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[Game] Chapter 443-444
🕑 Added 2025-09-17 15:55:02 +0000 UTCChapter 443: New Demo Videos for Dark Souls and Titanfall
Stealing a glance at Haruno—still trapped in a video call with Ichin’s mother in the living room—Yukino quietly returned to Ichin’s side and picked up the kitchen knife to resume chopping vegetables.
“Brother, I think Onee-san is definitely going to want payback later.”
“That’s fine, I’m already prepared.”
Ichin, holding a bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other, beat eggs while declaring righteously, “This is all for Haruno’s future happiness, isn’t it?”
On the other side, Utaha lightly kicked his calf and said with exasperation, “You only did this because of what Haruno-san said in the car earlier, didn’t you?”
“…Alright, you saw right through me.”
Ichin shrugged. “But hey, not just anyone gets to covet my good looks.”
He was getting more shameless by the day. Utaha poked his waist twice with her fingers in mock annoyance before returning to dinner prep.
Meanwhile, after enduring ten minutes of interrogation from Ichin’s mom, Haruno finally ended the call and appeared in the kitchen doorway. She glared at Ichin.
“Nice going, Ichin.”
“Hm?”
Ichin glanced over and grinned. “So, Mom agreed to help find you a boyfriend?”
Haruno’s lips twitched, her face twisted in frustration. “Yeah. Godmother’s actually planning to do it. She’s probably already on the phone with my mom to discuss it.”
Which made sense—they’d have to coordinate.
Ichin laughed at her sour expression. “Don’t worry, Haruno. It’s nothing serious. With how much my mom likes you, she won’t introduce just anyone. She’ll screen them thoroughly—probably three or four times. That’ll take at least a month. So you’re safe for now. If there’s a blind date, it won’t be until late July or August. Just treat it as a trip to China—go sightseeing, and squeeze in a date or two.”
“Ichin!”
Haruno exploded. She stormed over and locked her arm around his neck from behind, rubbing his hair furiously. “If that day really comes, you’re coming with me!”
Ichin just laughed, nodding. “No problem. And not just me—Utaha and Yukino will definitely come too.”
Both Utaha and Yukino nodded in unison.
“Hmph. That’s more like it.”
In truth, Haruno wasn’t actually that opposed to Ichin’s mother setting her up. She was mostly upset at being blindsided like this, her rhythm thrown off. But with Ichin obediently letting her ruffle his hair, her anger quickly melted away.
Once she let go, Ichin said with a smile, “Alright, Haruno, you’ve worked all day. Go relax in the living room. Tonight we’ve got your favorites—crispy fried pork and sweet-and-sour ribs.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear!”
With good food promised, Haruno’s mood lifted completely. Humming a tune, she left the kitchen.
Utaha and Yukino exchanged glances at Ichin. He just shrugged. “Even a girl like Haruno-san can’t resist good food, right?”
Day by day, the release date for Fall Guys drew closer.
But before that, Ichin wanted to stir things up again—to draw even more attention to their company.
So on July 8th, just two days before Fall Guys launched, the company’s social accounts dropped two brand-new gameplay videos:
- A fresh demo of Dark Souls
- And, the one shooter fans had been dying to see, a demo of Titanfall.
Rather than spacing them out, Ichin dropped both at once, right before the big launch.
The Dark Souls demo showed much more than the first teaser—flashy boss moves, new monsters large and small, and players unleashing dazzling spells, sorceries, and weapon arts.
If basic swordplay was pure warrior gameplay, then with the addition of spells and skills, the overall spectacle had risen several notches.
“I saw so many dragons—and they’re huge!”
“A dragon just jumped me after two steps in a castle… this game’s gonna hurt. Looks brutal.”
“Don’t care, I’m maining a sorcerer when this comes out!”
“Magic is cool, but melee looked amazing too—those massive greatswords and heavy armor!”
“Did nobody notice the lightning spear? That’s different from the blue magic—there are blue, yellow, and red spell effects. Multiple casting systems confirmed?”
Because the magic and miracles looked so flashy, most players focused their discussions there, leaving melee in the background. But that was exactly what Ichin had expected. He hadn’t shown everything—late-game sorceries like White Dragon Breath, Soul Stream, and Giant Lightning Spear were still under wraps. He’d also added plenty of new spells, making mages far more versatile and fun to play.
Of course, pure warrior builds got upgrades too—the weapon arts were even more powerful and spectacular, though with higher risk.
Then came the Titanfall demo, which exploded with hype.
The protagonist looked ridiculously powerful—wall-running, sliding, cloaking—turning battles into cinematic showcases. If not for the UI visible onscreen, many would’ve mistaken it for a CGI trailer.
And once the Pilots called in Titans, the action hit a fever pitch.
Beyond the default Titan loadout, two new classes were shown:
- Ronin with explosive close-range combat and high damage.
- Scorch, even flashier, unleashing walls of fire and seismic shockwaves that wiped out enemy Titans in seconds.
Two very different games, two very different genres—but both demos showed incredibly polished gameplay. And yet neither had a release date. Both ended with the same line: “Still in development. Release date to be announced soon.”
“With graphics and polish like this, and it’s still in development? That means there’s even more content hidden away?!”
“Too much good stuff—I can’t wait any longer! Hurry up and release already!”
“Go play Fall Guys first.”
The very next day, the final pre-release trailer for Fall Guys dropped as well.
***
Chapter 444: Fall Guys Launch
Unlike the two games shown before, Fall Guys had already gone through a public test. Players had experienced its quality firsthand, and it was also the closest to release.
In the latest launch trailer, many stages that hadn’t appeared during the test were revealed: a giant, exaggerated roller-coaster map, a mountain-climbing map where players had to reach the summit, and a pyramid map where lava relentlessly chased from below. Compared to the test run, the new courses were larger and far more complex, fueling players’ excitement.
And, of course, the wacky costumes for the little bean-shaped characters became a major motivator for players to grind the game.
Dinosaur skins, panda skins, astronaut skins, dragon skins—even crossover skins from their own titles like Hollow Knight and Slay the Spire.
“So many skins! I saw several Hollow Knight ones!”
“Smart—crossing over with your own games means no extra licensing fees.”
“Still, I want skins from other games too!”
“If the sales are good, we’ll definitely get them, right?”
Ichin naturally saw the community’s discussions. He had long prepared a huge list of potential crossover skins. If negotiations went smoothly, he could release two collaborations per month for a whole year.
Whether from games or anime, anything was possible—the designs would look great regardless.
“Hmm… since we’re already planning a GARO game project, why not release a GARO collaboration skin before that game launches?”
With that thought, Ichin immediately called the folks at Tohoku Shinsha, briefly explaining his idea. After about ten minutes of talks, the deal was settled: if Fall Guys maintained its heat within a month of launch, the collab skin could go live.
For GARO, which hadn’t had a new series this year, it was perfect cross-promotion—a way to stay visible so tokusatsu fans wouldn’t forget it.
As for other collaborations, Ichin planned to wait until the first-week sales numbers came in, then use that leverage to approach IP holders.
And so, amid eager anticipation, on July 10th Fall Guys officially launched.
Even before release, pre-orders had already surpassed one million. On launch day itself, sales skyrocketed to two million copies across all platforms.
By that evening, Steam concurrent players alone passed 500,000. Combined with Switch and PlayStation, the total active players were nearly one million.
That figure was staggering—normally, only evergreen multiplayer or competitive titles like Battlefield, Call of Duty, or CS reached those heights.
Of course, Battlefield and COD had declined in recent years2042’s flop was still fresh in everyone’s memory.
Regardless, the data was reason for Ichin to celebrate. That very night, he messaged Hazuki, still at the office, telling her to issue a bonus for the Fall Guys dev team on payday as encouragement.
The game wasn’t expensive, but with strong quality, sales had already hit two million.
Conservatively, Ichin estimated that as long as they steadily updated with new courses, skins, and seasonal rankings, both sales and online population would keep growing at a healthy pace.
The only real threat was cheaters.
For anti-cheat, Ichin had partnered during development with a friend of Umiko’s—a specialist in anti-cheat systems. Together they built tailored protections into the game, designed to be effective without burdening system performance.
He had also set up a dedicated security team within the company to monitor and respond to online cheating. Still, since the game had just launched, no one yet knew how many cheaters would appear, or how advanced the hacks would get.
From day one, Fall Guys became the darling of livestreaming platforms. With its more varied maps, new skins, and endless comedic moments, viewership shot up dramatically.
And from those countless viewers, even if only a small fraction bought the game, it still meant huge profits for the developers.
Within a week, global sales hit three million. Ichin wasn’t too surprised—it was an affordable multiplayer title, so rapid sales were expected.
But for games like this, what mattered most was long-term operation—retaining the massive wave of players gathered at launch.
Development costs had already been recouped. Now it was all about ongoing updates. Hazuki had already dispatched staff to negotiate with selected IP holders for collaborations.
As for GARO, the crossover content entered production just three days after launch.
They chose two skins: GARO himself in gleaming gold, and Jinga, a striking silver-and-red mix. The designs combined Fall Guys’ cuteness with the ferocity and flair of Makai Knights.
Alongside the skins, they also designed a new castle-themed map inspired by GARO.
After reviewing the design drafts, Ichin nodded and told Hazuki:
“Send these over. If they don’t request changes, proceed with this version. Two skins and one map—how long will development take?”
“Not long at all,” Hazuki smiled. “Once the skins are designed, making them only takes a few days. The map’s bigger, so it’ll take a little longer, but overall less than ten days. And of course, it’s not just one person working on it.”
“Good. If you’re confident, then schedule the update for early August. And make sure to put out a preview video beforehand, so players know what’s coming. Let’s do that for every major update going forward.”
“No problem. Leave it to us!”
***
