Around May 14th, all major game rating agencies around the world received a demo version, including ESRB in North America, PEGI in Europe, and CERO in Japan. With the exception of the employees in charge of the project, they are the second wave of people around the world to be exposed to the game.

ESRB is based in New York, USA, and their review of the game is a lengthy process that doesn't just go into playing the playable version several times. In fact, since the beginning of development, there has not been a playable version, and they have received relevant materials submitted by Qingyu Network that can fully reflect the content of the game. Mainly in terms of art and copywriting, the original drawings of characters and scenes, script outlines and dialogues, game videos and videos, etc., these materials must fully reflect the real situation of the game and must not be concealed.

Malicious concealment of game content may be punished by a national ban on sales.

During the development process, after new game content is produced, it is necessary to keep the submitted content updated and noted.

In addition to that, they also review everything related including trailers, the game's official website, and much more.

Very careful, of course, there must be a corresponding price, mandatory audit, and fees.

According to the current relevant rules, if it is a purely digital version of the game, the review is free, but if it is to be released offline, it also depends on the development cost. Ordinary games with a development cost of less than 1 million US dollars are uncertain in the thousands of dollars, and a 3A masterpiece like this kind of international manufacturer, with a development cost of tens of millions of US dollars, then the review price will be between 15,000 and 30,000 US dollars, more than 100,000 or 200,000 yuan, a typical big pit.

ESRB is not a charity.

By mid-May, the first experience version containing most of the gameplay and plot was finally delivered to them, and for the staff of ESRB, they really saw a lot of various games, and rarely had such a strong desire to "work".

Usually, the rating of the ESRB is discussed and negotiated by a "three-person team", and then submitted to the headquarters for review. These three people may be internal employees of the organization or external social figures, but there must be a criterion, they will never be practitioners in the game-related industry, in order to avoid the possibility of stakeholders joining, resulting in subjective bias in the rating results.

This time the internal competition was fierce.

Before the demo version was delivered, 17 people from the game rating committee had already applied for review. For such a masterpiece,It's almost not released to the public.,Although a confidentiality agreement or something like that will definitely be signed,But after all, you still have to consider the possibility of relevant content leakage.,The more high-profile the game,The more immeasurable the loss of data leakage.。

After a simple but fierce internal competition, three veteran employees "bid" successfully......

Elle, Jonathan and Alpha, two men and one woman, three veteran employees, have reviewed more than 700 games together, all of them have more than ten years of experience, countless readings, and the packaging boxes are connected, which can circle the earth 0.000325 times.

On the morning of the day after they received the review assignment, the three men walked into the office almost simultaneously.

They also have dark circles under their eyes, and although their faces are haggard, their eyes are shining with brilliance.

"Hey, good morning, Ellie." Supervisor Hansen greets him, and he usually doesn't stand guard at the door and wait for employees to come to work.

"Hi, Hansen."

"You look ......"

"Yes, I didn't sleep last night."

"Of course, I should have guessed. Jonathan, Alpha, you should be too? ”

"Yes, sir."

"It always has been."

"Can you describe it to me...... I can't help it. "Although he is the director of the review team, their direct superior, but this task is not assigned to Hansen, upholding professional ethics, Hansen will not play secretly, even if he is really a fan of Qingyu Network and Pasca, he bought 6 copies alone, one of his own ordinary version for the game, one collector's edition for collection, and the other four copies for Amway to give to friends......

"Shall I make a cup of coffee first?" Ellie pleaded.

"Are you tired?" Hansen was a little anxious, but he understood very much, after all, Elle was thirty-four years old, and it was very difficult to stay up all night at this age.

"No, Hansen, I just look a little tired, but I'm not tired at all, and I'm even excited." Ellie shook her head.

Jonathan also said, "Boss, trust me, it's true, we just need a little time to phrase it and think about how to describe the game, it's really an incredible game." ”

These words made Hansen even more uncomfortable, this feeling of being hung with appetite, alas......

"Do you remember what we gave us internally last year?" Alpha asked.

"Of course, the pinnacle of modern gaming, it is, and it's not an exaggeration at all." Hansen nodded.

"Although this is only a demo version and does not have a complete story flow, I insist that this is Pasca's best work to date." Alpha said very seriously.

Pasca's best work to date, and that seems to be even more valuable than this is the best game of the year.

"My God......" Hansen felt himself tremble uncontrollably, "Come to my office, please." ”

Although he has read some relevant text materials, and knows the specific plot outline and dialogue, the overall feeling of the game is not something that can be made up by relying on pale words alone.

At the moment, he is not the head of the ESRB Game Review Board, just a simple player.

……

In Hansen's office, four people formed a half-circle around the couch, and what they were discussing now had little to do with work...... After all, they are auditors, not media.

This is a sharing session after playing the game.

None of the three are professional game reviewers, and their starting point is always culture, values, and performance-related content.

Elle took a sip of her coffee and said, "I think after the game actually comes out, there will be a review media outlet, it may be IGN, it may be Gamespot, or Eurogamer, anyway, there will be one that will ......start like this in their review report."

"We've been talking about the ninth art and trying to define it, and a lot of people are pinning their hopes on games for this new art form, because it has dimensions that traditional art can't reach, allowing the audience to really interact with the world in the game. But in fact, after so many years, even if the gameplay has been innovating, those novelty, full of design, and inspirational ingenious gameplay will make us obsessed...... But if you really feel a sense of art in a universal sense, there is still a long way to go, and I think it's almost the same now. ”

"This game is the closest thing to the so-called Ninth Art out there, and they're going to use that word to describe it when the time comes, I can bet you."

Elle nodded and said, "I'm not trying to say that games should compromise in the direction of traditional art, games should have the characteristics of games themselves, I just want to say ...... Well, a kind of shock that can touch the bottom of the heart, makes people fall into lifelong thinking after experiencing it, generates enlightenment, and has a new perspective on life...... Sorry, that's my personal feeling, I just can't overstate how to praise the game, Pasca has done something that no one else has done. ”

Hansen looked at the other two, expectant.

Jonathan nodded, "That's how I feel, Boss, I completely agree with Elle, this is indeed a story-oriented, narrative, cinematic game, but I think its meaning goes beyond the game itself, every character in it...... I mean most, those other than the protagonists, of course I love Tois, I love Elizabeth, I love Emma, I love the protagonists in the game, but I care about the fate of everyone, even the wanderers who pass me in the ruins, I feel like the people around me, they are suffering, and the stories that happen to them seem to have happened to me. ”

"I've never felt like the characters were so alive."

This description is more down-to-earth than the sensitive and literary woman Elle.

Alpha is taking the intellectual route, he says: "Objectively speaking, this is actually a subject that has been played badly, and the post-apocalyptic era, dystopia, anarchism, chaotic world order, violence is the ultimate solution...... This is the second time Pasca herself has been involved in such a story. ”

He paused for a moment, then added, "But I agree with Elle, what really gave me the most insight about this game was that I realized what the roots of so-called individual heroism were in that kind of world. ”

"What is it?" Hansen was a good listener.

But it is clear that Alpha is not a good presenter, and he continues to go around the corner: "The story is still 'human-oriented', which is natural, and Pasca needs to create dramatic conflicts, highlight contradictions, and portray the image of heroes and villains. But the end result gave me the feeling that he was still trying to tell us that we were ignoring something. ”

"We play heroes who want to save the world, but in the end it may just be self-redemption, and the world really doesn't need us to save it."

Hansen gritted his teeth: "Can you explain it more clearly?" ”

Alpha continued: "We have always been thinking like this, in the face of disasters, if we want to find a way to save the world, if it is aliens, we will fight aliens, if it is a virus, we will develop antibodies, and our belief is to save the world. But as a zombie-themed game, in fact, the damage caused by facing human beings in the game is far greater than the zombies themselves. ”

"Viruses are disasters, yes, but so are people."

"The root of individual heroism in the last days is hope, the hope that brings us life, but this hope is not to defeat the enemy, not to say that we have no way back in the face of the virus, there is no other choice, but to re-establish order and live in harmony with nature. This is my interpretation, my personal subjective feelings, I have only played this game for more than ten hours, and it is not a complete version, everyone's feelings may be different. ”

Alpha said very seriously: "Hansen, this game wants to explain more than this, Pasca's ambition this time is really big. ”

Looking at the "happy and convinced" expressions of the three people in front of him, Hansen's body trembled slightly because of excitement, and he couldn't wait to buy the official version of this game, but unfortunately, it would take half a year......

He shook his head and sighed, "Okay, thanks, I probably know." ”

"Now, tell me what you think."

It's working time.

……

"There's a lot of foul language, a small amount of nudity and hints, a lot of violent content, gore, and dismemberment." Ellie was the first to speak.

"And religious discussions." Alpha added.

"yes, I forgot to say that. The game does have a distinctly religious component, and it appears ...... Somewhat mean and sarcastic. However, it does not specifically refer to any religion that already exists in the world, but only shows a general religious archetype in a certain scene, or wants to explore the meaning of some religion, or maybe it is simple black humor and ridicule. ”

Jonathan said: "The nudity scene appeared about three to five times in the whole process, but it was not deliberately sexy, it was really the plot need. ”

In that chaotic world, a world where the law of the jungle is the strongest, women, as a vulnerable group, will definitely have something that we don't want to see, which is natural. And even if it's not mandatory, there are a lot of things to find in that extreme stressful environment...... Unpack.

It's really one of the best ways humans can find to decompress, so it's not surprising to have something like mating, but it can highlight that kind of ...... If there is no sense of powerlessness tomorrow.

"The gore is very realistic, some of the scenes are creepy, in addition to the plasma, there are depictions of individual internal organs and bones, and some of the scenes are easy to cause discomfort and sometimes make me feel like a beast."

"Is it so shady?" Hansen was a little skeptical, is this still the Pasca he knows, is this still the Pasca who does and and......

"Individual scenes are not the main tone, they are also the needs of the plot, not the embodiment of bad taste. In fact, the main sense of depression actually comes from the psychological level, which is the creation of the plot atmosphere, and I think that is even more terrifying. ”

"Okay."

Think about it another way, who said that the graphics of a game engine are too good, and it is not a double-edged sword.

Elle said, "Mature, that's my opinion. ”

Jonathan: "M-class, no doubt. ”

Alpha: "Totally agree, at least from the current version, it does. ”

Hansen nodded: "It seems that there is no argument at all, so this is ...... Pasca's first M-rated game. ”

……

……

Almost at the same time, the Pan-European Information Organization and the Japan Computer Entertainment Rating Agency also gave their own ratings internally.

PEGI gives 18+, which means that the European version will have a bright red number "18" on the cover, which means obviously, while CERO gives "CERO-D", and their lower four levels, like North America, will only be sold to players over 17 years old.

Basically, the target group for sales is thus determined.

The only major area that is still in conflict...... Well, in Chinese mainland.

The relevant demo version was also sent to the H Bureau and GD Bureau of Huangpu City, as for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, it has not yet reached that step, it has to be when the game strategy is officially released, and they will review whether the distribution, sales, and communication standards meet the specifications.

Ye Shenxi and Xia Qingyu are not stupid...... In fact, Chinese mainland is still a "national special supply", needless to say, everyone can guess. The place where to go that should be deleted,I've already reviewed it internally.,Mainly in terms of art.,There are also some wording of dialogue.,I think it's almost the same before I finally sent it over.。 Completely send it to the past and fight back and then change it? There's no need for this, it's a waste of effort.

Li Guangming, director of the H Bureau, listened to the report of Li Sheng, the leader of the audit team, in the office, and had some expressions of crying and laughing.

It has been included in the introduction in February this year, which is a new stand-alone game support policy that has been implemented since last year, to be precise, from the beginning.

For all stand-alone game developers in the country, we will provide corresponding support for their high-quality games, including but not limited to R&D funds.

Last year's first list had 36 models, and this year's second batch has expanded to 60 models.

Nature is the most important of all.

After listening to Li Sheng's report, Li Guangming consulted the opinions of several other team members who were responsible for reviewing the game, and shook his head: "This kid ...... It's a real problem. ”