"Dammit, so close!"
"This time, I have better equipment. Watch me tear you apart!"
"Heh, this set of gear is amazing. I didn't know it could be paired like this!"
Outside of Murakami Ichiro's office, some employees who had arrived at work were already at their desks.
Not long after they began working, they started hearing voices faintly coming from Murakami's office.
"What's the boss up to?"
"Sounds like he's playing a game?"
"What game could make our usually calm boss lose his temper like that?"
...
...
Everyone was quite surprised.
Murakami Ichiro had always given the impression of being a mild-mannered, charismatic person.
He had always worked hard to promote games in his own way, helping more people discover them.
A group of like-minded people had joined his company because they believed in his vision.
Murakami was rarely seen getting angry. What kind of game could possibly make the boss, who usually had such a good temperament, act like this?
A discussion quickly started among the employees.
"Could it be Titanfall? I've noticed that in the online PVP mode of Titanfall, there have been so many players with incredible skills. I often don't even see them before they wipe me out. It's almost impossible to play."
"That doesn't sound right. The boss keeps talking about 'equipment' and 'gear.' Titanfall doesn't have that, does it?"
"Maybe it's Dragon's Treasure? It just released a new dragon dungeon. I played it a bit at home the other day."
"Sounds like it... but if he were doing a dungeon, he'd probably be shouting even more loudly, right?"
As they continued to discuss, Murakami Ichiro inside his office was becoming more and more irritated.
This game... is tough.
At first, the game's difficulty was manageable. The little monsters' attacks and damage were high, but if you played carefully, it was still doable.
But there were too many monsters, and occasionally, a few of them would deal damage, which added up and became really annoying.
Moreover, the way to replenish health was very limited.
This forced Murakami Ichiro to find ways to avoid getting hurt, or he'd die quickly.
It felt like the game was intentionally making things difficult for the player.
This reminded Murakami of another tough game: Monster Hunter.
However, Monster Hunter had a much better progression curve. Once you collected enough gear and figured out the attack patterns of the major monsters, it became easier to kill them.
But Dead Cells... the growth of the player and the monsters was almost synchronized.
No matter how much stronger you got, the monsters' attack and defense stats would also increase, making your improvements meaningless.
The longer he played, the more he felt like smashing his keyboard.
But every time the wriggling mass of flesh brought him back to the starting point, he couldn't resist starting the next round.
It was like some kind of curse.
Occasionally, Murakami Ichiro would shout in frustration, and outside, the employees, who had been playing games at their desks, couldn't focus on their work anymore. They gathered around Murakami's office, listening to him rage.
It was very rare to hear the young boss shout like this.
"I know why the boss keeps getting so angry!"
At that moment, one of the employees suddenly shouted a little louder.
Everyone quickly turned their heads to see that the person was staring at the screen at their desk.
A few employees walked over curiously.
"What do you know?"
"It's this game. I saw some reviews earlier. You should check them out."
The others immediately looked at the screen.
On the Dead Cells game's main page, there were already around thirty or forty reviews at the bottom.
Most of these reviews had been posted that morning.
The game had just launched the night before, and players who were already interested in games by 'Nintendo's World Domination' and Triangular Game Studio rushed to try it out first.
And then, they got a harsh lesson.
If people played Dead Cells because of 'Nintendo's World Domination,' they could somewhat accept it, because this developer's games were always unpredictable, and fans of this developer enjoyed that sense of curiosity.
But the players of Triangular Game Studio were different.
They had played Farm Defense War, and suddenly, the game had taken a drastic turn, becoming a highly difficult game. This made them unable to accept it, so they ran to the comment section to complain.
"Too hard? Harder than Monster Hunter? Was this intentional?"
"Sounds like it. The game's description clearly says that the levels are highly challenging."
"A game that can make the boss this angry must be interesting," one person said.
Everyone immediately looked at him.
He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
Someone sarcastically said, "You must be a masochist."
"Is it just because it's hard? Actually, I think games with a higher difficulty give you a stronger sense of achievement."
"Then let's buy it and see?"
"Quick, buy it! We want to see what kind of game makes the boss this angry."
Everyone started encouraging the person at the computer to buy Dead Cells.
"Ugh, 1,900 yen... that's almost the highest price for indie games right now, but whatever. This is our job."
The person at the computer successfully made the purchase and started downloading the game.
"Wait... only 400MB? That's kind of small. The game's description seemed to suggest it was packed with content?"
"Let's see. After all, Super Mario used to fit so much fun into just a few KB, so 400MB isn't that much."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's hurry and check out the game and see what's going on!"
The game quickly finished downloading, and the group gathered around the computer, watching intently.
From a distance, Murakami Ichiro's office could still occasionally be heard filled with angry shouting.
It was truly rare to hear the boss this angry.
With curiosity in their hearts, they all jumped into the game.