The Hardest Mode of All
Sorry for acting like a veteran.
Any gamer who loves games has had that experience at least once. "Wow, this game is truly amazing!" It’s so good that a single playthrough just isn't enough. The moment you find a masterpiece like that, your soul as a gamer burns so bright it turns to ash. The survival apocalypse game, Star Doll, was that kind of masterpiece for me.
At first, I bought it used, not even a new copy, just wanting something to play casually. But the combat system, which required perfect timing, and the massive, bowl-filling open-world map were incredible. Because it was an apocalypse genre, you had to manage food, stick to a sleep schedule, and beat down bizarre monsters. While those hyper-realistic elements made it polarizing for some, for a "hollow" user like me, there was no better blessing. Pain is pleasure.
There’s even a mechanic where you starve to death if you leave your character idle for too long, even in front of a save-capable bonfire! I couldn't resist that. Honestly, for a Souls-like + Apocalypse + Sci-Fi nerd like me, every single small system was precious "content." In that sense, Star Doll was so realistic it felt excessive, and I even went out of my way to buy a PC just to use the user-created workshop, becoming the first console user to install the even more difficult Hard Mode.
Before I knew it, I had become a fossil of this god-tier game. From map layouts to strategies for various challenges—"Android's Gigolo," "Dollphobia," and so on. I was a crazy veteran who even cleared the final boss with 1 HP in "Nude Mode," where one touch meant death. I was called by many titles, but since they were all true, I couldn't even refute them. I’d even become a moderator on the 'Apocalypse Gallery,' but lately, it was hard enough just stopping the 'Grandma Nukes'...
Even though it came out yesterday, was there no new content? As I was posting on the gallery and goofing off while the other mods were away, I saw it.
"?! A Hard-Hard Mode for Star Doll, where you die if a basic mob hits you more than five times?"
"...Is it another grandma?"
Gallery specialty: Just when you get excited, a grandma picture pops up, and you want to tear everything apart. But even knowing it was a minefield, I couldn't stop my mouth from watering. ...For the record, it wasn't because of the grandma. As a moderator, it was my job to check these things out anyway.
"Let's see..."
A Hard-Hard mode for a Souls-like game. Was there really a mod out there that could make even a veteran like me burn to ash? I tried to suppress my twitching lips as I clicked the post, expecting the usual nuclear grandma... but then:
...I expected a trap, but it wasn't! The fact that there was no grandma picture gave it credibility. More than anything, the author didn't provide a separate explanation for the mod, just a simple warning. It made them seem like a veteran who knew their stuff. That provocation... you're trying to seduce me, aren't you?
Without a moment's hesitation, I commented.
...What? This guy? He's offering me that kind of 'consideration'?
In an apocalypse world where survival is the principle, the author was muddying the waters from the start. I had high expectations because he was the creator of the Hard-Hard Mode, but his tone sounded like a newbie who had only dabbled in Souls-like games. The kind of guy who would equip the best gear in the late game, max out potion uses before the final boss, or summon an NPC to fight alongside him! 'Is this even a Hard-Hard mode, or just a Normal mode?'
I could already tell he was a total newbie. But since I had consumed all the content and there was nothing else to do until next year's DLC, I relented.
After some persuasion, the Star Doll Hard-Hard Mode arrived in my email. Unlike its name, I didn't have high expectations that it would be difficult, but eating spicy food every day can be hard on the stomach. "Let's treat this as a healing session." I installed the mod and booted up Star Doll as usual. But I didn't know yet.
Whoosh.
Beyond the fact that there wasn't a single human shadow in sight, the landscape of Seoul was in ruins. "Damn it..." The city was covered in forests. It was a hardcore apocalypse in its truest form. I had somehow entered the world of Star Doll.
Perhaps it was since my 12th playthrough, to enjoy Souls-like games more, I had started imposing 'restraints' on myself, beyond the game's systems. For example, playing with only one eye, or using only my feet, or rolling in real life, and eventually doing it while standing on my hands. They were fun ways to play, but my body couldn't keep up, and I had to stop when I got a herniated disc.
That should have been it, but... "This is even worse."
A blue sky without a single speck of fine dust. Of course it would be. The setting was that the country that produced the dust had vanished thousands of years ago, and the city where people once lived had formed a massive rainforest in harmony with nature. It was the quintessential apocalypse background without a single person. Usually, a calm orchestral soundtrack would accompany such a background, but all I could hear were birds chirping.
The background unfolding before my eyes was no longer the graphics made of 0s and 1s from behind a screen. "...VR mode?" No way, was this the "Link Start" I’d heard about? I touched my face and head, checking to see if I could feel a helmet. I could play my favorite Souls-like game as if it were reality? This should have been news to make me want to scream with joy—if I weren't currently naked, without even a pair of underwear to take off.
Anyway, that 'good news' was nonexistent. Modern technology couldn't possibly create such a perfect VR world, and my head felt its usual weight. There was only one fact I could deduce from this.
"...I'm screwed."
I had possessed the world of Star Doll, the masterpiece I’d invested over 20,000 hours into. And not even as an android capable of fighting the monsters in the game, but as a 20-something-year-old loser who just played games at home (with a big dick, for the record).
"I didn't know Hard-Hard Mode meant this kind of hard."
It was definitely hard. So hard that I might be having tea with death by tomorrow. It was still daytime, so only herbivores were running around the forest-covered city. But once night fell, there was a risk of encountering wolf packs, other carnivores, or the monsters that would start their activities in earnest.
"Should I at least find a place to rest?"
As I looked around, I glanced down. As if to set the stage for my awakening, there was a coffin-sized capsule at my feet. I had come out of it when I first opened my eyes. Could I use this capsule as a bed? ...The idea crossed my mind for a moment. But.
"It's too heavy!"
It was way too heavy. As expected of a hardcore genre. It was a game world so realistic that it didn't even have an inventory. If this were a typical game possession story, I would have farmed nearby items and explored at my leisure, but that didn't seem possible here.