After experiencing the 263 sky window period, the game version number that has opened the floodgates again is undoubtedly the biggest happy event that the domestic game circle has been rushing to tell in recent days.
Of the 45 new games approved, although familiar faces such as 37 Interactive Entertainment, Heartbeat Network, and Xishanju have appeared, more game companies with the highest market capitalization rankings have not been listed. In contrast, many small and medium-sized companies have become the first people to eat crabs, and casual games account for the majority.
In contrast, the list includes "Master Potter", which has been waiting for 584 days, as well as independent games such as "Sand town time" and "Super Phantom Cat: Island". Among them, an indie game with obvious stylized characteristics has attracted the attention of GameLook.
It is with the help of the heartbeat network that the modern urban survival simulation mobile game "Honor Striker" under The Cool House Games has also become one of the first lucky people to get the version number. As of press time, the game has received a TapTap score of 9.3, and the number of reserved players has exceeded 130,000.
But in fact, the game as early as 2019 to facilitate TapTap to open reservations, and then fell into a two-year silence, during which even many times players suspected "pigeon? Real pigeons? ”。 Until the recent release of the version number, many players excitedly released the news of the official "Cold House, your game version number is down" for the first time, and the Cold House Game quickly replied "Thank you for your attention, stay tuned".
In GameLook's view, the retro black and white style, the simple stickman painting style, the focus on realistic themes... Strictly speaking, the inclusion of this unique-looking "Honor Strike Worker" on the list is somewhat surprising. But because of this, people can't help but feel more curious about this indie game.
The simple painting style depicts the sour, sweet and bitter spicy of the workers
As far as the current exposure information is concerned, as in most survival simulation games with the theme of part-time work, in "Honor Strike Worker", players will also play an ordinary "hit worker" who has left his hometown to fight in a strange city.
The protagonist's family is poor, and he takes on the heavy responsibility of the family at a young age, and goes to the big city alone to earn money and change his destiny - from the official introduction of the game, the general plot of "Honor Strike Worker" is nothing more than work, debt repayment, and family reunion, but it is also this kind of real experience that tastes all kinds of hardships in life and occurs around him, and can empathize with most blue-collar groups.
For the same design, in addition to bearing their own daily expenses, players also need to materially help and improve the living environment of their families. In other words, players need to work multiple jobs at the same time and feel the bittersweet and bittersweet of different industries.
Although the game is currently openly tested or released for real video, it is speculated from the official game screenshots that players should be able to experience grassroots work such as mobile phone quality inspectors, pharmacy employees, team sparring, guitarists, port porters, etc., trying to restore the working and living conditions of most migrant workers in the city.
Judging from the picture, "Honor Strike Worker" obviously adopts a 2D horizontal design, and it is likely to revolve around the three key values of life, physical strength and mood. It is worth mentioning that although the game seems to be a "simple" black and white tone and stickman style, it does not affect the portrayal of realism and details.
It can be seen that the backpack icon in the lower right corner of the screen adopts the canvas bag commonly used by migrant workers, and the protagonist is an ordinary person with a flat head, striped vest, and shorts, and passers-by are also the daily wear of vests and shorts. Although it is a few strokes, it is stained with a strong breath of life.
In contrast, the R&D team is more keen to capture and refine the details of life and bring it into the game, so there is no lack of familiar elements in the scene of "Honor Strike Worker".
For example, the exaggerated banners of "large-scale hot sale, 2-6% off the whole scene" and "out-of-print clearance, one piece left" that will never be won in department stores; the strangely shaped human meridian acupuncture point map in the Chinese medicine store; the mobile phone with various shapes such as full screen and curved screen during quality inspection, almost restoring the scenes in real life.
It is also after understanding the game that some players sighed: "From the black and white simple painting style, you can feel the style of the cool house, referring to "Yuanqi Knight", it may be to make people easy to get started." The content is not boring, since the theme is to work, how many lines of part-time work? Not to mention all, just look at the trailer, there are 10 jobs in this game. ”
At the same time, it also made many workers feel the same: "It's too real to work in the game after work... But it is said that it is an urgent sense of reality substitution (isn't this not me who carefully calculates my salary and spending every month). The overall tone of black and white is very suitable, and everyone is busy working at their desks day after day. When I think about going to work, I am eclipsed. ”
What's more, in the face of this realistic "Honor Strike Worker", he shouted straight out: "I haven't played it, I want to ask, this kind of thing still uses a simulator", "I have always liked the game of the cool house, but impass I say, does this thing still need to be simulated?" ”
The realist genre was very popular, and part-time worked to generate an indie game hotspot
To be honest, whether it is the realistic theme of urban survival or the background story of working in the city to pay off debts, it is easy to think of another domestic independent game "Most" not long ago.
However, compared with "Honor Strike Worker", the game screen is more well-made and the gameplay content is more abundant. From the perspective of scene design alone, "Most" has both bustling urban areas and alleys full of city flavor, and restores the urban village streets that are indispensable in every city. Coupled with the grounded dialect dubbing, the sense of realism is directly full. Therefore, in February this year, the game alone achieved more than 30,000 Steam online users, which became a hot topic among many players at that time.
This is not an isolated case, in recent years, "Chinese Parents", "Perfect Day" and other realistic games have repeatedly come out of the circle. Among them, the theme of "hitting workers" has become a popular choice for independent game projects.
In the past two years, GameLook has also reported on many "part-time work simulators", for example, last year, the "shipping cartoonist K teacher", who is good at using memes and graphics to explain the hot topics of the economy, current politics and the game industry in a funny way, once launched a "middle-aged unemployment simulator" on Steam. Focus on how ordinary middle-aged men with mortgages in the middle, old and old, and small, can resubmit themselves and their families after they lose their jobs.
Earlier, there was a 4-person team "Demon Wind Studio" developed "My Company 996". The game was produced by the team based on their own personal experience, which highly restored the Chinese workplace and became the first wave of domestic independent games with the theme of 996 on Steam. And this real to somewhat heavy game, even let many players sigh "play a serious PTSD".
In GameLook's view, the reason why domestic independent games have poured into the realistic theme of simulated part-time work is actually not difficult to understand.
In essence, such products are both simulation games and survival games, which truly reflect the public's concern and thinking about the current social survival dilemma. Especially in the past two years, the "anti-996, anti-internal volume" wind prevailed, more and more players began to pay attention to similar topics.
Nowadays, compared with fairy tale fantasies such as fairy tales and fantasies, players can feel more empathy in realist themes. As the purest expression in the industry, independent game developers are naturally more willing to take root in the genre. By digging deep into the bittersweet and bittersweet of contemporary workers, bringing players the resonance of the times, this may be the real charm of such games.
epilogue
With the release of the version number, the game circle once again noticed the cold house game and "Honor Strike Worker". Indeed, it was not only GameLook that surprised me, but even many players shouted "I didn't expect That Liangya would choose this type of game, and I still stayed in meat pigeons." ”
In 2017, the launch of "Yuanqi Knight" made the cool house game gradually known to players. But at the same time, the game company, which has been favored by players, is also trying to jump out of the comfort zone. While retaining your own style, try to challenge more themes and genres, such as the action fighting genre of "Battle Soul Mingren", farewell to the dark dungeon of "Yuanqi Knight New Work" and so on.
Today, with the help of "Honor Workers", which focuses on the realistic theme, The Cool House Game is clearly moving towards a larger-scale pan-user. In terms of current performance, the game is indeed worth looking forward to.
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GameLook Daily Game Industry Report
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