Inside Atari's office.
Antolini was holding a review report, feeling very pleased.
Although he thought the release of "Element World" was a bit rushed this time, everything that needed to be done had been done.
And the review scores given by the media in advance were also very good.
Although there was a difference compared to "Uncharted," it was only a gap of 0.1 to 0.2 points.
From this point of view, the two sides were actually evenly matched.
This kind of review report also gave Atari and Zeus a lot of confidence.
All kinds of promotions were going on at the same time.
On major live streaming and video platforms, many streamers also started streaming "Element World."
After all, "Uncharted" is a linear game, and everyone has basically played it for a long time.
Although there is still the more challenging crushing difficulty, as well as the full collection of treasures in the map to achieve.
But except for people who are obsessed with trophies and achievements, most players will not play it a second time. After all, the main story content is still what they experienced before.
In addition, this time "Element World" also held a wave of the 'Sword Hunt' event, which attracted the attention of many players.
Although there were only 4 spots in total, the popularity it generated was still very high.
And as the saying goes, 'What if I'm the one who solves the puzzle?'.
With the release of "Element World," players online were looking forward to it.
......
Inside Nebula Games, Lucas was approving the scene provided by Rachel.
The scene was the classic airplane level in 'Drake's Deception', which can be said to be a classic in the entire game series, no less than the car chase level and the train level.
Including the scene of clinging to an airplane in Mission: Impossible 5 in the previous life, which was inspired by the airplane level in Uncharted.
"That's about right." Lucas nodded, indicating approval.
Currently, the work team's main tasks, in addition to the development of the three "Uncharted" DLCs, include one other thing.
That is the construction of the Nebula Games platform on the VR platform.
Before, because there were fewer games, this work was not carried out.
But now that some classic games have been ported to the CosmosVR platform, this area needs to be accelerated.
Previously, you could enter other games through the Nebula Games themed VR, and special transition animations were made.
For example, in the "Monster Hunter: World" themed VR, the player is sitting in a cat cart and the screen goes black.
"Dark Souls" is simpler, teleporting while sitting in front of a bonfire.
"Outlast" has the most emotional and immersive VR theme of all.
For example, the player walks in a dark basement and Uncle Fatty grabs the player and throws them to the ground.
Not only that, the "Outlast" VR theme is also the richest of all themes. In addition to Uncle Fatty, there is also the finger-cutting doctor, Andrew with the flexible tongue, Frank with the chainsaw, etc.
It can be said that there is everything you need, fully demonstrating Nebula Games' conscientiousness.
What's even more conscientious is that the "Outlast" theme is given to players for free once during festivals.
Ensuring that every Nebula Games player who has CosmosVR has a copy of this theme, so that they feel as warm and familiar as returning home when they return to Mount Massive Asylum.
Various VR themes are combined together, and then players can enter various games on the platform from the same theme, instead of needing to switch themes.
This is not complicated, it just takes some time.
"By the way, Boss Lucas, what do you think of 'Element World'? The online media ratings seem very high!" Anna asked Lucas during the lunch break.
Speaking of "Element World", the popularity has been very high these days, and it has the potential to replicate the previous "Uncharted" craze.
"It's a very good game. The subsequent media and player ratings should be high, but I guess Zeus won't be satisfied." Lucas thought for a while and said.
As for this game, he also experienced it through Zeus's game pod.
Although it is said to be an open world, Lucas feels that it is more like a sandbox game like "Shenmue" in the previous life.
Because the main content of the entire game is limited to various ruins, and puzzle solving and exploration is the main content.
"Huh!?" Anna, Rachel, Hector, and others looked at Lucas a little stunned.
Everyone didn't quite understand what Lucas meant.
The crowd was a bit puzzled.
However, Lucas didn't continue to explain, but smiled and changed the subject.
"The follow-up work on the 'Uncharted' trilogy, and the problems with the Nebula Games platform, won't be discussed anymore. Next, everyone needs to prepare mentally, we may have to go on a business trip." Lucas said to everyone with a smile.
Hearing this, everyone didn't dwell on the riddle Lucas had been selling earlier, and were all stunned.
A… a business trip!?
Aren't they a game company?!
What kind of business trip?
Lucas smiled and had his assistant Lisa send some information she had collected to everyone's phones.
Everyone opened it and took a look. Wow, this is a one-month trip to Italy?
Florence, Monteriggioni, San Gimignano, Venice, Rome, not one is missing.
"It's mainly for preparing in advance for the development of some later games." Lucas stretched and said to everyone.
There was nothing they could do, since Nebula Games didn't have a branch in Italy.
......
On Nebula Games' side, Lucas led the team to prepare to go and carry out difficult outdoor art location scouting, and contacted a large travel company in advance.
Of course, the main purpose was not to travel, but to save time.
Having a guide can better plan the route, and the arrangements of the travel company mean they don't have to worry about food, lodging, and transportation, so they can devote themselves to the work of location scouting.
On the other side, online topics about "Element World" also began to slowly ferment.
You never know what players are capable of.
Just like "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," after Lucas patched the bugs of the previous life, such as clipping into walls, there were still players who refreshed the fastest kill record, directly clipping and defeating Ganon in 40 minutes.
And "Element World" was the same. In just the first day, two players had already passed the trials of the 'Sword Hunt' event, surprising countless ordinary players.
In less than two days, the sword hunt event ended.
But the popularity it brought was very high, and online player reviews were also very good.
"Atari really got it right this time!"
"Yeah! The design of various ruins is very ingenious!"
"Some of the ruins feel no less than the shrines in 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'!"
"Yeah! Yeah!"
Some players who liked puzzle-solving types gave good reviews.
But good reviews were good reviews, and soon Atari and Zeus discovered a situation.
Thanks to the activity and the popularity brought by the promotion on the first day, the sales were very considerable.
But as time went on, the sales increased little by little, like an old lady crossing the road.
This suddenly made Zeus and Atari a little confused.
To be honest, the sales of "Element World" are actually very high.
But the key is that there is "Uncharted" pressing down in front, and Zeus also has great expectations for the game "Element World."
As for the reason why sales are not going up, it is actually very simple.
That is, the puzzle-solving content of the game is too ingenious and too difficult.
From the design of the levels of the ruins, the performance of "Element World" is indeed very ingenious, but the key is that it is too brain-burning, which directly dissuaded many players.
You can only pass by relying on walkthroughs, who can stand this.
And it's different from the PC platform, it's quite difficult to look up walkthroughs for VR games.
Secondly, although it is labeled as an open world, there is not much to explore in the world outside the ruins.
In this regard, "Element World" is different from "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild". In "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", players can also play freely outside.
Even if you don't go to the shrines, you can still have a lot of fun.
Not enough health? Try the life durian that increases the upper limit of health.
Not enough stamina? Try the stamina potion.
And in "Element World," the main core is actually the exploration of the ruins.
For players who like deep puzzle-solving, "Element World" completely hits their excitement points. And in terms of quality, some players who don't like "Element World" also admit that this game is a very good game.
But being good is useless, they don't like to play it, and they can't experience any fun from it.
Even soul-like games can be enjoyed by some ordinary players.
For example, asking a big player to drop some trash, and you can crush through the first play through with equipment by being careful, or looking at a guide.
And as an action game, even if you look at a guide for a soul-like game, the combat still depends on yourself.
But puzzle games are different. It feels like being a puppet on a string, so the experience of looking at a guide for a puzzle game is also far inferior to a soul-like game.
This led to the sales of "Element World" not being as high as Zeus thought.
The game industry is sometimes so unreasonable. Good player and media reviews?
That doesn't mean the game will sell well.
But the box office is just not high.
The same is true for "Element World" now.
But even though they were depressed, Atari and Antolini, as the designer, adjusted well.
After all, they didn't lose money, and they also earned a good reputation.
Atari's original reputation in the industry was not very good, but this time, "Element World" allowed them to experience the unanimous praise for the first time.
And the same is true for Antolini. Receiving high praise for "Element World" is also a kind of recognition for him.
The only one who wasn't in a good mood was Zeus.
What's the use of a good reputation!
What it wants is sales, and then use sales to drive the growth of the Zeus platform.
Although there are definitely puzzle-loving games that will go out and buy Zeus for "Element World".
But look at "Uncharted" next door.
For Zeus, and their investment in "Element World", suddenly felt a bit of a heart attack.
A world where only Zeus is hurt, achieved!
(End of chapter)
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