The Relic Designer

Chapter 4: The Horror Game Studio That Doesn't Make Horror Games

The rain continued to pour, but Ethan Cross didn’t feel much fear. His emotions were more complicated than anything else.

It was already morning, yet after searching online, he discovered that the storm had caused road closures and flash floods, making it impossible for vehicles to approach the tunnel located at the junction of Riverton, New Haven, and Silvershore.

“I just hope that tunnel hasn’t been blocked by the flood.”

Unable to figure out the reason for the game turning into reality, Ethan had no choice but to accept the absurdity of the situation. “I wonder if it’s still possible to delete those game designs. Looks like I’ll have to head over to Nightfall Games Studio.”

Back when he worked part-time as a game designer, he had collaborated with Nightfall Games Studio several times, providing them with various game design plans and murder mystery ideas. Now, he hoped to go there and delete all the designs he had submitted, in the hopes of stopping the madness.

After a quick breakfast, Ethan packed the photos into his bag, put on his raincoat, and left. He was a man of action.

The storm battered the city, and dark clouds seemed to cover everything. Ethan took a taxi to the northern district of Silvershore.

Originally, after quitting his job as a psychological counselor, his plan was to interview at Nightfall Games Studio to become a full-time game designer.

His reason for entering the industry was simple: there were no horror games on the market that he liked, so he wanted to design his own.

By 9 a.m., he had arrived at the office of Nightfall Games after following the janitor’s directions.

Nightfall Games was part of the largest domestic gaming platform, MapTech. It was one of many game studios under the MapTech umbrella, focusing on suspense and horror games. However, it was currently going through a transition phase, and their situation was far from good.

“Are you all out of your minds?!”

Ethan could hear the shouting even through the glass door, and he peered inside.

Several staff members sat at their desks, and on their large screens, a game was playing— a man in ordinary clothes was playing a séance game in a haunted house, while secretly watching his own death video.

“A love interactive game, you ask for something fresh, and you give me this?” The studio’s manager, Mr.Gormley, stood by the desk with a dark face. His stomach heaved with every breath, and his wig was almost sliding off his head due to his anger.

“You wanted something different from the typical romance games, didn’t you?” Wei Dajiu, the game planner and programmer of Nightfall, sat near the door with an expression like he was ready to run at any moment. He was a fitness enthusiast who had been pushed into a corner by his boss a few years ago and had to turn to the internet for new game design ideas. That was how he had met Ethan. Initially, it was just a task, but Ethan’s game design won that year’s Creative Newcomer Award, and he officially entered the gaming industry.

“I asked for something unique in the romance genre, not for you to resurrect your old horror games!” Mr.Gormley slapped the desk, his remaining hair damp with sweat.

“We’ve worked overtime for two weeks, we’ve all done our best,” Summer Yang, the lead artist, pushed his glasses up and smiled as if the world’s problems had nothing to do with him. Because of his positive attitude, he appeared much younger than his thirty-seven years. He was an award-winning international artist with a wild, eccentric painting style that few people could understand.

“Doing your best?!” Mr. Gormley slapped the desk again. “We’re at the bottom of the rankings out of forty-one studios in MapTech! We can’t go any lower! If we keep failing, they’ll shut us down, and we’ll be kicked out of MapTech!”

Unlike other staff members, Mr. Gormley had been sent by the main company. It was said he had offended someone and was forced to start over. Despite his baldness and potbelly, he was the most passionate person in the studio, desperate to prove himself again.

“You’ve got three days! In three days, I want a normal romance game!” Mr. Gormley grabbed his wig, stormed out of the office with his oversized thermos cup filled with goji berries, but just as he passed the door, he bumped right into Ethan.

Seeing Ethan, Mr. Gormley’s eyelids twitched. He had worked with Ethan many times before and was familiar with his design style and philosophy. He remembered the first time he saw Ethan’s game design proposal— a three-thousand-word document with seventeen references to blood and gore, which had deeply shocked him.

“Ethan… Good morning. You didn’t show up for the interview the day before yesterday, so we hired someone else. She’ll be coming in soon,” Mr. Gormley said, his eyes shifting nervously.

When the studio used to work on suspense games, Mr. Gormley had enjoyed a very successful collaboration with Ethan. But now, with the studio shifting away from horror games, Ethan’s presence felt awkward.

“I’m not here for an interview,” Ethan immediately saw through Mr. Gormley’s discomfort. He was a nice guy and didn’t like causing trouble, so he spoke first. “I’ve encountered some things I can’t explain. I need to take back all the game design proposals I submitted to you and destroy them.”

“Destroy them? Those proposals could be classics once made!” Wei Dajiu stood up and walked over to Ethan. “What happened to you?”

“I probably won’t be making horror games anymore,” Ethan patted Wei Dajiu on the shoulder. “Here’s a piece of advice: stay inside at night for the next few days.”

When Mr. Gormley heard Ethan wouldn’t be making horror games anymore, his enthusiasm returned. “Ethan, I heard from Dajiu that you’ve quit your job at the prison. Why don’t you come here and do something for us? We really value your abilities. You don’t even need an interview!”

“Maybe not.”

Ethan communicated with everyone for a while and finally persuaded Wei Dajiu to open the filing cabinet where the studio stored all the design files. They began sorting through the game proposals he had submitted over the years.

Game development had a long cycle, and the initial investment was massive. Many game ideas couldn’t get funding and had to be shelved.

To be honest, if Nightfall hadn’t been considering a transition and giving up on horror games, it would have been difficult for Ethan to reclaim these creative ideas.

Ethan patiently organized his designs over the years. He categorized his games based on their level of danger: Criminals, Rumors, Omen, Ghostly Words, and Urban Legends.

The “Criminal” category was based on real-life cases, and the danger was entirely human, focusing on reasoning and evidence collection, in line with real-world logic.

“Rumors” also stemmed from murder cases, but with eerie, false stories. The real danger still came from people.

“Omens” represented games where horror began to manifest, and the world began to fall apart, with curses and strange forces as the danger sources.

“Ghostly Words” was a category where the supernatural really started to show up.

The most dangerous category was “Urban Legends,” where everything within a certain range was unsafe, and the rules of the world were altered. Urban Legends would continue to expand and influence more people.

There was also a sixth level of danger—Out of Control Urban Legends. These games, filled with absolute despair, were ones Ethan had designed, and this was the main reason he came to destroy the most hopeless ones. He couldn’t let them become real.

“Thirty-six Criminals, twenty-five Rumors, five Omens, twenty-five Ghostly Words, thirty-one Urban Legends, and four Out of Control Urban Legends… I’ve certainly been busy these years.”