C170: Big fool Chen Xu! 

It is. Indeed…

The world was undifferentiated, shrouded in fog, gray rocks, towering trees… and immortal ancient dragons.

[The video footage was filled with white fog, desolate stones, and towering trees. In the white fog, a huge dragon-shaped shadow flashed by.]

But one day, the first fire was lit, and all differences were born

Cold and hot

Light and Dark

Life and death

[The scene quickly shifted, showing a tiny spark in the darkness, which eventually grew into a burning flame.]

[This flame was so hot and vast, far surpassing the small flame in the finale of Dark Souls. The flame before them seemed like the sun itself.]

Then, several beings born of darkness appeared.

They were drawn to the fire and discovered the king's soul around it.

In front of the flames, countless shadows emerged from the ground, facing the fire.

Original Dead: Night in the endless darkness, a huge skeleton appeared, holding a flame in his hand, standing tall.

The Witch of Izaris and the Daughter of Chaos, A woman, her face hidden beneath a mage's hood, gazed down at the flames she held.

Sun King Gwen and his knights– Gwen, crowned, also held the flame in both hands. But compared to the flames of the witch and Night, the flames before Gwen appeared more intense. Behind him stood countless knights, ready for battle.

And a dwarf no one had ever seen in the empty space where the flames first ignited, a shadowy figure stood, holding a flame. This flame appeared so small, it seemed it would be extinguished by the slightest breeze.

They gained the power of the king's soul and challenged the immortal ancient dragon.

Gwen's thunder spear pierced the immortal dragon's rock-hard scales.

The witch's flames formed a storm, burning the trees to the ground.

Night unleashed the miasma of death.

And the scaleless white dragon, Heath, betrayed the immortal ancient dragon, forcing it to retreat.

The screen continued switching.

Gwen's Thunder Spear, the Witch's Flame, and Night's Death Miasma relentlessly attacked the immortal ancient dragon in the sky.

Finally, Heath, the scaleless white dragon, let out a howl atop the mountain of dragon corpses.

The age of fire had begun, but the fire would eventually burn out, and only darkness would remain.

The vast royal city appeared in the picture, but it vanished in a flash, replaced by endless darkness.

After a while, a cluster of firelight appeared in the darkness, and suddenly a pair of hands grabbed the last bit of firelight.

"Now, the fire is about to go out, the light cannot shine on the world, and the night continues endlessly."

A woman kneeling in front of Desolate Valley Graves is instantly recognizable to anyone who has played Dark Souls. She is the image of the fire shrine maiden.

"The Cursed Ring of Darkness began to appear with the crowd."

Placing her hand on the corpse of the knight, the Ring of Darkness appeared in the zoomed-out shot.

Then the screen switched, taking us to a prison. There are countless living corpses locked in the cells.

"Yes, the Ring of Darkness represents the curse of immortality."

"The Plenum of the Undead is arrested, sent to the North, and held in cells until the end of the world."

"This... is also your destiny."

Finally, the middle shot of the video revealed the innermost cell. There was an undead man in armor, distinguishable from the others by his appearance.

He looked up as the gate above his cell opened, and a body was thrown from above. A knight, with a shield on his back, whose face was obscured, looked down at the undead in the prison.

Then, the screen fell into darkness.

The four characters of Dark Souls appeared in the center of the screen, followed by a line of subtitles: The Age of First Fire.

---------------------

With the release of this promotional video, all the players at the exhibition site were instantly excited. Yes, this is what they wanted!

Although the video is not long—only about three minutes—it revealed enough content.

First, it provided the background of the Dark Souls world. In the previous Dark Souls, players could only gather fragments of information through a few scattered words. In this promotional video, players finally got a glimpse of the world at its beginning.

At the same time, the meaning of the flame became clear, and some inferences could be made based on certain game visuals. It seems that the timeline in both Dark Souls works is very long, a fact hinted at by the flame's condition.

The first fire in the promotional trailer resembled a massive sun, but by the final ending of the previous Dark Souls, there was only a small cluster of flames, fragile and barely holding on.

Combined with the promotional video's content, many dedicated Dark Souls players speculated in greater detail. The beginning of the world existed in a state of chaos, found within souls.

The notice mentioned the differences and tendencies caused by the initial fire. This likely allowed souls to be distinguished according to different properties, bringing order to the previously disordered souls.

From this, the king's soul emerged. Those who received the king's soul from the First Fire became known as gods by later generations.

These were the first beings to be touched by fire, granted king souls that transformed their form and existence, evolving into entirely new existence.

Then, they gain soul power waged war on the ancient dragons who represented disorder, driven by survival, ambition, or other motif.

In short, the war between order and disorder began. In the end, with the help of the White Dragon Heath, the representatives of fire won. Order replaced disorder, ushering in the age of fire.

From these characters, players can clearly see hints of related settings.

For example, the White Dragon Heath is closely linked to spells, the Gwen to the beliefs of the clergy, and the witches to the power of conjuration.

As for the dwarf, it has sparked much discussion among players.

The promotional video did not mention that the dwarves, who obtained the dark soul, participated in this dragon-hunting war. Additionally, though the dark soul is a magical theme, the video did not include dwarves, elves, or similar characters.

What kind of beings are the dwarves, and how are they connected to the dark mark brought in the previous game? What is the relationship between the dark ring mentioned in the trailer and the mark?

These questions have become a topic of much speculation among Souls players.

Regardless, many players are expressing the same sentiment: "Bring the game, take my money, I will buy it!"

With the promotional video complete, countless players couldn't contain their excitement and began discussing it enthusiastically.

Players interested in the plot delved into the few details revealed in the video. Meanwhile, those who enjoyed boss fights were even more thrilled.

Did you catch what was mentioned in the game?

The Sun King Gwen, the Witch of Izaris and her daughter of Chaos, and the first dead Night are all famous figures.

The previous game had the King of Salary, but this one pits players against the ancient gods—how exciting!

Amid the excitement, the players turned their attention to Chen Xu, who stepped back onto the stage.

"As you all saw, Dark Soul: The Age of First Fire will take the battlefield back to the distant ancient past, allowing players to experience an even more thrilling and captivating adventure in the Dark Soul series."

"The release date for Dark Soul: The Age of First Fire is tentatively set for early October!"

As Chen Xu made his announcement, a line of dates appeared on the big screen behind him.

This time, Chen Xu was not just teasing.

Given the current progress, it is more than enough to meet the release schedule.

After all, the game is not being developed from scratch. The framework of the previous game is already in place, and the primary effort now is in the creation of art resources.

Upon hearing players erupted into cheers once more.

Obviously, a release date excites the players.

Then, Chen Xu stepped down from the stage after some talk at the exhibition and was replaced by the event host.

"Wait, Mr. Chen, did you forget to announce something?"

"Dark Souls: Age of First Fire demo part!?"

Many players looked at Chen Xu, who was exiting over there, with bewildered expressions. Then, they looked at the host, who was introducing the follow-up activities and content on stage.

This time, Neon Games didn't just bring a trailer for the sequel to Dark Souls to participate.

There was still some content, such as the new version of Three Kingdoms and the new national war mode, as well as the updated version of JellyMan with various related themed maps.

Of course, there were also special events for players, such as the co-op play divide, where players could get simple toy souvenirs.

Additionally, there was the Dark Souls challenge, where players could challenge different bosses and monsters. Whether successful or not, they would receive corresponding souvenir toys.

The players in the audience watched the showgirl and cosplayer performing on stage and finally confirmed a fact.

The so-called Dark Souls: Age of First Fire demo did not exist at all!

-------------

"Chen Xu is a big fool!"

"Yeah, I thought there would be demo content at the show, but it turned out to be just a trailer!"

"Although this trailer reveals a lot and there is the release date, but where's the demo!"

"That's it! That's it! Isn't it just a matter of words!"

"Cough, cough, don't get too excited, brothers. If you look at Chen Xu's previous official blog, there was no mention of a trial game!"

"Fuck, it really is!"

-------------

However, there was no demo, many players were disappointed, but it wasn't a big deal. After all, there are no demo every year, and there are many cases where only a trailer is released.

Moreover, Chen Xu also directly announced the launch date of "Dark Souls: Age of First Fire"!

At least this gave the players some hope.

The activities were quite lively, and while the prizes were not costly, but delicate. This made many players feel that Neon Games truly values its audience.

At the same time, whether it is Three Kingdoms Kill or JellyMan, players can also directly download the new release at the exhibition to experience the new content.

Just like last year, no queue. it feel good and helps in easing the disappointment of not being able to experience the demo version of the new Dark Souls game before.

In addition to other activities, such as the Dark Soul Challenge and the divide tacit understanding activities, these also attracted many players.

"Old Song, aren't you lining up?" Zhang Yi and Wang Han, who were holding hands, looked at Song Ren walking toward the other side, curious.

"It's nothing, I just want to check out other games." Song Ren glanced at Zhang Yi and Wang Han, then at the experience area for divide in front of them, and forced a smile.

Queue? When I don't even want to play!

The key is that I can't play!

This game has been out for so long, and I haven't played it except for watching the videos!

Especially seeing the man and a woman holding hands around me, Song Ren sighed deeply.

Can't look, can't look—my blood pressure is rising.

I need to play some games that are as cool as ice.

Looking toward the Dark Soul experience area nearby, Song Ren silently turned away. Then, he noticed something strange.

In a small corner of the Neon Games exhibition area, there were four wall-mounted monitors. In front of the monitors, four large water tanks had inflatable hammers inserted.

He had noticed this before but thought it was just the work area for Neon Games. Now, it seemed that it was something else entirely.

Curio, Song Ren walked over.

Could this be something new from Neon Games?