feed the players directly, aren't they afraid that the players will frantically shut down the game in the very first minute, like headless flies?
William frowned and guided Link toward a mysterious old man sitting by a campfire.
Above the campfire, a bright red apple gleamed enticingly. William pressed the interact button and unceremoniously stuffed the roasted apple into Link's pocket.
The old man turned his head, his white beard trembling slightly.
"Oh? Those are the apples I was planning to bake..."
William completely ignored the casual conversation; his attention was entirely drawn to a rough branch lying on the ground beside him.
In traditional games, this kind of thing is usually just a texture with no collision volume, or simply part of the background.
But when he tried pressing the button, Link actually bent down, picked up the branch, and held it in his hand.
A crazy idea flashed through William's mind, which had been rigidened by countless stereotypical game mechanics.
He controlled Link, raised the branch, and slowly approached the campfire in front of the old man.
A very slight but distinct vibration was transmitted through the controller. On the screen, a ball of orange-red flame instantly erupted from the tip of the previously withered tree branch.
The firelight shone on Link's face and illuminated William's widening eyes.
There's even independent fire physics interaction? Wait... if this fire is real...
William immediately turned, brandishing the burning branch, and charged towards a nearby patch of knee-high, dense grass. He pressed the attack button. He swung it. The torch touched the grass.
With a soft "boom".
Unlike the flickering flames on fixed textures in low-quality games, the flames instantly spread violently through the dry grass, carried by the wind. Orange-red tongues of fire devoured the vegetation, and charred ash rose into the air with the heat. What chilled William even more was the dramatic physical change in the previously calm air caused by the fire; a visible updraft roared upwards.
My God, this isn't some pre-programmed script! This is a real chemistry engine built from the ground up! Wind direction, temperature, flammable materials... these lunatics have crammed an entire set of real-world physical laws into a game!
William was breathing heavily, his heart pounding with extreme excitement. Like a mad child who had received a peerless toy, he ran around the starting platform with a torch in hand.
Just as he was trying to burn down an apple tree, a red-skinned, ugly-looking Pokblin spotted him in a rocky camp not far ahead.
Pokoblin let out a strange cry, picked up a thick wooden stick from the ground, and charged towards him with his short, thick legs.
William's lips curled into a cold smile. As a hardcore player who had completed most games on the highest difficulty, he didn't take these beginner monsters in the starting village seriously at all.
Without any intention of dodging, he pressed the attack button directly at Pokoblin.
The branch lashed violently at Pokoblin's head. A loud pop. Debris flew everywhere.
A cold message suddenly popped up in the center of the screen: [The tree branch is damaged].
William was stunned. His weapon, having run out of durability, shattered into pieces right on the monster's forehead.
The Pokoblin merely took half a step back, then let out an angry roar, its thick wooden club slamming into Link's chest with a dull thud.
The violent jolt nearly sent the controller flying out of his hand. Link's frail body was slammed into the ground like a rag doll by the immense force of the blunt object, tumbling three or four times across the rough rocky surface, with bright red blood effects flashing at the edge of the screen.
The three hearts in the top left corner instantly dropped to zero.
A chilling sound effect rang out. The screen instantly went dark. Two huge red characters slammed into the center of the screen:
【Game Over】.
The room was deathly silent. William stared blankly at the boy lying in a pool of blood on the screen, not blinking for a full half minute. Then, he suddenly burst into a near-hysterical laugh.
"Hahahaha! Good! Excellent! There are no weapons that last forever! This is the real wilderness! This is survival!"
William quickly pressed the button to continue the game.
After his rebirth, he completely abandoned that arrogant "evaluator" attitude.
He stopped complaining about the lack of mission guidance, because he discovered that the terrain of the entire world itself was the perfect guide.
He walked to a steep cliff face. In most open-world games, this would just be a dead end, meaning an "invisible wall" or "map boundary".
But William, with an almost pious sense of trepidation, pushed the joystick.
Link stretched out his hands and gripped the protrusions on the rock face tightly. He braced his feet against the rock surface and actually began to climb upwards.
Wherever the eye can see, it is within reach... This is not just a false slogan! Tangren Games has truly made it happen! As long as you have the stamina and a foothold, no mountain in this world can stop you!
William stared intently at the green stamina ring next to Link. As the climb increased, the stamina ring was rapidly depleting, gradually turning a glaring red.
last step.
work hard.
Climb over.
Link, panting, climbed up the high ground. William helped him stand up, facing the biting cold wind at that height.
From this vantage point, the dilapidated yet magnificent ruins of the Temple of Time in the distance appear so serene and mysterious under the sunlight.
No NPC told him he had to go there, and no system pop-up urged him to complete the task.
It was him, William himself, who, at the moment of gazing into the distance, felt an irrepressible impulse welling up from the depths of his heart.
He wanted to go there and take a look.
This is true freedom... this is true exploration! To hell with assembly line formulas, to hell with boring side quests!
Tangren Games... You not only slapped game companies all over the world in the face, but you also cruelly slaughtered all the old gods on the throne of open world!
William's hands trembled as he picked up the can of Monster Energy from the table, tilted his head back, and downed it in one gulp. He wiped the liquid from the corner of his mouth, his eyes fixed on the screen like a starving lone wolf, and pushed the joystick down again.