Besides, there’s also the environmental issue.

Soulslike games weren't an instant success; they experienced a gradual rise in sales.

From the earliest *Demon's Souls*, to *Dark Souls*, *Bloodborne*, and then *Dark Souls 3*, and finally *Sekiro*, the difficulty has generally been decreasing.

While retaining the essence of Soulslike games, the difficulty has gradually decreased, and sales have steadily increased.

This shows that increasing the difficulty can indeed decrease sales.

Moreover, the success of Soulslike games varies by region.

The game *Demon's Souls* originally went against everything the publisher wanted. During development, Miyazaki Hidetaka (宮崎英高) played some tricks and didn't fully follow the requirements, instead making a game entirely in his own style.

By the time the higher-ups discovered this problem, *Demon's Souls* was largely finished. The people above were furious but had no choice but to treat it as a last-ditch effort.

Initially, even the publisher wasn't optimistic. If it hadn't been for the insistence of project leader Kenji Kajii, the game might never have been released to players.

Shortly before its release, the famous video game magazine *Famitsu* even gave it a low score of 29 out of 40.

The game was a complete flop in its home country. Miyazaki went to great lengths to contact European and American publishers, and the result was unexpectedly a hit!

The key factor was that the Soulslike games precisely suited the tastes of hardcore single-player gamers in Europe and America.

Soulslike games didn't truly become popular in China until around 2015.

Currently, the gaming environment in China is generally consistent with what Pei Qian remembers. High-difficulty games are a niche and not very popular.

In that case, why not make a high-difficulty Soulslike game and only release it in China?

Moreover, to prevent the game from being discovered by European and American players, deliberately make it with a Chinese background, adding a cultural barrier so that European and American players can't understand it even if they want to play!

Pei Qian couldn't help but feel very pleased. Sure enough, human creativity is infinite.

If it weren't for the sake of losing money, he wouldn't have known that he could come up with such a good idea!

…

Pei Qian very succinctly told everyone the positioning of this game, summarizing it into five requirements.

First, this is a game with a Chinese background, filled with a large number of puzzle elements, and a large number of puzzles and text content must be written in classical Chinese.

This is mainly to prevent the game from being discovered by European and American players and becoming popular.

Solving puzzles will require excellent knowledge of classical Chinese, absolutely preventing those foreigners from playing for even a minute!

And this game is mainly sold in China. Even if it doesn't have versions in other languages, it won't be judged as a violation by the system.

Second, this is an ultra-high difficulty game.

Pei Qian required that Bao Xu and Lü Mingliang rack their brains and try everything possible to make players fail.

Convincing as many players as possible to quit is their primary mission.

Third, this is a large-scale action game.

The game must have a large number of models, actions, and scenes. The budget for all art resources must be maxed out!

Try everything possible to spend more money!

Of course, this so-called spending more money is based on the previous investment of Tenda Games. In fact, Pei Qian's psychological limit is only 20 million.

Any more, and he would still want to spend it, but the system funds might not be enough.

Compared with the super productions abroad with R&D funds of tens or hundreds of millions, it can't be compared. But compared with the investment of these domestic manufacturers, it is still considered a big production.

Fourth, this game will use the longest refund time limit.

According to the requirements of the official platform, games on the platform can be refunded within 3 hours of actual game time. This time can only be longer, not shorter.

In fact, most game companies hope that this time can be shortened, or even better, canceled. How could they actively lengthen it?

But Pei Qian decided that this game would use the official platform's longest refund time limit: 5 hours!

For many small games, the total game time is only three or four hours. If you have a 5-hour refund, it's simply crazy, basically no different from being free.

But in Pei Qian's view, 3 hours is not that long. Some people die at the Gundyr gate for 3 hours without realizing it when playing *Dark Souls 3*, passing the refund deadline.

And Pei Qian decided that his game could be refunded within 5 hours, and a line of prompts would appear in the upper right corner of the game when there were 10 minutes left until the 5 hours.

Absolutely ensure that every player who wants a refund doesn't miss the time.

Fifth, about the name of this game.

In order to avoid the game name from affecting the players, and to avoid some innocent people from being misled, Pei Qian decided to make the game name as straightforward as possible.

The game is called *Huitou Shi An* (回头是岸), containing Pei Qian's sincere advice to the players ("Turning Back is the Shore," meaning "Repent and be saved").

After listening to Pei Qian's five requirements, even Bao Xu was dumbfounded.

In Pei Qian's memory, *Demon's Souls* was a game from 2009, but there is no *Demon's Souls* in this world. So even Bao Xu, a well-informed player, has never heard of such a crazy game.

Of course, there are some hardcore games known for their high difficulty, but games like Pei Qian's, which directly require "trying everything possible to make players fail," are really rare...

The others are easy to understand, but the difficulty, in particular, made Lü Mingliang and Bao Xu feel a little clueless.

"President Pei, can you talk more about this difficulty? For example, how many percent of players should be blocked by the final boss?" Bao Xu asked.

Pei Qian subconsciously wanted to say, block 99.9999% of the players!

However, a line of text instantly appeared in his vision.

[Warning! A game that the vast majority of people have absolutely no chance of completing is in violation. The highest difficulty of the game is based on the host being able to complete it.]

Pei Qian's smile froze on his face.

System, you tony ma almost blurted out.

Based on me being able to complete it? I'm a noob!

I got crushed playing *Sea Fortress*, and you're actually asking me to complete this kind of game. You might as well just tell me that I can't do it!

But Pei Qian didn't panic. After all, he was well-informed, and this little problem couldn't stump him.

Based on me being able to complete it?

That's easy. I'll just secretly hide something in the game...

I'll set it up so that there's an especially strong weapon in the game, and this weapon can only be obtained by triggering a very complex hidden storyline and progressing with a completely illogical game route.

After that, with this powerful weapon, an understanding of Soulslike games, and pre-existing knowledge of the level maps, I should be able to clear it in two or three weeks of grinding.

For the sake of losing money, I'll endure this suffering!

After this thought appeared, the system did not warn again, indicating that it was feasible.

Pei Qian smiled slightly and said to Bao Xu, "We won't block any players in the design. Theoretically, most people can complete the game, but it requires some skill."

The unspoken meaning was that if they give up on their own, then it's not my fault.

"You just make it as difficult as you can imagine, and I will personally modify it in the end."

At that time, he will add this weapon. Pei Qian will set the game to the limit difficulty that he can use this weapon to complete, so he won't be warned by the system.

By then, if players can't get this weapon, they will be playing on hell mode, plus the 5-hour unconditional refund, which will definitely make most people give up!

Lü Mingliang asked, "President Pei, this game is called *Huitou Shi An* (回头是岸), and it has a traditional Chinese background... what is the specific worldview?"

Pei Qian smiled and said, "You can decide on such trivial matters."