The beginning of the video was pieced together using footage from other games and various silly meme images, paired with Qiao Laoshi’s distinctive voice, quickly drawing viewers into the right mood.
At this point, the video content changed to footage from “BE QUIET,” as Qiao Laoshi began to introduce the gameplay!
“Considering that many people haven’t experienced this game yet, either out of spite or for other reasons, I’ll now explain the gameplay and highlights in detail.”
“If some father viewers already know all this, please feel free to skip to the conclusion section.”
“This is a networked multiplayer horror game, so please discard all stereotypes about single-player horror games from your mind, and let’s embrace a completely new mode of fear!”
“Traditional single-player horror games typically create horror effects in just a few ways:”
“Settings and models, unexpected plot developments, and sudden jump scares.”
“These games often feature many horrifying settings, such as a mysterious town shrouded in fog, a cannibalistic village full of crazy villagers, a laboratory filled with zombies, and so on. Through mountains of corpses and seas of blood-like scenery and monster models, they create a visual and auditory impact.”
“At the same time, these single-player games manipulate player fear through the storyline. For instance, NPCs might tie up the protagonist and inflict various tortures—gouging eyes, pulling out tongues, cutting off fingers—stopping at nothing… When players immerse themselves in the protagonist’s first-person perspective, they similarly experience an intense sense of horror.”
“Finally, there are some sudden scares, like pushing a door and having a corpse suddenly fall, or walking normally and suddenly being grabbed by a monster…”
“These are the feelings of horror we can experience in traditional single-player horror games.”
“Of course, these are very classic horror game scenes, but now I want to point out the two biggest shortcomings of this approach.”
“First, the stimulation is too direct.”
“Many developers, to enhance the horror effect, only know how to blindly add blood to their games, create various disgusting monsters, and design various torturous horror plots…”
“But this kind of stimulation is mainly sensory stimulation, which may cause some physiological discomfort. At the same time, excessive sensory stimulation can make the game itself seem too graphic, giving people the impression that it’s inappropriate for refined tastes.”
“True fear originates from within the human heart!”
“Second, the replayability is not high.”
“Players can indeed experience extreme shock effects during their first playthrough, but once they’ve completed the game, playing again becomes boring.”
“For ordinary players, they don’t want to have a similar experience a second time; for hardcore players, replaying completely transforms it into a parkour game, losing the meaning of a horror game itself.”
“The emergence of ‘BE QUIET’ is intended to blaze a new trail, solving these two problems that previous horror games never solved, allowing players to create a sense of horror from within their hearts without seeing too many ‘eye-searing’ scenes, while making this horror game infinitely replayable!”
…
What followed was a basic gameplay introduction, as well as reviews of some game matches that Qiao Laoshi himself had played.
Each game randomly matches players according to their rank, randomly assigns maps, and randomly spawns players at one of the current map’s spawn points.
On the map, the purpose of each room and the props within will randomly refresh, but relatively speaking, some larger rooms and more critical locations will refresh better props.
Eight players play the roles of police, good people, mental patients, and ambitious individuals. Except for the police, players cannot confirm others’ identities, and each has different game objectives.
For the police and good people, their way to win is relatively simple. The entire map is sealed off, and they need to search for decryption incantations in various places. When a certain number of incantations are activated, a random exit will appear on the map, allowing everyone to randomly escape.
Qiao Laoshi divided the general flow of the game into four stages.
First is the free search stage. Since players start relatively far from each other, everyone must search the surrounding empty spaces and rooms as much as possible, trying to obtain items useful for their identity, and roughly determining their next actions based on the items obtained.
The second is the initial contact stage. Generally, a small number of mental patient players will choose to go berserk and become lunatics at this point, but this may lead to being surrounded and attacked by the police and numerous good people using items. Another portion of mental patient players will choose to disguise themselves as good people.
Generally, the police will, while collecting items, spontaneously gather other players to search for hidden decryption incantations on the map.
However, due to the sanity value setting in the game, the more people gathered in an area, the more likely it is to trigger whispers. At the same time, voice communication between players will also cause sanity values to decrease, so players cannot possibly gather together for long periods and must disperse in a certain way to search for decryption incantations individually.
At this point, the game enters the third stage, the chaotic battle stage.
In this stage, some mental patient players will suddenly go berserk and become lunatics, attacking good people using accumulated items, while good people can flee or counterattack. Of course, mental patients can also use some techniques to lower good people’s sanity values, turning them into lunatics and forcing them to follow the lunatic victory path…
In short, the game is quite chaotic during this period, with players potentially cooperating or scheming against each other.
Finally comes the closing stage. Generally, by this stage, only two or three players remain, and most of the decryption incantations on the map have been solved. Players battle using their skills and currently held items, ultimately achieving victory.
Afterward, Qiao Laoshi briefly introduced some of the more interesting matches he had encountered.
Of course, from Pei Qian’s perspective, the reviewed matches weren’t particularly exciting.
Because no matter how brain-burning such games are, there must be a limit. If it’s too complex and most people can’t understand how to play, that’s also awkward.
But when you’re immersed in it, you can experience the most stimulating gameplay!
For Pei Qian, he hadn’t previously experienced “BE QUIET” in depth because it’s an online game, and he couldn’t play it alone…
Now, after Qiao Laoshi’s introduction, Pei Qian instantly understood.
The initial item-searching stage of this game is somewhat similar to battle royale gameplay, while the identity setup resembles board games like Three Kingdoms Kill or Werewolf, and the player battle part is a bit like Dead by Daylight-style asymmetric competition.
The game’s enjoyment mainly comes from three aspects:
First, it’s replayable with certain luck factors. Many people pursue perfect starts in the game, like mental patients immediately finding a room full of items that increase sanity and health, directly going berserk and killing everyone. There are also some who, despite having poor initial items, achieve final victory by sticking with the police or through good operations.
Second, there’s intellectual battling within the rules, using limited language to command or mislead other players, guessing a player’s identity, similar to board games with identity elements.
Finally, like Dead by Daylight, players show off their skills, using items and techniques to defeat stronger enemies. At the same time, as good person players, they experience a special sense of horror—players suspecting each other, no one knowing when they might suddenly be attacked, only able to proceed cautiously in the darkness, careful not to make a sound…
This kind of horror comes from other players, from within the player’s heart, so it offers more variation than ordinary single-player horror games.
For example, some lunatic players will deliberately hide in rooms, waiting for good people to come search for decryption incantations, then suddenly jump out and attack!
In short, no matter how well the video describes it, it can’t possibly convey the feeling of playing it yourself.
But through his editing techniques and detailed analysis, Qiao Laoshi dissected the core enjoyment points of this game one by one. Especially when discussing some interesting game mechanics, a wave of “holy crap” comments instantly flowed across the danmaku, with everyone exclaiming: can this game be played like that?
…
Finally, the video entered its closing stage.
“At this point, I believe everyone has a certain understanding of the gameplay of ‘BE QUIET.'”
“So, returning to the initial topic, why did the development team go to such lengths to create an ARG game and an eye-tracking game?”
“It’s worth noting that they could have done nothing and directly opened purchases, throwing all players into the game at once.”
“They created such a complex puzzle activity, added a threshold for purchasing this game, and even painstakingly made it in game form, ensuring a certain entertainment value, all without charging a penny.”
“This was done to help every player entering the game integrate faster and better!”
“If this content were in the game itself, players who spent money on the game only to find it unsuitable would have to go through the hassle of requesting refunds. So, the development team simply decided to put it outside the game, saving those unsuited for this game the complicated refund process.”
“Some will surely ask, does passing this test mean you’re suited for this game?”
“Here I want to say, not necessarily, but probably yes.”
“Let’s think about it. What are the most important qualities for ‘BE QUIET’?”
“A certain gaming intelligence, a good mindset to resist horror, and an attitude of serious learning.”
“By now, everyone should have realized that the pre-purchase conditions are precisely testing these three points!”
“The ARG game puzzle is exercising gaming intelligence; the eye-tracking game is training the ability to resist fear; and the entire test itself is examining whether you have patience and an attitude for serious learning.”
“If you give up at the slightest difficulty, can’t get interested in similar puzzle games, are even too lazy to copy solutions when the decryption is complete, or can’t persist in the eye-tracking game…”
“Then you definitely won’t be able to find any joy in ‘BE QUIET,’ and will instead affect other players’ gaming experience!”
“This test can be said to cater to two types of players simultaneously:”
“For players suited to this game, it ensures their gaming experience.”
“For players unsuited to this game, it helps them save time and protect their wallets.”
“And the only one who loses is the game company itself, losing revenue.”
“But for the sake of the game’s longer lifespan and better player experience, the company willingly gave up this portion of revenue. Even when fierce debates erupted and they were viciously criticized, they didn’t come out to explain a single word, but silently accepted it all.”
“So, many people say, the game company must be sick—they could just open purchases directly. Why must they unnecessarily create a prerequisite condition where you can’t buy if you don’t pass? Isn’t that annoying people?”
“I want to say, indeed, in a sense, this is discouraging players.”
“But please, calm down and think carefully. Perhaps the developers did all this not for themselves, but to allow all players to have a better gaming experience?”
“Therefore, this episode’s title is ‘A Top Game Developer’s Painstaking Effort and Pride’!”
“To allow players to gain a better gaming experience, they spared no effort in setting up so many complex prerequisites before purchasing the game. At the same time, they proudly refrained from explaining to all players, instead maintaining a calm attitude: whether you understand or not, whether you praise or criticize me, it doesn’t matter—the game is right here.”
“I believe having such a thoughtful, distinctive, and conscientious game developer is a blessing for all domestic players!”
“There are too many game companies trying every way to pander to players, to cater to the wealthy—pay money and you can be the boss, dominating the game… They set no obstacles, they don’t make you think, they let you just click the mouse a few times to gain some false experience points and items…”
“But are you truly happy? Isn’t your wallet gradually thinning? Isn’t your thinking gradually becoming rigid? How long has it been since you experienced that soul-shaking feeling after solving a puzzle or discovering a new way to play in a game?”
“If all domestic designers were making such games, wouldn’t that be a shame?”
“So, I hope those interested in this game will calm down, properly appreciate the designer’s true intentions, patiently complete those prerequisites, and personally experience this game with complex gameplay.”
“I believe you will discover another brilliantly wonderful world!”