Text/Lin Zhi

Today (July 17), Heaven Burns Red (hereinafter referred to as "HBR") opened its open beta and quickly topped the free chart.

The announcement of "HBR" is also very lively, the Home of Station B has the banner of the public beta of the whole platform, and when I search for "Burning Heaven" and "Blazing Sky Dome", I will even pop up to play the video.

In the official account of "HBR" on station B, there are countdown warm-up videos for six consecutive days, all of which are blessings from well-known voice actors who play game roles.

This game topped the double-end free list when it was launched, with a turnover of more than $200 million in the first year, and won many awards such as the Google Play Games User Choice Award, Game Script Award, and Best Game.

Producer Jun Maeda has bluntly said that this game represents his ambition to make "the world's strongest mobile RPG".

HBR adopts a simple turn-based RPG and a galgame-style narrative that Key is good at, and in every sense of the word, it is a mobile game product that breaks the mold and has a unique temperament. After the good results of Japan and South Korea, will it be able to adapt to the Chinese market in the same way?

01

Breakthrough of niche products

Once you open the game, a lot of people quickly realize that it's different from other products – it's so niche. But one can't help but wonder how it attracts so many players.

The first thing that will be noticed is the combat experience. In a battle, from breaking shields, hanging buffs, and releasing skills to defeat enemies, "HBR" actually adopts the classic gameplay of turn-based RPGs. But it can also be felt that its combat actually serves the plot and does not occupy the core experience of the game.

And what really occupies the main body of the game is a lot of text plot. In Japan, the game was even announced with a direct emphasis on "be sure to see the second chapter".

Here is a brief introduction to the plot of "HBR": the earth is on the verge of crisis when it is attacked by the mysterious alien life form Cancer, and humanity is helpless to fight back, and there are many casualties. In the apocalypse, humans developed a weapon called "Seraph", and selected some talented girls to enter a special campus and learn to use these weapons to fight enemies.

From the perspective of the protagonist Mao Sen Yuege, the player fights side by side with those girls who "carry the last hope". "Girls in uniform fight aliens in the last days" - a bit old-fashioned, but it also reduces the burden of cognition.

What's more special is that the game adopts a narrative technique that is common in galgames but not in mobile games.

"HBR" continues the time-based main process presentation method that Key Society is good at, and the plot unfolds in days.

The story has a detailed calendar setting, and it will even be subdivided into more than ten time periods such as early morning, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, evening, and late night, and each character has a separate sleeping face.

For players, this linear narrative brings a sense of companionship and immersion. By experiencing the story through the little details that are integrated into life, players will gradually piece together the unique memories that belong to each of the game's characters, gradually developing a deep emotional connection with them.

Unlike other mobile games, each branching option in HBR really affects the story, and the wrong choice can lead to a BAD END. It abandons the common repetitive brushing of the main level gameplay in Japanese card mobile games, and the main story is a one-time experience, if you miss or cannot clear the level, you can freely choose the timeline to go back to the past.

It seems to be a niche mobile game category, but it has won the love of quite a few players.

On February 10, 2022, the day of the Japanese server's launch, "HBR" topped the free charts of the Japan App Store and Google Play, and also entered the top 30 of the best-selling list the next day.

The subsequent Korean and Chinese traditional Chinese versions also topped the best-selling lists in many regions.

In China, the number of reservations for "HBR" reached 1.18 million.

We have to admit that all in the plot is indeed a big gamble. However, in the current domestic mobile game market, such products are also differentiated enough, and there may be opportunities to achieve some results. Players are still looking forward to the emergence of good stories, both in Japan and South Korea, and in China.

02

The authentic two-dimensional of "hemp juice and hemp flavor".

HBR is an "authentic two-dimensional" game, which is almost its biggest selling point. On the one hand, it is the endorsement of the status of Jun Ma and Key itself, and on the other hand, the story style is relaxed and funny, and the hair knife is caught off guard.

Co-developed by Wright Flyer Studios × Key and written by Jun Aeda himself, this work has a luxurious lineup.

Key has created "CLANNAD", "AIR" and "Kanon", which are known as the "tear-jerking trilogy", and the plots of these three works are warm and delicate, and they are deeply moving. For many old two-dimensional people, these are the former "house works".

JUN MAEDA IS THE CREATOR OF WELL-KNOWN WORKS SUCH AS "CLANNAD", "AIR", AND "ANGEL BEATS!", AND HE HAS CREATED MANY UNSETTLING CHARACTERS AND COUNTLESS SADISTIC PLOTS THAT MAKE PEOPLE CRY, AND IS AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS THE "TEARJERKER".

Ma Zhizhun's customary "order, break, and urgency" structure makes the plot easier to mobilize players' tears. It basically corresponds to what we are familiar with as "starting and turning". He foreshadowed a lot in the "prologue" and "breaking" stages, omitting the "combination" part. The climax of each major twist is the end of a mini-story, keeping the player at the peak of their emotions even after the chapter ends.

In addition, this launch linked "Angel Beats!", and the two "crying" works were linked, which players called "hemp juice and hemp flavor".

In addition to the wonderful character portrayal and the ups and downs of the plot, in terms of story style, "HBR" is relaxed and lively, with many funny and off-line bridges.

(Spoilers are involved below, you can scroll down to find the spoiler end logo)

For example, the protagonist Mao Sen Yuege often has many lines that are very off-line. When she was first introduced to the enemy Star Carcinoma, she was asked for her opinion, and her reaction was that the Star Carcinoma was very similar to a crab, and then she thought of a delicacy such as crab meat sukiyaki.

The game also uses an exaggerated presentation that borders on comic book storyboards to enhance the comedic effect.

Another example is when Mao Sen Yuege talked to Ming Fuxue, the two began to sing rap for some reason, and ran together to sing it to Izumi Yuki.

There are also a lot of random actions in the game that can be matched through wires, and these unexpected options will be specially configured for the plot, and there is often a serious sense of joy.

Telling jokes is actually paving the impression of the characters and better showing the arc of the characters.

For example, Mao Sen Yuege also has a stalk of "knife cut noodles" out of the circle. Once asked by a friend, she explained it in a super-fast voice. One second he was notified of the end of the world, but the next he still wanted to eat knife-cut noodles, which are rare in Japan, which actually showed the character's ultimate optimist temperament.

Many of HBR's touching episodes are based on everyday jokes, which are also known as "tear gas mixed with industrial saccharin."

Whenever Erika Aoi faces a huge impact, she will fall into a brief state of stupor, making a "ぽかーん" sound that annoys her teammates and thinks she is not a qualified captain.

The player later discovers that her reaction is due to a brain overload caused by hyperamnesia, not by deliberately pretending to be cute. Later, Aoi was killed in battle and turned into a creature called "Nabi", losing consciousness and memory. Her teammates longed to see her in a daze again, but this kind of routine was no longer available.

(Spoiler end)

The use of comic comedy is actually related to the limitations of the game medium and genre, which is due to the limitations of the characters' vertical drawings and textual expressions, and then chooses a solution to dance in shackles.

Compared with some domestic plots that pretend to be bitter and hateful, but in fact have little soup and little water, writing some funny elements may be more impressive. In the harsh world, the positivity is even more in stark contrast to the actual pathos of "HBR".

The "authentic two-dimensional" flavor of the creative lineup and narrative style means that "HBR" will be a charming and stylized product, and players who love the story of two-dimensional galgame, or who have been impressed by Key and Asaeda Jun, are likely to become the core audience of this game.

03

A road less traveled

As a product with very obvious strengths and weaknesses, "HBR" is destined to take a path less traveled.

Its text volume of hundreds of thousands of words is actually very provocative to players, and if the story is interrupted before they have time to develop a love for the characters, the appeal of the product is almost lost, after all, it is unlikely to retain people with combat gameplay. But if you can get into the story, many people will be moved.

Therefore, HBR's success may be largely related to the reception of visual novels, which may be the reason for its overwhelming response in Japan.

The national server has also done a lot of localization work for this purpose, and these changes may also show the prudence of an original JRPG entering the domestic market.

They give out more benefits than the Japanese server: for example, you will get 100 draws when you log in, and the first version contains 400 draws; For example, in addition to the limited pool, 200 pumps of a well are reduced to 160 pumps of a well; Even the monthly tasks of the national server have tripled compared to the number of diamonds obtained by the large and small monthly cards.

"HBR" tells a good story, and its creative methodology has been repeatedly tested by the market.

A good story almost equally means a group of characters who are wonderful, and players pay for their favorite characters, which is the meaning of the title of "pay for love" in the second game.

HBR has 48 characters identified at the outset, and it doesn't seem like there will be any new ones, and players can get different cards for the same character in the card pool. In other words, even in the context of long-term operations, the characters that players love will not be easily forgotten.

Compared with some domestic second-game products, perhaps it is closer to making money from content. In a sense, it is currently a rare two-dimensional product that truly "pays for love". It proves that "paying for love" is still feasible in the second dimension, and it is worth sticking to.

For domestic game developers, "HBR" may be a catfish to break into.

Its unique narrative style and level of content are likely to attract and influence a group of players. After experiencing HBR, these players may put forward higher requirements for the quality of the second game, which will become an opportunity for changes in the domestic two-dimensional market.

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