Chapter 21: Overwhelming Praise

Game Development: Starting by Healing the Players 

Chapter 21: Overwhelming Praise

The next morning, Chen Xu arrived at the company at seven-thirty, but surprisingly, Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue had already arrived.

The moment the two saw Chen Xu push open the door, they rushed over to him with excited expressions.

“It blew up! It absolutely blew up! President Chen, the game’s reputation has exploded!” Yang Xin exclaimed excitedly, holding a laptop in her hands.

Displayed on the screen was the rating on the official app store.

9.9 points—a ridiculously high score.

And that wasn’t all. Two media outlets had already published reviews of Undertale on the second day after its release.

What was even more shocking was that both outlets had given the game a perfect 10 out of 10!

One review site, Game Time, had gone even further, practically praising the game to the heavens.

The review contained no spoilers. Instead, the writer spent the entire article teasing readers with an almost deliberately cryptic tone.

For example, after finishing Undertale, the editor had remained silent for a long time.

“This is a game that breaks free from the constraints imposed by traditional RPGs.”

“It overturns the player’s understanding of RPGs. Who would have thought a game could be this astonishing?”

“Although it is a low-budget indie game, it delivers an experience more emotionally impactful than many AAA titles.”

Similar praise could be found throughout Undertale’s comment section.

It was filled with all kinds of bewildering comments.

For example:

“An unbelievable RPG. Even when I reached the end, my spine was still tingling!”

“It shattered your mercy—and mine!”

“This fills you with determination!”

“The sales aren’t bad either, but for now, we just need to let things ferment a little.” Chen Xu took the laptop and glanced at the sales figures in the backend, a smile appearing on his face.

2,749 copies. It wasn’t exactly a spectacular number.

But that was perfectly normal. Although the previous publicity stunt with Zhong Mei had attracted attention, in reality, it had merely made more players aware of the name Undertale.

To many players, both Nebula Games and Chen Xu were still completely unfamiliar.

The only remotely notable title associated with them was an adult game.

As for Undertale’s price, Chen Xu had set it at 36 yuan, the same price as in his previous life.

For an indie game, it wasn’t particularly expensive. Besides, the overall economy in this parallel world was considerably stronger than in his previous life. Otherwise, the gaming industry could never have developed to such a prosperous state.

From 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. was considered prime time.

The review from Game Time had already begun driving interest in the game, while this period was also when players were generally free and able to sit down and play.

Before 7 p.m., Undertale’s sales were increasing by roughly 500 copies per hour.

But once 7 p.m. arrived, that figure more than doubled, reaching around 1,200 copies per hour.

At the same time, total sales successfully surpassed 14,000 copies.

The number of reviews was also gradually increasing.

After all, only a day and a half had passed since Undertale officially launched on the gaming platform.

That evening, Yang Xin was celebrating with Chen Xu in the private room of a hotpot restaurant. When she heard the sales figures Chen Xu announced, her face lit up with excitement.

Although Mirror had previously achieved astonishing sales, she hadn’t been involved with it at the time. She had merely watched from the sidelines.

But she had participated in the production of Undertale from beginning to end.

Even if the development process had felt like a case of “doing nothing and still winning,” the fact remained that she had handled most of the game’s story content herself.

That gave her a genuine sense of accomplishment.

“I wonder how many copies it’ll eventually sell!” Ruan Ningxue took a sip of her juice, equally excited.

“I feel like it could break a million!” Yang Xin said enthusiastically.

“Judging from the current trajectory of its reviews, reaching a million is only a matter of time.” Chen Xu smiled and nodded confidently.

………………

Unlike Chen Xu, who remained completely confident, the players who had been following Undertale closely, along with various game designers in the industry, went crazy when they saw the game’s reviews.

What was going on?

At He School Culture & Entertainment, Zhong Mei’s eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets. He had absolutely no intention of leaving work.

“Did Nebula Games pay them off? How much money would that take?”

He had bought favorable reviews from the media himself before. But Undertale was simply too outrageous!

That was his first thought.

It was also the first thought of almost everyone else who saw Undertale’s results.

Not a single one of them believed that Undertale’s actual quality deserved reviews like these.

After all, it was just a low-budget indie game.

And a score like this could easily be described as the hallmark of a true masterpiece.

But did a low-budget game like Undertale really deserve it?

At the same time, however, this also sparked the curiosity of a large number of players. What exactly was Undertale?

Once these players became curious, many of them would inevitably become another part of the countless positive reviews, adding even more fuel to the fire.

The most direct evidence of this was the game data that Chen Xu had been watching closely.

Every time he refreshed the figures after another hour had passed, there was another substantial increase.

Of course, what mattered even more was the game’s rating.

The reviews were almost unanimously positive, and the overall score remained at 9.9. It hadn’t dropped at all despite the rapidly increasing sales.

Everyone knew that a game’s rating would usually gradually decline as its player base grew.

Generally speaking, a score of 8.5 was already considered the baseline for an excellent game.

A score of 9 meant the game could be considered a high-quality title, while anything from 9.5 upward could already be called a masterpiece.

Yet despite Undertale’s explosive sales growth, its player rating remained remarkably stable.

It was certain that the score would eventually fall as more and more players played the game, but maintaining such a rating was already incredibly impressive.

And in the store’s review section, players were making their opinions about the game abundantly clear.

“I thought this was just going to be an ordinary RPG where you fight monsters, but I have to admit, the appearance of the little flower and the ending that followed completely shocked me!”

“I initially became curious about Nebula Games and Chen Xu because of Mirror, but I have to say, Undertale showed me what a game really is! Seriously, it completely overturned my understanding of RPGs!”

“I can only describe it as unbelievable!”

“Whatever you do, don’t hurt the monsters in this game, or you’ll regret it! Trust me!”

“The wind is howling. Standing before you is a true hero!”

“It’s absolutely explosive! I have a feeling that Undertale is definitely going to become a huge hit!”

“The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and a child like you should burn in hell!”

“This fills you with determination!”

“Incredibly innovative and breathtaking game design!”

Countless players gave Undertale extremely high praise. Naturally, there were also a few negative reviews mixed in.

They dragged the overall score down by 0.1, but compared with the tidal wave of positive reviews, those negative comments were nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

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Tn: I updated the story once a day, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.

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