As soon as these words were spoken, fans in the bullet comments began to sneer.
“Old Qiao is at it again.”
“Every time he encounters a Tenda game, Old Qiao starts excessively flattering them, completely disregarding basic principles.”
“I’m used to it! Old Qiao is pretty objective when evaluating other games, but when it comes to Mr. Pei’s games, he absolutely can’t remain objective. Criticism? Impossible! He just praises in different ways.”
“Well, that’s Mr. Pei for you—a god of game design.”
“Wonder what this game will be like. I heard it’s cyberpunk-themed, so exciting!”
“Yeah, and Tenda Group barely did any promotion this time. The game’s popularity is driven entirely by their haters’ attention.”
“No, no, no, the film winning the Golden Lion Award also brought a lot of attention.”
“At their level now, they really don’t need to do any marketing.”
“That’s good—they can save all the marketing budget for polishing the game.”
Although the viewers in Qiao Laoshi’s livestream were teasing him about his flattery, they were also very excited about this game. After all, most of Qiao Laoshi’s fans were loyal players of Tenda games.
For game developers, marketing had always consumed a large portion of the overall budget. Some game companies’ marketing expenses were even equal to their development costs.
This was unavoidable—without publicity and marketing, games couldn’t gain popularity and would struggle to achieve high sales.
But if all that marketing money could be spent on development instead, game quality would certainly improve. However, only Tenda dared to take such an unconventional approach.
Everyone was full of anticipation for “The Future You Choose.”
After chatting casually for a while, Qiao Laoshi checked the time and quickly refreshed the details page on the Morning Dew gaming platform.
Sure enough, “The Future You Choose” was now officially available.
Actually, pre-purchase and pre-download options had been available since yesterday, and Qiao Laoshi had naturally completed all preparations in advance.
Ever since the Morning Dew gaming platform had been exposed, Tenda Group seemed to have stopped pretending and had transferred many of their classic games to the platform, bringing it a large number of users.
Qiao Liang was among the first batch of game reviewers to join the Morning Dew gaming platform. Seeing that his friend relationships from his Tenda account had been transferred intact to Morning Dew, he naturally had no reason to experience the game on other platforms.
Data on the Morning Dew gaming platform was synchronized with the game router, but Qiao Liang still planned to buy a physical disc copy for his collection.
Of course, this was provided that the game was genuinely good and truly a classic.
If the game’s quality was subpar, then Qiao Liang would pretend nothing had happened.
Without further ado, Qiao Liang started the game.
…
The logos of Tenda’s game-related businesses appeared on screen first, including Tenda Games, Shangyang Games, Morning Dew Gaming Platform, Outu Technology Game Router, and so on.
This game was jointly developed by Tenda Games and Shangyang Games, and simultaneously released on the Morning Dew Gaming Platform and Game Router platforms.
Next came a somewhat noisy background sound, with cyberpunk-style rock music playing.
The black screen was illuminated by neon-like halos, resembling the images that might appear in someone’s mind after losing consciousness.
This scene gave viewers a sense of chaotic confusion, while also creating anticipation for what would appear when the black screen disappeared.
The chaotic sound gradually faded away, replaced by howling wind and the distant ambient noise of a city.
The image gradually appeared.
It was an aerial view from a great height, showing a dense futuristic city below. The massive urban sprawl extended to the horizon, endless to the eye.
Within the city, several areas were shrouded in smoke, indicating ongoing battles.
The whistling, biting wind created an inexplicable feeling of desolation.
As the camera gradually pulled back, Qiao Liang realized that what he had been seeing was from someone’s first-person perspective.
This lonely figure stood on the rooftop of the tallest building in the city. Through the tattered battle suit, parts of his right arm, left leg, and portions of his back gleamed with metallic light—presumably mechanical prosthetics.
On the small areas of exposed muscle, vicious scars could be seen across his skin.
Suddenly, knocking sounds came from behind him.
Knock, knock, knock.
It sounded like metal hitting the rooftop’s security door.
The lonely figure turned his head slightly, revealing half of his face.
Only then did Qiao Liang notice that a large portion of his face had also been modified. A metal jawbone and mechanical eye socket emitting a faint red glow gave him a horrific appearance, like a mechanical skull.
On the other, relatively intact human half of his face, his eyes revealed an extremely complex emotion that was difficult to describe in words.
But it was certainly not optimism, joy, or resignation.
The image froze.
New background music began playing. Though still cyberpunk in style, it was overall much livelier and more intense.
Words appeared on the black screen:
Hope City, 10 years earlier.
On the roof of a four-story building on the outskirts of the city, several warriors were silently cleaning their weapons.
In the center of the frame was a figure with his back to the camera, looking through binoculars at a distant street.
Qiao Liang immediately recognized that this was the same protagonist who had appeared on the high-rise in the previous scene.
A soldier next to him asked excitedly, “Captain Rude, hasn’t the convoy arrived yet?”
At this point, an identity introduction appeared next to the protagonist: Resistance Leader: Rude York.
The camera showed the protagonist’s face, though it was partially obscured by binoculars. Nevertheless, Qiao Liang could tell this was indeed the same face from the high-rise scene earlier. Ten years earlier, he didn’t have as many mechanical modifications and still looked like an ordinary person, though muscular and agile—clearly a battle-hardened warrior.
Rude’s voice was very steady and exuded confidence: “Prepare for battle.”
At this command, the resistance fighters around him immediately sprang into action, each beginning their battle preparations.
The camera switched to the view through the binoculars, showing a convoy approaching from the distant wasteland, apparently heading into the city.
This convoy was about to enter the resistance’s ambush point.
The binoculars zoomed in, focusing on the logo on the vehicles.
Headwind Logistics.
…
Seeing this, Qiao Liang felt confused.
Headwind Logistics? Really?
This wasn’t right. The game was supposed to be cyberpunk-themed, implying criticism of monopolistic companies like Zhujia Group and Shengyun Group.
If they were going for satire, shouldn’t they have modified Shengyun’s logo slightly and used that instead?
Or perhaps the convoy was supposed to represent the good guys, and the resistance were the antagonists?
That wasn’t right either.
The two opening scenes depicted events 10 years apart. This man called Rude was clearly the resistance leader and also the protagonist that players would control. They wouldn’t make players control an antagonist, would they?
Moreover, “resistance” carried very positive connotations, especially in cyberpunk. If they were an antagonistic force, they shouldn’t be called the resistance.
The first scene had also left things ambiguous, open to two interpretations.
Ten years later, Captain Rude stood on the tallest building in the city, looking down at the city where smoke was rising, indicating battles were concluding.
There were two possibilities. One was that the resistance had won and finally captured the entire city, with Captain Rude on the rooftop welcoming victory.
The other possibility was that the resistance had been completely defeated, and their opposing forces were cleaning up the aftermath. Captain Rude had become the last man standing, alone on the rooftop to face his fate.
Both explanations seemed plausible.
Finally, there was the knocking at the rooftop door. This could be resistance subordinates reporting to Captain Rude.
Or it could be the forces hunting him, who had finally found him, with the knocking merely announcing his final fate.
In short, just from the opening, the impression was enigmatic and difficult to grasp.
Actually, after hearing that “The Future You Choose” was cyberpunk-themed, Qiao Liang had already made several predictions. Based on his understanding of Mr. Pei, he believed he could roughly guess the game’s plot.
Not just him—most players online, even including those from the Anti-Tenda Alliance, had already speculated that both the game and movie versions of “The Future You Choose” would criticize the companies in the Anti-Tenda Alliance.
By depicting a desperate cyberpunk world, they would show everyone the evil consequences of these companies’ ultimate market monopoly, providing guidance for reality and helping Tenda win this public opinion battle.
But after actually entering the game, Qiao Liang realized he had completely guessed wrong.
Where were the Anti-Tenda Alliance companies in this?
In the very first scene, players were directed to attack Headwind Logistics transport vehicles.
However, the battle began quickly, and Qiao Liang had no time to think about these complications. He hurriedly followed the tutorial prompts and threw himself into the battle.
…
After donning mechanical exoskeletons, the resistance fighters each displayed their unique skills, descending from the rooftop and charging toward the Headwind Logistics convoy.
According to the story background, given the relatively high technology level, both the weapons used and the armor worn were more advanced than in conventional shooter games.
For example, the mechanical exoskeletons on their legs allowed players to jump great distances and move quickly. The smart weapons in their hands could achieve auto-aim and reduce recoil.
As soon as the resistance approached the Headwind Logistics convoy, the convoy broadcast issued a warning, after which the heavy machine guns on top of the vehicles opened fire violently.
However, the resistance squad came prepared. They first destroyed one vehicle with heavy weapons, completely blocking the convoy’s path. Then they concentrated their fire to take down the drone escort formation in front of the convoy.
Throughout this process, Qiao Liang continuously adapted to the game’s feel. He had to admit it was somewhat similar to the DLC that had crossovered “Sea Fortress” with “Duty and Choice”—the Lark Squad’s decapitation mission against the Insect Queen.
The combat style and feeling of wearing the exoskeleton were similar, though the technology level was slightly lower.
The convoy’s protective forces weren’t weak, but these resistance fighters were all battle-hardened veterans with strong firepower. Qiao Liang controlled the protagonist and wreaked havoc, feeling like an impressive lone hero, enjoying the thrill of the game.
However, just as he was enjoying himself, another resistance fighter’s slightly anxious voice came through the communicator:
“Captain Rude, we need to destroy this shipment quickly. Tenda Group’s reinforcements are heading this way!”