3 Closed Beta for Tyranny!

After receiving the notification that informed him that he had been chosen to take part in the closed beta, Rowan was practically exuberant.

The site informed him that the Paradox VR recliner (the latest generation of VR setups designed for a complete sensory experience) would be delivered to his door within two to three business days.

From then on, all he would need to do would be to connect the recliner to a power source and play the game (Tyranny already being pre-installed to the recliner).

-

After coming back from university two days later, a large package, as well as some people dressed in working installation uniforms, were waiting outside of his parent's house.

"Hey, you sure this the right house? We've been waiting out here for a while now" asked one of the workers.

"For the millionth time, yes Hank. We've been over this. They're probably just not home. I told you we should've just left the notice for scheduling" replied Thomas.

At this point, after listening to what little he had heard of their conversation, Rowan interjected, "Ummm... Are you the people sent to install the game recliner?"

Hank replied, "Yea, and how are you exactly? By any chance do you happen to live here? If so can you open the door for us so that we can get about the installation process? It's going to take a bit and we got other houses to go to."

"Yea I live here. Sorry bout the wait, I just had to attend my uni classes and all that, you know?" apologized Rowan.

"Sure, sure" Frank interrupted them, "but if we can really get a move on that would be great."

The two men head into his house after Rowan checks their certification; Rowan then proceeds to lead them to his room where he wants the recliner to be installed.

"Alright, now before we get around to installing this thing, we're going to need you to go over the terms and conditions that come with this recliner. As you know, the recliner is a piece of brand new technology that seeks to provide a full virtual sensory experience by stimulating the nerves of the body in reality."

"With such stimulation, if there are any pre-existing health conditions present, then it would be heavily advised for you to not partake in this closed-beta until a suitable alternative can be found...", Hank continued to recite the guidelines off of the script that had been provided, ensuring that Rowan would know the potential risks he would be taking.

This recital of the terms and conditions continued for quite a bit while Frank finalized the installation process, and in about half an hour, the process was finally complete.

"Okay now if that's everything done now, do you have any questions young man?" asked Frank gruffly.

"No, no, I think I should be fine. Thank you very much." Rowan then proceeded to pass them a 20 dollar bill as a tip for their services.

Receiving the tip, the duo proceed to head back to the truck outside, presumably heading off to the next set of lucky people.

Seeing that they were gone, Rowan excitedly slides himself into the recliner, making note of the degree of comfort of the upholstery as well as a unique smell, almost akin to that of entering a new car.

After strapping himself into the recliner, it contorts to fit his measurements, and a headpiece slides over his head. After a brief moment, the world goes black, only to be replaced by a soothing blue sky with clouds.

A disembodied voice rings out, "Greetings honorable traveler. How would you desire to be birthed into Orthus?"

Following that, a standard character creation tab appears, various options for customization appearing like hairstyles, facial structure, etc.

Wanting to not spend too much time on this stage, Rowan decides to copy his body over from reality and make minute changes to things such as hair, height, eyes, and nose structure.

Then the voice follows up on this character creation, "What do you wish to be known as, young adventurer?"

Rowan hadn't necessarily thought about it previously, but after a moment of deliberation, he said "Call me Eidiri."

The sun is overhead and by the looks of it, it was just after morning.

A vibrant text box then flashes across Eidiri's face, as well as the numerous other players occupying this clearing.

The text box stated the following, "Welcome to the closed-beta of Tyranny! As you can probably tell at this point given the fact that you are interacting with an interface, you are now in the land of Orthus! From here on out make your mark on the world! Go forth and accomplish great things! We here at Domination Studios look forward to what you can achieve here."

Starting right off the bat, the feeling could be described to be surreal. Despite knowing that he was currently only in a VR game, his senses were telling him something completely different, the blades of grass, the soft breeze.

It was a whole new level of gaming. Such a setup would definitely revolutionize the industry.

After taking a minute to orient himself to all these weird feelings, a strange sight falls before his eyes.

Eidiri's surroundings were that of a somewhat dense piece of woods to his left and a dirt path in front of him that snaked around leading to the gate of what appeared to be a village.

Given the fact that since they were all just starting, then presumably this village would be the starting village that would serve to guide them throughout the initial phase of the game.

Quickly a swarm of players stormed off towards the village, trying to get a head start on the rest of the competition by securing important quests.

Deciding to go ahead with this mob, Eidiri followed along anxiously running to try to at least obtain an advantage over those who had lagged behind.

However, when the group began to approach the gate, it was suddenly sealed off, a thick metal grate sliding over it to prevent entry.

Quickly a guard from the wall stands up and calls out to them, "Halt! In the name of the Baron von Dumain, what be your purpose with this," he pauses, then his lip curls up in disdain, "unseemly congregation of peasants?"

Not expecting such a response, the group is stunned. Being denied entry to the starter village? What kind of idea was that? What sort of black-hearted game developers were they?

Quickly panicked murmuring began to spread through the crowd, as they had been largely unprepared for such a scenario.

I mean, the popularized format for the time was to guide the newbies by the hand, letting them accumulate strength to conquer worlds by the end of the game.

However, in this game, they were thrown to the sharks, and surprisingly, such a feeling was... Well, quite honestly it was positively exhilarating.