Seeing these two announcements, Zhao Haiping felt a surge of excitement.
The update came quickly!
Since Dark Sands uses unprecedented VR technology, players had no way of estimating the work required to develop a new dungeon.
What if those four trial dungeons took the development team years to create?
Waiting for the next update could take who knows how long.
Fortunately, Dark Sands was committed to keeping promises. Right after the MR offline event, they immediately updated the game.
Zhao Haiping quickly opened the new version's update announcement to check it out.
"Dark Sands Update Announcement:
In this update, Dark Sands introduces new content for players to enjoy. Details are as follows:
Introduction of Basic Feature: 'Historical Lines'
Historical Lines are the core mechanic of Dark Sands. The river of history connects the ancient past with the present; the closer to ancient times, the weaker the collective memory and the stronger the demons. As the power of the Order grows, historical lines will unlock progressively, from recent to ancient, from easier to harder.
Current Stage of Historical Line: Mid to Late Da Sheng Dynasty.
Unlocked Trial Mirage: "One Must Wait Until the Final Farewell to Understand"
New Advanced Feature: 'Ultimate Trial'
In addition to the standard trial mirages, Hell Mode Ultimate Trials are now available.
Hell Mode Ultimate Trials have the following enhancements over standard trials:
Pain sensitivity is increased to 100%.
Enemy AI is set to the highest level.
Slight changes may occur compared to the standard trial content.
Only one challenge attempt is allowed.
Only the best-performing players in the standard trials will have access to the Hell Mode Ultimate Trial. Depending on the mirage, 1–5 players will be automatically selected by the system to enter and solve the trial cooperatively.
After completing Hell Mode, the system will automatically edit the footage into a film format, allowing it to be showcased to the public.
New Advanced Feature: 'Order Expedition'
Once top players successfully complete the Ultimate Trial, the barriers of that historical fragment will be broken. Other players can enter the fragment to clear demons in team battles and transform the fragment.
Issuance of Closed Beta Qualifications
An additional 10,000 closed beta slots will be issued.
Players in the initial beta pool who have not cleared any trial dungeons will have their qualifications revoked.
The revoked slots, along with the new slots, will be redistributed, following the same selection rules."
The update announcement was packed with information, and Zhao Haiping read it twice to make sure he didn't miss any details.
"So, this new Historical Line is the main content of the game? The four previous trial dungeons were just beginner tutorials?
"The Ultimate Trial sounds interesting, but the restrictions are extreme—out of 20,000 beta players, only 1–5 can participate, and they get only one shot?
"And the difficulty sounds terrifying. 100% pain sensitivity? If you're stabbed, unless you have a special talent, you'd probably be incapacitated right there, right?
"This forces players to avoid taking any damage.
"Plus, the enemy AI can go even higher?
"The AI in standard dungeons is already intense; at this level, they'll practically have minds of their own.
"And with only one chance, you'd have to master the standard trials thoroughly, adapt on the fly, and handle all sorts of unexpected situations.
"It's practically a one-in-a-million chance.
"But the rewards are worth it. The game automatically produces a film from the footage, showcasing the entire process—what an opportunity to shine on the world stage!
"Moreover, whether Hell Mode is cleared or not directly affects whether the 'Order Expedition' multiplayer feature will open for all players.
"If the selected players fail Hell Mode, it means none of the beta players can access this multiplayer mode. A whole chunk of the game content would be locked away from players?
"Ridiculous! What kind of game company does that?
"But…
"From another angle, isn't this the ultimate dream for hardcore gamers?"
In some games, there are "hardcore modes" where a character only has one life, and a single death erases all progress. Only players with thorough knowledge of the game and high confidence in their skills dare to attempt it.
The Ultimate Trial in Dark Sands is essentially this "hardcore mode."
The difficulty is close to historical reality, with the added benefits of Order powers and repeated simulated trials for intelligence gathering. But in Hell Mode, things might change slightly, and the challenge is as close to reality as it gets.
Challenging this mode comes with enormous psychological pressure.
On one hand, players know they have only one chance and absolutely cannot fail; on the other, their performance determines whether other players can experience an important part of the game.
If they fail, global players would be furious!
The thought alone was thrilling.
This pressure might even surpass the global finals of major esports tournaments.
For hardcore players, however, it's the ultimate stage. Success would mean overnight fame and respect from countless people!
Of course, thinking too far ahead was pointless since the opportunity had to be earned.
To qualify for the Ultimate Trial, players needed to deliver top performances in the regular trials.
With the number of beta players now doubled to 20,000, whether new or old players, they were all top-notch gamers or professionals with special skills in real life. Amid fierce competition, no one could guarantee who would claim those rare slots.
Zhao Haiping resolved to go all in!
His first goal was to clear a regular trial mirage, and hopefully without taking any damage.
This trial is called "One Must Wait Until the Final Farewell to Understand," and it's set in the mid-to-late Da Sheng Dynasty in a small historical fragment, likely involving a minor event.
The enemies are probably the Eastern Yi soldiers from the offline event.
Beyond that, he could only find out more by logging in at 10 PM tonight.
On the forum, players were eagerly discussing the new Dark Sands content. Many were making wishes, hoping for a lucky chance at the beta slots.
Missing this round meant who knew how long they'd have to wait for the next expansion of beta slots. They were understandably anxious.
The scarcity of beta slots even spurred the rise of boosting services.
Though no one knew the exact selection criteria for Dark Sands beta access, many speculated that extensive VR action game experience might increase the odds.
Since Dark Sands uses neural recognition, beta slots couldn't be bought or sold. However, some tried to raise their account's VR game experience, hoping it would improve their selection chances.
Many players attempted this approach.
Unfortunately, their hopes were bound to be disappointed.
…
While players anticipated Dark Sands' new content, major media outlets' reports on the game's revolutionary neural link technology sparked widespread discussion.
Though players had speculated about the technology before, it remained shrouded in mystery.
But this time, several authoritative media sources officially acknowledged the game's groundbreaking neural link technology.
Though the reports weren't too detailed, they helped clear up players' doubts.
After all, some things, likely involving critical trade secrets, couldn't be disclosed in detail, which was understandable.