Since Kuaishou established a new label three years ago, its products have been attracting much attention, whether it is the "Master of Mystery" mobile game (formerly known as "Code Name Mystery") adapted from the IP of the top online article "The Master of Mystery", or the main meat pigeon gameplay + second game painting style of "Endless Dream Back" (formerly known as "Sleepwalking"), everyone is curious about how far this "Kuaishou Lao Tie" can run on the game track after adjusting his strategy.

A few days ago, "Endless Dreams" ended the third test and is scheduled to be launched at the end of the year. As a game driven by gameplay, "Endless Dreams" chooses to run the meat pigeon element through the entire game structure, which can be called a retrograde in today's environment where the second game focuses on content and light gameplay.

Therefore, our focus naturally falls on the specific performance of the game, and whether it can bring new inspiration to the second-game market.

The meat pigeon actually let Kuaishou play clearly

In China, meat pigeon has always been a very "pleasing" way to play, literally, players like to play, will keep trying various constructions, and constantly have a fresh single-game experience, which can be called a "kill time" weapon. Manufacturers are also happy to do it, and they can make up for the lack of gameplay with limited production capacity, so why not. However, the actual situation also knows that the "meat pigeon" that has become the standard configuration of the second tour is still highly bound to the value and resources.

Frankly, this concern was first felt in Endless Dreams, as the game's two-dimensional art style was one of its selling points in its early debut.

But after this test actually got hands-on, my perception has taken a 180-degree turn.

First of all, it is undeniable that "Endless Dreams" has the shadow of "Hades" - after clearing a small room, players will be offered a buff to choose one of three depending on the genre. Before entering the next room, it will also show which types of buffs will appear in advance, so that players can plan in advance.

But at this point, I think the reference of "Endless Dreams" to "Hades" may stop. "Endless Dream Back" is more about introducing the common "multi-role" switch in the second game into the meat pigeon system, and there are currently nearly 40 characters in the game, which are officially divided into 6 categories according to the genre. Up to three characters can be brought into the game in one game, and each character has two skills: "basic attack" + "burst" and "survival".

On this basis, each character adds up to nearly 100 kinds of reverberations (BUFFs): trait triggers, movement triggers, basic attack triggers, enhanced skills, and changes in attack forms...... If you ask me how many builds I have in a game, I can only tell them to "show the magic of math moments".

It sounds scary, but it's actually not that complicated, and with a little categorization and integration, you can figure out some of the most basic routines.

In addition to the 6 genres mentioned at the beginning, such as summoning flow, melee flow, and spell flow, players can also engage in "100 million" points of "scientific research" by themselves. For one of the experiences, I focused on using the "Kill Trigger" reverberation (BUFF), and even if I didn't use skills, I could effectively clean up the tide just by cutting people.

Of course, the above is still relatively basic, and there are many things in the game that can enrich the depth of construction, such as the combo mechanism - when the reverberation obtained by multiple characters reaches the requirements, a wonderful chemical reaction will be generated, and then the "Martial Soul Fusion Technique" will be triggered.

Another example is "Fantasy Creation" and "Reinforcement Echo", the former is equivalent to the powerful buff at the bottom of other meat pigeon games (such as the relic in "Killing the Spire"), and the latter can allow the character to obtain an additional protection skill, which is equivalent to a screen-clearing ultimate.

In addition to building something that can make people addicted, "Endless Dreams" also has its own "careful thinking" in level design. Each chapter has its own themed map, and in some levels, you may face traps such as waves, lasers, explosives, and occasionally random events: players can turn into gold coins to crush enemies; Or like bowling, pushing the warship towards the enemy; Or enter the hidden map to open the treasure chest; There are even some limited-time challenges......

Even the boss battles have special designs, such as the boss performance in the first chapter is full, the boss in the second chapter has a two-stage form, and the boss in the third chapter requires players to answer questions.

On the in-game chat screen, I have seen players discuss genre building and playing strategies more than once, and the production team also understands the psychology of players, not only building the community's strategy into the game menu, but even allowing players to comment on echoes or characters in the game. It can be said that the production team really understood the meat pigeon gameplay this time.

Not only that, taking into account the diverse needs, the team also launched a variety of casual modes around the meat pigeon gameplay this time, one of which is the survivor mode, as the name suggests, this mode continues the gameplay of "Vampire Survivor", while mowing the grass to relieve pressure, you can also get the echo, and it is not a problem to get nearly 40 echoes in one game.

It should be pointed out that the survivor mode of "Endless Dream Return" will not give players any chicken buffs such as adding blood and recovery speed, but directly strengthening the character's skills, attack forms, etc., which is extremely playable.

In addition, "Endless Dreams" also combined the mode of meat pigeon and chicken eating, and launched the "King Competition" mode, which can be regarded as setting a precedent. Pick points, take BUFFs, run poison, encounter, and then live to the end, the competitiveness and randomness of the game are all full, and after players experience the meat pigeon gameplay of PVE for a long time, the PVP mode can also make players refreshed.

There is even a familiarity to the operation of a MOBA game

Seeing this, it can actually be summed up that "Endless Dreams" is an action pigeon game in its bones, the main plot, PVP, chicken gameplay, and level design have not deviated from the main axis of the meat pigeon, and it is almost impossible to describe this game with "high repetition" after the actual experience.

In the case that the playability can already kill other games, the skin of "Endless Dreams" is not much better than the mainstream second game. There are many players who said, "In similar games, it is better than "Endless Dreams", it is not as fun as it, and it is more fun than "Endless Dreams", but it is not as good." ”

So this time, "Endless Dreams" also has a good performance in terms of art, characters and plot settings, and full dubbing + live2D is still the standard. And the character design of "dream anthropomorphism" can obviously see that the production team has spent a lot of effort, such as the dream of overtime, the dream of getting rich, the dream of Lao Tie, etc., and you can also see a lot of cute Fury characters appearing, and the overall tone is not for sale, which is very down-to-earth.

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The same is true for the plot shaping, the production team did not take the initiative to shape a grand world view, but started from the point of "dream sales", each story is relatively independent, and it is also in line with the scattered impression of "dream", of course, this does not mean that the team can deal with it casually in terms of plot copywriting.

Take the side quests as an example, the way the story is explained in the game is not the kind of "one way", but a multi-line design, and it does not shy away from the appearance of bad endings, such as the branch of the dream of healing "Tomly", which is to save a little boy who can't leave the ward, and the boy's physical condition is imaged as a playground in a dream, and the player's choice will also affect the ending of the story.

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In today's two-dimensional game market, which generally pursues artistic effects and content depth, works that can stick to the essence of the game and not make superficial articles are particularly precious. Kuaishou's "Snap Finger Universe" is now involved in the field of two-dimensional games, which may seem a little inconsistent at first glance, but after careful thinking, you will find that its style of doing things is not surprising at all, and it is still the "Kuaishou Lao Tie" who is used to taking one step at a time.

Meat pigeon and two tour cultivation, can you sit at a table

Now, players are familiar with the consistent operation and development model of the second game, which is undoubtedly a two-sided thing for manufacturers, on the one hand, players have no cognitive threshold, and manufacturers can reach users more conveniently. On the other hand, players tend to be sensitive and sensitive to changes in operational strategies, which requires manufacturers to be more cautious in order to balance revenue and player experience.

Judging from this test, the development idea of "Endless Dream Back" generally continues the model of the second game, but adopts some targeted strategies:

For example, "Endless Dream Back" also has a gacha card, but it uses "not crooked pool"; There is also a "Constellation" system, but it is not an exaggerated numerical stacking, and the character's "Constellation" can increase the probability of drawing high-quality "Reverberation"; The game also sets up an equipment system, but it doesn't put settings such as "specialization" and "random entry" into the development system.

Orange Buff Appearance Rate +40%

In the eyes of many people, meat pigeons and cultivation inevitably mean "Brother Sun with Pan Hui". The meat pigeon cultivation in the game of "Endless Dream Back" is self-contained, but the second game mode is also introduced outside the game, will it make the game development seem more bloated?

The first thing that needs to be mentioned here is that the long-term outside development and the single-game meat pigeon have never been mutually exclusive, but complementary. Like "Vampire Survivor" and "Dead Cell", there are abundant out-of-game cultivation rewards, and the same is true for "Hades", which is also an action pigeon, and the "tokens" sent by the gods can increase the value of players in the game or increase the probability of high-quality buffs.

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Of course, the commercialization model of buyout games and service-based games is very different, especially in the case of "Endless Dream Back", which has no homework for similar games to copy, and it is inevitable that it will fall into a numerical "trap" in operation. In this test, many players reported that the strength of the constellation was too high, which affected the gameplay experience, and was suspected of forcing krypton.

The good news is that the team's response is also very positive, on the first day after this paid test, the producer "Bobo" launched a business war declaration, he mentioned that the paid test has always been a hurdle, and there will always be various indicators and data These off-site factors are pressing on the head, but I still plan to flip the table and make adjustments, such as changing gift packages, adding benefits, and cutting seats.

I have to say that the model of the second game is essentially the product of mutual games and compromises between manufacturers and players. Many games often don't have enough gameplay depth to cover the corresponding development, so it is easy to "friction" with players during the window period of content production.

I think "Endless Dreams" has more ways out this time, and you can seek a breakthrough around the gameplay.

For example, the producer himself is very optimistic that the game does not have the design of "waste card", that is, the strength of the character is not directly linked to the "rarity", and the low-star character is not raised there, and its powerful screen clearing rescue skills can also be used in the field, and if you are willing to study, the three-star character can still be played as the main force after it is formed. Judging from the community observation in the past few days, there are not a few players who discuss the teaming and construction of low-star characters.

And "Endless Dreams" does not use "automatic sweeping" as a selling point like those games on the market, because the team knows that if the meat pigeon is done, players are very willing to take the initiative to start a game, which is actually the natural charm of the meat pigeon game. In other words, playing the game becomes an end in itself, rather than a means to resources.

Also linked to character development is the "Dream Reset" function, in "Endless Dreams", players can reset the Dream Spirit less than level 45 at any time, and return all the development materials, so that players can throw away the cultivation baggage when trying various builds.

All in all, I am very optimistic about the gameplay advantages of "Endless Dreams", although the current commercialization of the game is still in the stage of "crossing the river by feeling the stones", there are joys and sorrows. But with Kuaishou as a backer, the overall conditions are more abundant, and it will not always live with a "small abacus" like other second tours.

On the last day of the paid test, the official simply sent 6666 draws

epilogue

It is undeniable that today's Kuaishou needs a work that can make a reputation, but it is always impossible to eat hot tofu in a hurry. The market has already told us how many games are in a hurry to succeed and ignore the gameplay......

Fortunately, we can still see that there are still manufacturers who are willing to play hard and seek a new way to break the game, although it is not yet possible to make a conclusion about the market performance of "Endless Dreams", but it is also vaguely enough to see the shadow of the era when the gameplay is the first, and we look forward to the performance of the open beta of "Endless Dreams".

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