nucmednet Chapter 56 Evil Inscription
Chapter 56 Evil Inscription
Unfortunately, the widespread condemnation expected by peers did not materialize, because Beehive released the last mini-game for its Cologne demo – Engraving Evil.
This game has quite a pedigree, having already garnered immense popularity at Gamescom. However, its popularity was overshadowed by Overwatch, preventing it from truly breaking out of its niche. Otherwise, it had the potential to become a phenomenon.
Objectively speaking, among the three games, "Evil Engraving" has relatively weak long-term replayability and its overall influence in the previous life was not as great as the other two, only having an excellent reputation in a niche core circle.
However, the gameplay demo of "Evil Engraving" was extremely short, allowing viewers to directly experience some of the gameplay elements, making the live stream exceptionally effective.
Coupled with the consistently good reputation that Hive has built up, this new game has garnered the highest level of anticipation from players.
Even though Beehive didn't spend much money this time, many streamers were already eager to try it out, sitting in front of their computers on time, ready to be among the first to experience this uniquely styled card game.
------
Yinzi, a top streamer in the Shark platform's gaming section, was already sitting in front of his computer, eagerly anticipating the official launch of "Evil Engraving".
"Here we go, everyone!"
He said excitedly, "I've been looking forward to this game for so long, and the day has finally come!"
During the game download, Yinzi, speaking in a thick Tianjin accent, joked and teased the audience about the bee swarm.
"To be honest, the gameplay of these mini-games from the Hive is top-notch, one after another, but the art style is just a bit..."
He clicked his tongue, carefully choosing his words before continuing:
"I specifically asked around about their own Bee Queen Engine. With the power of this engine, producing high-definition images is a piece of cake."
"On the contrary, it would have taken a lot more effort to deliberately create this minimalist pixel style. I really don't understand what Mr. Yang was thinking. I really want to ask him in person if I have the chance."
"Perhaps it's for optimization purposes? Vampire Survivor and Stardew Valley are large enough to be released on mobile."
As a top streamer, his network speed is naturally excellent. The game downloaded and installed smoothly in just five or six minutes.
Upon entering the game, Yinzi was greatly shocked by the nostalgic yet slightly eerie art style and game music.
"Brothers, this is the taste! I love it!"
"Um... why can't I click 'New Game'? I can only click 'Continue'? That's interesting!"
"This opening was probably intentionally designed by the authorities."
With a "beep" sound effect, Yinzi selected the clickable option to continue the game.
The scene then descends into complete darkness, with Yinzi sitting in front of a wooden table.
The area across the table was completely dark, but Yinzi could vaguely see a pair of eyes in the darkness. Clearly, something was hidden in the darkness.
"Another challenger... It's been so long, you've probably forgotten how this game is even played."
"Let me give you a hint..."
"Sacrifice... Summoning..."
A beginner's tutorial kept Yinzi on the edge of his seat, making him feel incredibly excited.
"Brothers, this weirdly styled tutorial is like a scorpion's droppings—poisonous!"
"The hand-drawn style combined with the eerie, dark atmosphere is just perfect!"
The viewers were seeing this kind of dark fairy tale-like hand-drawn art style for the first time, and the chat was filled with curious comments.
"What a rare art style! I feel like there's something lurking in the darkness, something that might suddenly appear and snap Inoko's neck."
"Five hundred axemen? The signal is to smash a trophy on the other side!"
"You can always trust Yang Yi's aesthetic sense, except for vampire survivors!"
"I feel like even if the gameplay is utter garbage, Yinzi would still eat it just by looking at the visuals!"
After the tutorial, the opponent hands the protagonist a hand-drawn map and a chess piece representing Yinzi.
However, at this point, there was only one road on the map, with several icons scattered along it, and Yinzi still didn't know what they represented.
I could only follow their lead and take one step forward. The map was put away, and two more cards appeared on the table.
Viper - Death Touch: Cards bearing the mark inflict damage on other creatures, causing that creature to die instantly.
Cat - Everlasting Life: Creatures bearing this mark will not perish when sacrificed.
Both cards are very powerful, but you can only get one. After much deliberation, Yinzi chose the cat.
Unfortunately, this game incorporates a cost mechanism similar to Plants vs. Zombies, so having an extra card that can be continuously sacrificed is extremely useful in the early game.
The selected card map reappears, this time with a backpack containing three items.
Squirrel Bottle x2: Break it to obtain an offering.
Pliers: can be used to change the result of a balance scale.
The squirrel bottle prop is simple and easy to understand, but the pliers are a bit hard to figure out.
"Brothers, does he mean he can change the outcome of the scales? How? By simply putting the pliers on?"
The comments section was filled with confusion, with no one able to explain why.
Unable to get an answer, Yinzi decided to try it out when the opportunity arose.
Finally, Yinzi faced his first battle in the game.
"My turn, draw a card!"
Hand cards: Squirrel, Weasel, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Cat.
"Brothers, the first battle is here. Wait, why can this weasel talk?"
"Never mind, I'll break a squirrel bottle to get a squirrel, sacrifice a weasel that's on the field, and then sacrifice a cat that's on the field for endless sacrifices."
After this whole ordeal, the viewers' blood pressure skyrocketed.
"Everyone says you've completely wrecked that weasel card!"
"No, why not sacrifice the cat first? Aren't cats an unlimited number of sacrifices?"
"This move is giving me a blood pressure spike! They've lost a whole squirrel!"
"Monkey brain overload!"
Looking at the explanations in the comments, Yinzi scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
"Really? I didn't notice. Let me review..."
"Oh, it really is!"
"But this game is well-designed; if you're bad at it, the weasel will even complain!"
Despite being a novice, the first battle was easy; Yinzi won effortlessly.
"I chose the Cat God card! Infinite sacrifice saves me a lot of Squirrel cards!"
"However, it also has a weakness: this card will occupy a position indefinitely if it is not attacked."
"Sometimes it actually affects the output."
After defeating the enemies blocking the way, the road behind slowly appears, and it's time to choose cards again.
Wolf Cub - Young: Cards bearing this mark become stronger after one turn on the table.
Sparrow - Air Raid: Cards carrying this mark can fly over creations to attack the player directly.
We've already seen these two imprinted Yinzi in the previous battle; in terms of card stats, the wolf cub is still superior.
Having just chosen his cards, his next scene requires him to sacrifice an offering bearing a mark.
At this moment, Yinzi only had two marked cards in his hand—the ever-renewing cat and the young wolf cub.
The cat couldn't bear to part with it, so he had to reluctantly sacrifice the wolf cub he had just acquired and hadn't even had a chance to warm up.
As a result, after the sacrifice, you can choose another card as the host, and Yinzi is no longer sad.
This is just a card enhancement card with the Legacy Mark. Once you get a top-tier card, you can just sweep through the enemy ranks...
After much deliberation, he placed the calf's mark on the weasel.
Since it kept saying "Pick me, pick me," Yinzi decided to give it a chance.