Unexpected Realism

POV Hylia:

As she finished all the preparations, she finally exclaimed, "Are you ready?"

[Come on!]

[Let's see if it's true!]

[Stop making us wait!]

Looking at her chat and smiling at the hype, she changed the scene and started the FullDive headset.

She found herself in a pitch-black room, where signs reading "Myth presents" appeared, accompanied by a distant guitar tune. This was followed by "a Naughty Dog game" with the logo in the middle, and then "Early access edition."

Hylia was now in a living room where a child slept on a sofa. As she looked around the room, her vision automatically focused on the child stirring, and she heard a man's voice, seemingly on the phone.

"Tommy, Tommy, listen to me, he's the contractor. He's the contractor, okay? I can't lose this job." Listening to the man on the phone, she was struck by how realistic the graphics were, almost indistinguishable from reality. "Can you see what I see?" she whispered as the child began to speak to the man.

[I have to admit, so far the graphics are crazy.]

[We want gameplay!!!]

[A story? This is new.]

[Where is it?]

[Is this the beginning?]

Hylia glanced at the chat, which was conveniently displayed in the corner of her vision, allowing her to keep an eye on her surroundings and the interaction between the man and the child.

Apparently, it was the man's birthday, and the child had stayed up all evening to give him a present—a watch. They shared jokes, with the father teasing that the watch didn't work and the child joking about selling drugs.

"They're so cute, don't you think?" Hylia remarked, watching the scene unfold as the child fell asleep and the father watched TV. "It's so calming," she murmured.

[It reminds me of the relationship I had with my father, sniff sniff.]

[The interactions and voices are really well done, it's crazy.]

[You feel like you're in it!]

[The cinematics are really good!]

[Wow, a friend told me to come, and I'm not disappointed—the quality is insane. What studio made this?]

[An independent studio called Naughty Dog, the new guy!]

Seeing the chat, Hylia quickly checked her viewer count and saw that it had already surpassed 300 viewers. Surprised, she said to the chat, "Hello to everyone who just joined! Today, we're testing a brand new next-gen game with an original story and characters! Feel free to share the stream so more people can discover it before anyone else!"

[It's crazy! I just saw that the studio is brand new!]

[Guys, wait till you see the gameplay :kappa:]

[The characters look very well done, it's refreshing!]

After the man put the girl to bed, Hylia found herself in the girl's room when the old landline phone rang. Picking it up, she heard the voice of a man who seemed to be Uncle Tommy. When the girl's voice responded, Hylia realized she couldn't do anything until the girl got up, finally allowing her to move freely.

"It's crazy, guys, look at the details," Hylia said, picking up a photo with her "father" and another man, lifting a lamp, looking in the mirror, and touching the little girl's cheeks. The sensations felt so real, as if she were touching her own face. "It's insane; I really feel like I'm touching my body if I didn't have the chat in my field of vision," she said, touching her face.

Deciding to explore, she came across a birthday card the little girl had apparently forgotten to give. As she read it and saw the signature, she said, "The little girl's name must be Sarah." Wandering down the hallway, she stumbled into the bathroom and found a newspaper she could read but decided to just flip through. "It's crazy, look at all this writing, and it makes sense…" she muttered.

[The detail is insane…]

[If the demo is this detailed, I think it'll be the whole game :kappa:]

[I made a clip, let's analyze what was written later!!!]

Continuing to wander around the house, she noticed a thin trickle of light coming from a half-open door. Entering to see what was going on, she found a reporter talking frantically to firefighters behind her, followed by an explosion. The channel went off as an explosion echoed from outside, startling her.

"Oh shit, the sound design is incredible; I felt the vibrations through my whole body," she exclaimed, glancing at her chat, a feeling of fear creeping in as she decided to go downstairs.

At the bottom, she saw sirens and three police cars flashing their lights as they sped past the house. "The outside looks a lot like what you read about before the big disaster..." she muttered.

[It's true, it doesn't look very safe.]

[Is this a pre-catastrophe game? It's crazy!]

[I'd like to see what happens next.]

[Did he do all this by himself?]

Her anxiety grew as she navigated the dark house, lit only by moonlight, hearing dogs barking, cars passing, alarms blaring, and a vibrating cell phone. Rushing to check it, she found notifications from her Uncle Tommy, urgently asking her father, "Where the HELL are you? CALL ME!" and "On my way," which Sarah echoed.

As she looked around and heard a dog barking, it suddenly stopped with a painful yelp, sending chills down her spine. "Okay, this is getting creepy," she said, heading towards a half-open door.

Just as she walked through the door, her father burst in, slammed the bay window shut, and asked if she was okay. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little shocked by what's going on outside," she instinctively replied. "Did you see anything outside?" he asked. "No, just noises," she reassured him. "It's all right, just stay away from the windows," he said, loading a gun he had just retrieved from a small case.

"It's the Coopers… something's wrong. I think they're sick," he said, just as a silhouette appeared against the bay window, smearing blood and making her jump back.

"Jimmy! Honey, come here, come here, Jimmy! Jimmy, just stay back!" her father shouted as Jimmy shattered the bay window, his body falling forward into the office.

[It's crazy, guys, look!]

[It's bloody intense! Look at all that blood!]

As the chat buzzed, Hylia hid behind her dad, watching as he aimed the gun at their neighbor.

"Jimmy! I'm warning you!" he shouted, but the neighbor rushed at him. "Don't!" her father yelled, shooting and instantly killing Jimmy. Shocked by what she saw, Sarah stammered, "Y-you shot him… I saw him this morning." Taking her by the shoulders, her father said, "Sarah, listen to me. Something bad is going on. We have to get out of here. Do you understand me?" "Yes," she replied as he said, "Tommy's here. Come on," and lights appeared in the house as her father took her arm and they ran to the front door.

When they opened the door, a Ford Ranger greeted them with a man inside who asked her dad where he was. As Hylia was placed in the back of the vehicle and her uncle and dad got in, she was still stunned by the quality of the acting and the stunning graphics.

"This is crazy, guys," she said, slowing down as much as the demo allowed, "did you see what just happened?"

[Yes!]

[Where can we buy this game?]

[The fact that only one person did this is insane.]

[Find Myth!]

POV Arthur:

While watching the stream and liking what I saw in Hylia's chat, something else made me extremely happy.

The mission progression system: 351/10000 Hype People.

A smile crept across my face as I realized that the mission might be successful even before the trailer was released, as Hylia's stream reached 485 viewers, a far cry from her usual 150.