"Is it really that over the top? I gotta see what kind of magic this Outlast has!"
In a certain apartnt in the capital, a shirtless, buzzcut guy,
standing 6'3" and built like a tank, sat in front of his computer.
The guy's na was Ben. Right now, he was looking at the forum posts with a skeptical look on his face.
All anyone talked about was how terrifying Outlast was.
He was never really into horror gas.
But he was curious because he'd heard this horror ga was made by the sa designer behind To the Moon.
Despite his tough appearance, there's that saying—"a fierce tiger sniffing a delicate rose."
He might look like a full-blown tough guy on the outside, but even tough guys cry sotis. When he played To the Moon, he'd cried buckets.
So he'd been keeping an eye on Nebula Gas and the designer, Lucas.
And recently, this ga called Outlast seed to be getting pretty popular, so he decided to give it a shot too.
A horror ga—how scary could it really be?
Curious, Ben bought and installed the ga, then started playing.
"Heh… trying too hard to be mysterious?"
Standing in front of Mount Massive Asylum, Ben was full of confidence.
"Heh… is this all there is?!"
From climbing the scaffolding to the lights going out in the room, Ben looked unimpressed.
"Pfft… just a cheap jump scare. Nothing to be scared of."
A corpse jumped out the mont he opened a door—Ben flinched just a little.
"Wait… don't co any closer!!"
A wheelchair-bound patient lunged for a loving hug—Ben went pale.
...
An hour later.
Ben sat back in his chair, breathing heavily. He could feel his heart pounding clearly.
Thump, thump—strong and loud. All thanks to the scenes he'd just experienced.
He looked at the curtain beside him and quietly got up to pull it open, letting the sunlight pour into the room.
"The sun… feels amazing."
Staring at the bright sunlight, and the monitor that now showed the ga store page after he quit the ga, Ben let out a long breath.
He had to admit it—he lost. And he lost badly.
Thinking back on what he'd just gone through, Ben leaned back in his chair and looked out at the bright sun, still feeling a bit weak in the knees.
But then sothing crossed his mind, now that the fear had mostly worn off.
He quietly picked up his phone, found his friend's contact, and sent a ssage.
"Zack, I just found a ga that's super fun. Really intense! You have to try it."
"It's the new one from the To the Moon guy—Outlast. What's it like? Kinda like parkour mixed with puzzles. Super exciting!"
After sending the ssage, Ben took a deep breath and stared out the window.
Thank goodness he'd played it in broad daylight.
He sat in his chair for another half hour or so.
Then the phone on his desk buzzed.
It was a ssage from soone saved as "Zack."
Just one short line, with three very emotional exclamation marks—
"Damn you!!!"
Ben looked at the ssage and burst out laughing in his chair.
All the fear he'd felt earlier was completely gone.
Because in his mind, he could already picture exactly how badly his friend had just been scared.
After the laughter faded, he noticed his monitor was still on. His ga account was still sitting on the Outlast start screen.
He sat in silence for a while, then quietly shut the platform down.
...
Just like Ben, there are a lot of other players.
At first, they found out about Outlast because of To the Moon.
But most of them learned about the ga through forums in gaming communities.
Just like Ben, after seeing comnts from other players, they got curious—and also felt a bit competitive.
"A horror ga? How scary could it really be? Is it really that serious? Sounds like overhyped marketing."
With thoughts like these, they decided to play the ga themselves—and then show off by posting a screenshot after clearing it.
After all, when it cos to courage, especially in horror gas, unless soone really knows their limits, many players are strangely confident in themselves.
But once they entered the ga, they quickly realized what they were in for.
Forget the later parts—even the beginning scared off a large number of players.
So players entered full of confidence but turned back at the gate of Mount Massive Asylum.
Others gave up after their first "door scare" or when they ran into the big guy.
But most people quit in the basent, where it's pitch black and you're being chased by a maniac swinging a board with nails in it.
Of course, there were still so players who gritted their teeth and kept going.
But when they finally fixed the generator and got injected by the priest, entering the prison section—they realized that the earlier parts were just the appetizer!
Players dropped out at different stages in the ga.
But afterward, there was one thing they all had in common.
They all ended up posting on gaming forums—either recomnding the ga to others or warning them.
It was like a chain reaction, one leading to another.
"I got scared, so I'm dragging others down with ."
They wanted everyone else to feel what they felt.
Later players, overwheld by all the talk, had no idea what kind of horror ga Outlast really was.
So people even posted screenshots of less scary scenes to make their claims seem more "honest."
Others gave super detailed descriptions, saying Outlast was truly terrifying.
All these posts just kept pulling more and more people into the ga, one wave after another.
It was like a relay race—the front-runner reaches the finish line and hands the baton to the next person.
But with Outlast, the spread among players went even wider.
Because the player base kept growing, the buzz around it also kept growing.
At first, Lucas still had to subtly steer the direction of conversations and plant a few inside jokes for players to latch onto.
But as more and more players got scared out of their minds in Mount Massive Asylum...
There was no need for Nebula Gas to do any more marketing.
The players' own discussions were enough to spark a wildfire—spreading like crazy and pulling in even more people.
(End of The Chapter)
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