Game Maker: Starting by Healing the Players Chapter 57: Weren’t You Supposed to Be a "Warrior of Love"?

At first, only a few strears who were familiar with Nebula Gas started streaming Outlast in Shark TV's gaming section.

But after a few streams, people realized the ga actually worked really well for content—it boosted both viewer numbers and popularity. When they stread Outlast, the chat was filled with non-stop ssages.

So it naturally attracted more strears to join in. After all, this is their job, and Outlast was clearly perfect for streaming.

If you clicked into any random stream, you'd basically hear soone screaming like their life depended on it.

"I'm done! I'm not playing anymore! The closet just moved!"

"No! Please! I'm sorry! Spare , please!"

"Why is this fat guy chasing again?! How do I get out of this damn sewer?!"

"The won's ward wants to find fuses? In pitch black?! I'm out of batteries! Who knows the way?! Help !"

"Where's the gun?! Why isn't there a gun?! Just give a gun already!"

"Holy crap, I swear! That guy in the wheelchair nearly gave a heart attack! You just sat there doing nothing, and then scared the hell out of when I walked past!"

Every strear who played Outlast was basically screaming bloody murder the whole ti.

You could grab a screenshot from any stream, and it would make for perfect material.

At the sa ti, people who watched but didn't know much about Outlast started to get curious.

Just like those folks on the forums earlier, they all had the sa thought: Is this ga really that scary?

But the mont they tried it for themselves, they were completely stunned.

Because it was way scarier than they imagined.

If it was just jump scares—like those "open the door, boom!" monts—that'd be fine. You get used to those.

But Outlast isn't just about jump scares.

It combines visual horror, shock scares, and psychological fear into one terrifying experience.

Jump scares are a common horror elent in both Eastern and Western horror—like things suddenly jumping out at you or appearing when you turn around.

Visual horror leans more toward Western horror—it's about disturbing visuals, like blood and gore.

In Outlast, things like the soldier impaled on a tal pipe at the start or the scene with the finger-cutting—those are textbook visual horror.

As for psychological horror, that's more common in Eastern horror. It plays on the fear of the unknown and makes players doubt themselves.

Things like basents, won's wards, and sewers—dark places where you're constantly being hunted and can only see using a camcorder—are perfect examples of psychological horror design.

Outlast manages to combine all three kinds of fear really well.

Plus, the fact that you play as a journalist who can only run and never fight back…

That just makes you feel even more helpless.

God knows how hopeless it feels when a monster is chasing you, and your cara runs out of batteries.

For a while, tons of players were haunted by the shadow of that creepy place called Mount Massive Asylum.

...

Thanks to the strears and the growing number of players "generously recomnding" the ga...

Its popularity and discussion rate shot through the roof.

At first, it just spread through horror ga forums.

After that, the popularity of Outlast started skyrocketing across major gaming communities and forums.

They were flooded with player discussions.

"Damn it, I'm cutting ties with my friend! He said it was only a little scary? I almost died!"

"Man, I'm so embarrassed. I bought the ga but didn't even dare go past the front gate of Mount Massive Asylum!"

"LMAO, hold up bro, you're not the only one who never got past the gate!"

"Haha, sa here. I just wandered around outside for a bit, then shut the ga off and went to watch videos instead."

"Is it really as crazy as you guys are saying? I think it's pretty easy!"

"What's so scary about it? I already beat the ga!"

"You two up there, can you please unlink your accounts from the official platform before talking? One of you played for 7 minutes, the other for 5. What exactly did you beat?"

"Hey, I bought the ga and didn't refund it. Plus, I watched videos and streams—so I basically know the whole story. That counts as finishing the ga, right?"

"Damn... I seriously have nothing to say to that."

"To be fair, the ga is way too short. Let give the newcors a quick summary: First, you launch the ga, go through the front yard, crawl through a dog hole on the left, then climb in through the window. And finally, you shut the ga off and watch Outlast playthroughs on video sites."

With all the players actively talking about it, Outlast's popularity quickly kept rising.

At the sa ti, sales also exploded.

More and more people who had never heard of it beca curious about the ga.

Of course, most of them got scared out of their minds.

And there were tons of refund requests too.

But still, even with that, there were plenty of players who bought the ga and didn't bother refunding it.

Those players were also supporting the ga company in their own way.

With such a huge player base,

Outlast still pulled off so impressive sales.

But right around that ti, soone brought up an old quote, and it quickly picked up traction across all the gaming forums.

It was sothing Lucas once said in an interview when he won first prize in the "Sci-Fi Ga Competition."

> "After all, I've always seen myself as a warrior of love."

That quote suddenly went viral in the Outlast community.

"Dude, how the hell did Lucas say that with a straight face?"

"Never would've guessed that after making To the Moon, Lucas would go on to drop Outlast."

"A warrior of love? THIS is what you call a warrior of love??"

"Lucas, your ga is this terrifying—do you even dare play it yourself?"

"Exactly! There's not even a hint of love in Outlast, man!"

Players started flooding Lucas's official blog with comnts.

The contrast was just too much.

One minute he's calling himself a warrior of love, and the next he releases a ga that can make you piss your pants.

There's seriously zero love in this ga!

But even though people were talking like that, most of it was just hype and people jumping in for fun.

What no one expected, though, was that Lucas actually responded on his blog.

And that's where things really started…

(End of this chapter)

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