Zhao Lei was quite surprised by the perspective.
Chen Mo had made many first person VR games, including the popular Uncharted Waters.
The first-person perspective was the best choice for most mainstream VR games because it enhanced the player's sense of immersion.
However, American Apocalypse chose the traditional over-the-shoulder perspective. Was there a deeper meaning behind it?
At that moment, Zhao Lei felt like he was a nonexistent ghost floating behind the little girl. He could control the little girl's every move, but in the end, he could only be considered a bystander.
It was as if there was a director controlling his vision (camera lens) to experience the story from multiple angles.
However, Zhao Lei had a new guess after knowing that he was controlling the little girl. There was a high possibility of switching between characters in the game.
Most games that used a first person perspective would have a fixed main character. For example, Outlast and PlayerUnknown's Battleground, the players wouldn't experience any other characters from start to finish.
However, if a game required the player to teleport between multiple characters, then the first person perspective would be problematic.
Sometimes it was a little girl, sometimes it was a grown man, sometimes it was a pretty girl … It was easy for the player to be confused about their current identity in a first person perspective.
Therefore, there were two reasons for using the over-the-shoulder perspective. One was to allow the player to experience the story from a bystander's perspective, and the other was to reduce the confusion caused by switching between characters.
With this in mind, Zhao Lei felt that American Apocalypse choosing the over-the-shoulder perspective was something Chen Mo did after careful consideration. However, he still wanted to say that it was a very retro approach.
After all, with VR games being so popular, video game designers would usually focus on the 'immersive' aspect of the game. Even the entire game's story, playstyle, and narrative were geared towards the 'first person perspective' and 'immersive' aspect. Something like Chen Mo sacrificing the uniqueness of a VR game for the sake of a story was very rare.
As the little girl stood up from the bed, Zhao Lei officially gained control of the little girl.
There were simple notifications in his field of vision, indicating that Zhao Lei could control the little girl to walk, open doors, and so on.
While walking, the little girl would occasionally talk to herself, rub her eyes, shiver, yawn, and so on.
After playing for a bit, Zhao Lei realized that the over-the-shoulder perspective wasn't bad in a VR game, it wasn't as stiff as he thought. More importantly, he was able to see the little girl's movements from start to finish. Although it was a little less immersive, it made the story flow more smoothly.
On the table, Zhao Lei found the little girl's birthday card for her father.
"Dad: You're often not at home, you hate my favorite music, and you look down on my favorite movie, but strangely enough, you still get the Best Dad award every year. How do you do it? Happy birthday, yeah! "
Signed: Love, Sarah.
Seeing this, Zhao Lei could not help but smile.
Now that he was a father, he couldn't help but feel warm in his heart when he saw this scene.
The little girl's house was very detailed. There were jerseys, sneakers, computers, music, posters, and so on. It looked like a very ordinary American family. However, this kind of decoration gave Zhao Lei a sense of age. It felt like it was from a few years ago. After all, the technological products inside looked quite outdated.
Chen Mo didn't mention the exact year the story took place in, but there were hints in the game.
The newspaper in the room had the latest news: Hospital admissions skyrocketing, strange infections increasing by three hundred percent, Food and Health Department finding more contaminated crops, woman going berserk killing husband and three others, etc.
Joel wasn't in the bedroom, and the TV was still playing news about the infected.
The reporter was reporting on the TV when a gas explosion occurred, cutting off the signal. At the same time, there was an explosion outside the window, and a flame lit up the night sky.
The sound of the TV and the sirens of the cars outside the room made the atmosphere of the game feel strange.
"So, this is the eve of the outbreak?"
Zhao Lei controlled the little girl to look for various elements in the room as he tried to guess what was going on. Obviously, Apocalypse was about the aftermath of the zombie outbreak, and they were currently in the middle of the outbreak.
Rows of police cars whizzed past as Chen Mo went downstairs.
Dogs were barking.
The clock showed that it was two fifteen.
At this time, the phone on the table rang. It was Uncle Tommy, looking for Joel. Zhao Lei continued to control the little girl to look for clues in the room. Suddenly, the dog outside the door let out a cry, and then went silent.
As Chen Mo continued walking, Joel suddenly came running back. He was panting as he talked to the little girl, and was rummaging through the cupboard to reload his gun.
An infected man who had lost his mind crashed through the glass door. He was covered in blood, looking like he was deeply infected and had lost his mind. Joel stood in front of the little girl, and after giving her a warning, he shot the intruder without hesitation.
What happened next was Uncle Tommy picking up the father and daughter, and the three of them escaped together.
The little girl sat in the back seat, watching everything outside through the window in horror.
While driving, Tommy and Joel were discussing the outbreak. A family wanted a ride, and Tommy wanted to stop the car, but Joel stopped him.
Traffic jam, zombies everywhere, car accident, being attacked, carrying the little girl and continuing to run …
The following plot was a standard zombie escape plot, but the atmosphere of the story was created very well. Panicked pedestrians, bursts of screams, a car crashing into a gas station and exploding, a father constantly comforting his daughter, zombies suddenly running out … All of these details were extremely rich, and the scenes and graphics were completely on the same level of detail as "Mysterious Sea", so it gave a very strong sense of realism.
Finally, they arrived at the highway. The soldiers in front of them fired and killed the zombies that were chasing them.
The soldier asked for instructions from his superior, "Sir, there's a little girl here … But … Yes, sir."
Joel seemed to understand something and tried to persuade the soldier, "Listen, buddy, we just escaped from death …"
However, the soldier raised his gun.
He fired!
Instinctively, Joel turned his back to the muzzle, hoping to block the bullet for his daughter. At the same time, he rolled forward.
But the soldier still came in front of Joel and aimed the muzzle at his head.
Just when Joel thought he was going to die, there was a gunshot. Tommy arrived in time and blew the soldier's head off.
But just when Zhao Lei thought that the father and daughter had finally escaped, he found his daughter sobbing. She had been shot in the stomach.
Blood spread instantly, and the little girl's voice gradually became softer …
Joel tried to comfort his daughter in vain. He covered her wound, but he could only watch the little girl die in continuous sobs.
The sad sound of a guitar rang out, and in the silence of the night, Joel hugged his dead daughter and cried.
At this time, the camera pulled up, and the starry sky became dark. In the night sky, the name of the game appeared: "The End of the World"
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