Season 2: Chapter 61. The Rise and Fall of The Advertisement (2)

Season 2: Chapter 61. The Rise and Fall of The Advertisement (2)

His first impression after visiting Zombie School Garden was positive.

‘Wow, there seems to be more users around.’

The amount of new posts had significantly increased compared to before. Most notably, the content of the posts had changed.

‘They’re not just talking about Bubblegum and me anymore. They’re posting strategies.’

Initially, Zombie School Garden had been primarily for Almond and Bubblegum fans. It became more of a space for these two streamers' fans than a community for the game itself. Most conversations revolved around those two, which constituted around eighty percent of the content. Now, it had changed.

‘About half of it is strategies.’

Content purely about the game had increased and made up about half the posts now. Strategy posts received a lot of likes.

‘Seems like the advertising worked well.’

Could this be considered a successful advertisement?

As he thought this...

‘...?’

The top post surprised Sang-Hyeon.

1. I gave Zombie School a 1 star review.

Every game had people who liked or disliked it. Naturally, some gave the game one star and others gave it ten stars. However, it was a different story when such a post ranked at the top with the most likes.

‘Did I do something wrong?’ nove(l)bi(n.)com

He clicked to read the post's content.

[Mutant Zombies? When three more appeared, I thought these developers were insane. I knew Red Hat made twisted games, but shouldn't they at least give average players a chance to clear it? What is this? A game made for Almond? How do people like Bubblegum even clear it?

The earlier ones were tolerable.

It's fine not to deal with Baek Joon-Soo and Kim Woo-Jung as it doesn't significantly affect the game's progress, but isn’t the method to see the ending excessive?

You have to kill the mutant zombies to beat it, right? One hit from their ranged attacks means instant death, and they use instant attacks all the time. Not just one, but three more of them were added as if to say, 'Here's more for you~'

I would have quit the game right there if it were me.]

Basically, the game felt too difficult and frustrating.

‘It doesn't seem like he actually tried it.’

It seemed the user had never actually reached the mutant zombies from how he talked.

‘How can he know without even trying?’

Sang-Hyeon expected others to think like him and checked the comments.

— It’s really just aggressive advertising, so obvious

└ Gamers aren't fooled by that anymore lol

└ With this kind of balance, it'll be crap when it officially launches

— Going to give it 1 star too

└ Party recruitment (1/10000)

└ 222

— Well pointed out. The part where you have to kill mutant zombies at the end is excessive

└ Yeah, weirdly there are no other routes except that one.

└ Just think of it as early access, idiots

The top comments weren't what he expected.

‘Uh... then next.’

He looked further down.

— But is it confirmed? You might not have to kill them.

Some comments sided with Sang-Hyeon's view. Killing the mutant zombies could just be one of many routes, but the response to that was quite cold.

└ If you don't kill them there, you die lol

└ Are you braindead? You die if you don't kill them, idiot lol

The rest said similar things.

— Really illogical

— Like spicy food that just emphasizes heat. Tasteless, just insanely spicy, brainless hot food.

└ Example: Deathly Spicy Spicy Pork Cutlet

└ Tasty spicy example: Bubblegum

...

"Right."

Sang-Hyeon realized it was foolish to search for hope in the comments.

"This wouldn't be the top post if public opinion was different, Yu Sang-Hyeon."

The fact that it got so many likes meant the majority resonated with it. Of course, some comments expressed opposing views.

— Sigh. Newbies whining about Red Hat's games being difficult

└ Because of Almond, all these kids flooded in

└ If it weren't for Almond, it would've been a total flop lol

— Why blame the game company for a lack of skills?

└ Clear it and show us, idiot

These types of comments were nowhere near enough to influence public opinion.

‘I can’t believe public opinion is so one-sided.’

Community opinions usually became polarized in such a way when a certain atmosphere swept up everyone.

Sang-Hyeon glanced at the other top posts.

2. Real skill game = LIL // Just crap game = Zombie School

3. The misconception that making a game hard makes it a masterpiece

4. Even during Mana Sword, I got backstabbed by the 8.1 patch, upvote if you got screwed too lol

5. Almond killing the last 3 bosses lol Is this even a game?

"Red Hat is known for making hard games, but those who are new quickly got swept up from just a few comments. That’s the scary part."

Ju-Hyeok was right.

└ TRUE Masterpiece syndrome

└ Just blindly making it hard to claim it's a masterpiece HAHA

└ Ah, in the end...

Many resonated with the hate and expressed frustration in the comments below.

"But think about it. How many people actually played Red Hat games before? Would people playing games like Kingdom complain about this?"

A comment echoed Ju-Hyeok's words.

└ Are these Kingdom players? This isn’t worth complaining about.

└ Just fucking newbies

Those complaining were not fans of Kingdom or other Red Hat games.

"Most of them complaining are just people who tried because you played it or Bubblegum did."

These general gamers suddenly encountered a Red Hat game for the first time.

"They don’t know what kind of company Red Hat is. From a few comments, they see it as a company that just makes frustratingly hard games."

"Wow."

Sang-Hyeon was impressed.

Ju-Hyeok was seriously smart and knowledgeable about the communities. He had a different perspective from the common prominent names floating around.

"So, what now?"

"What now?"

"What should we do about this mess?"

Ju-Hyeok shrugged as if to say, ‘What can you do?’

"If you don't like the temple, just leave the monastery."

"What? We can't just leave. It's an advertisement!"

Ju-Hyeok chuckled at Sang-Hyeon’s urgent expression.

"Relax. The fact that there’s such criticism means you did well with the advertising. Even gamers who don’t fit this kind of game are all drawn in."

"Oh."

This interpretation made perfect sense.

"Right. Let’s say that if they contact us."

"Hmm. But will they accept that?"

Ju-Hyeok’s remarks seemed to tease him further as Sang-Hyeon’s expressions changed from moment to moment.

"What? But you just said it was okay."

Ju-Hyeok burst into laughter when Sang-Hyeon looked ready to grab him by the collar.

"Hahaha!"

"?"

Ju-Hyeok decided to stop teasing him and told him the truth.

"Don’t worry. The battle's already won."

Sang-Hyeon’s face turned into a question mark. His expression kept shifting. He knew Ju-Hyeok was messing with him, but what was that guy getting at?

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone thinks you have to kill the mutant zombies to end the game, right? That’s the assumption."

"Right."

"But that assumption is wrong."

"?"

"Being killed by the mutant zombies is the actual route."

"...!?"

What? Dying was the actual ending?

Sang-Hyeon was shocked.

"You’re supposed to die to reach the ending. An email came in this morning."

Ju-Hyeok turned the screen to show him the email.

"Technically, it was sent to you."

The email had been sent to the official address of streamer Almond.

[Hello, this is the PR team of WePlug.]

[First of all, thank you for playing our game to the end. We were truly amazed by your unique way of clearing it, Mr. Almond.

Zombie School always supports the players' unique routes.

However, there was one part that was more of an error than individuality. It was our mistake.

Embarrassingly, the last mutant zombies were actually a device to prevent gamers from progressing further. It was intended to increase anticipation for the official release by having those zombies kill the protagonist...]

In summary, being killed by the zombies was the actual ending as Ju-Hyeok said.

"Wow."

Sang-Hyeon was amazed.

This surely rendered all their arguments futile. If the game was designed to kill you, how could they complain about its difficulty?

"This should work, right? I'll post it on our official announcement."

"What about the community?"

"If we post it as an announcement, someone else will surely spread it."

Ju-Hyeok didn’t specify who that someone was. He would probably spread it himself at the right time.

Around lunchtime, the top post rankings had been updated.

1. Breaking News: Zombie School's hilarious revival LOL

Public opinion had flipped again.