With that, the first task was completed.
Standing atop a skyscraper, Alex looked down coldly at the scene of disaster unfolding below.
The virus-like blood threads surged across his body, converging into his arms, and before the excited eyes of Umaru and the viewers, they transformed once again into grotesque claws.
Unable to wait, Umaru dove back into control. This time, she fully indulged in the sensation of cutting, charging straight through enemy fire and ripping foes apart with the claws in her hands.
That feeling—where every enemy in front of you was nothing but a paper tiger, crushed at will—was intoxicating.
"So strong… this feels incredible to play!"
Umaru could not help but admire this game from Raiden Games. It was completely different from Devil May Cry or Sekiro. These combat scenarios were irresistibly engaging.
The environment was destroyed at her hands, enemies effortlessly slaughtered. For the first time, Umaru and the audience experienced the joy of what players called "mowing the grass."
"Huh? Using the claws seems to allow charge attacks too. This is…"
While happily tearing enemies apart, Umaru noticed that she could charge up attacks. Driven by curiosity, she tried holding the input.
On screen, Alex raised his claw and paused briefly in slow motion before slamming it viciously into the ground.
The earth ahead of him began to tremble.
Boom!
In an instant, the ground shattered, and massive black, keratinous spikes erupted violently upward from the earth.
Civilians and infected who had been fleeing in panic moments earlier were instantly skewered.
"Holy crap, this Alex guy is insane!"
"I love his abilities. All the transformations are so cool!"
"Killing NPCs and violently absorbing them is such a great mechanic. I live for this kind of brutality!"
"Streamer, streamer! Keep testing his abilities. Didn't he also turn into blades in the opening cinematic?"
"I'm sold. I'm buying this right now. Watching this is making it impossible to resist."
With another side objective completed, a tank suddenly appeared ahead, and the camera shifted back to Alex under player control.
Under the expectant gaze of Umaru and the viewers, blood tendrils surged across his body once more. He crossed his arms and slowly knelt to the ground. As his arms dropped, the claws vanished, transforming into two massive, pitch-black sledgehammers.
Umaru tested an attack.
The ground in front of her instantly collapsed into a crater. Each hammer strike carried overwhelming force, as if thunder itself were crashing down.
Under her control, Alex leapt onto the tank. After several strikes, the armored vehicle exploded outright.
She tried attacking from the air.
Alex descended like a meteor from the heavens, pulverizing the ground and sending countless infected and civilians flying into the sky.
This power-focused combat style sent both Umaru and the viewers into a frenzy.
"The impact with this mode is insanely satisfying!"
Umaru grinned brightly as she spoke, happily smashing everything in sight.
After all the tanks were destroyed, another cinematic played. This time, several grotesque monsters appeared, sprinting and climbing across buildings with their thick, powerful limbs.
As expected, these creatures were her next targets.
The scene shifted again. Alex entered another transformation state. Although Umaru felt a bit reluctant to give up the hammer form, she was also eager to see what the next attack mode would be.
Clang!
A sharp blade-ring echoed as Alex's right arm transformed into a gleaming, razor-sharp blade. He casually swung it a few times, cold light flashing along its edge.
Under the audience's excited gazes, Umaru charged back into battle. She began swinging the blade with charged attacks.
On screen, Alex spun the blade like a whirlwind, executing and severing everything in his path, finally striking the Hunter.
The cutting sensation, paired with the disturbingly realistic sound of flesh being sliced apart, was overwhelming.
When it came to pure exhilaration, Prototype was flawless.
The diverse attack styles allowed players to freely explore and discover new ways to play.
The viewers were stunned and exhilarated. This game was nothing like Devil May Cry or Sekiro in terms of difficulty. As long as you followed instructions and understood the mechanics—
You became a superhuman, free to run wild in the game world.
Watching Umaru play so joyfully, some viewers could no longer hold back. They left the stream immediately to purchase the game themselves.
This trial run had been a complete success.
Raiden Games' quality was, as always, rock solid.
If it already felt this good to watch, actually playing it would be even better.
---
A streamer's ability to generate momentum was extremely powerful, especially someone like Umaru, a high-level player with a massive following. Her influence was anything but small.
As long as someone could bring traffic, Raize was willing to give them certain conveniences after careful consideration.
After several days of fermentation, Prototype exploded in popularity. Most of the players were male.
Alex's image, personality, and overwhelming power were impossible to resist.
Livestream platforms were now filled with creators streaming Prototype, while video sections helped spread its fame even further.
Overseas, the game was even more popular than it was in Japan. Alex's character design struck a deep chord with foreign players.
Perhaps it was because foreign players naturally carried a streak of violence. When they saw and experienced Alex' classic superpowers, they went absolutely wild.
Roaring.
Cheering.
Celebrating.
This action game created by Raiden Games had become a benchmark for violent aesthetics in gaming.
That sense of personal heroism embodied by Alex resonated especially strongly with overseas players.
After Raize's optimization, the visual impact was astonishing—so realistic it almost felt excessive, creating an incredible sense of immersion.
The immersion was so strong that the phrase "freedom and gunfights every day" stopped sounding like a joke.
Players who could find that immersion quickly fell in love with the game.
A powerful military force?
Pick up a car and smash them, or switch modes and go on a slaughter.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
Blood-drunk players rampaged freely within the game, intoxicated by the sheer catharsis.
A few days later, Prototype's rating soared to 9.8, fluctuating constantly toward 9.9.
Where there were fans, there were haters. Most of the negative voices came from paid trolls hired by jealous competitors.
After Prototype's release, these people nitpicked imaginary flaws—calling it too bloody, claiming the story subtly mocked certain countries, and so on.
Raize did not fear them.
Prototype had already taken foreign players into account at launch. Translated overseas reviews showed that those players did not mind at all—and praised the game highly.
If even they had no issue, what right did outsiders have to complain?
As Prototype continued to ferment, its popularity steadily approached that of Sekiro and Devil May Cry. Alex's iconic image and superpowers left a deep impression on players everywhere.
In Akihabara, hooded men of all shapes and sizes dressed in black could already be seen cosplaying the character.
At this point, it no longer mattered how jealous competitors felt. Raiden Games had successfully established its brand.
After transitioning industries, the studio's high-quality action games had turned it into a new benchmark for the genre.
"After playing Raiden Games's action games, you become incredibly picky."
This sentence became the highest praise players gave the company online.
What amused Raize was that the title of "action game god," once belonging to Capcom in his previous life, now seemed poised to land on Raiden Games instead.
Players now instinctively compared all action games to Raiden Games's works, their standards permanently raised.
As a result, other game companies found themselves in a difficult position. Before, there had been no better alternatives. Now that Raiden Games existed as a benchmark, competitors naturally struggled.
Raiden Games's successful transformation sent shockwaves through the industry, reshuffling the entire landscape.
Now an unstoppable storm, Raiden Games had become a household name in the gaming world. Even classic arcade games like Street Fighter and The King of Fighters, loved by children, would inevitably influence this generation.
Yuuki Game Company and Black Feather Game Company.
In Japan, these two companies produced similar types of games to Raiden Games and were hit the hardest.
Yuuki Games maintained close ties with the major electronics conglomerate RECT Inc. It is said the the game company mainly serves and cooperates with the electronics company.
They possessed strong branding and reputation in the console market, with a solid global presence.
Black Feather Game Company, on the other hand, was a studio devoted purely to game development and enjoyed a respectable reputation among players.
Although the modern gaming industry had not been around for very long, these early entrants had already made enormous profits.
As the era continued to develop, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it was only a matter of time before someone would become a giant within the gaming industry.
The future promised immeasurable profits. The vision was beautiful, but reality was cruel. The business world was no different from a battlefield.
The sudden rise of Raiden Gamess directly shattered the plans of every other game company. While they were still laying their foundations, Raiden Gamess descended like a meteor, smashing straight down and carving out its own unmistakable brand within the gaming industry.
Not only that, it also raised the standards and expectations of a massive number of consumers. If the gap between them were narrow, it would still be manageable, but Raiden Games had overtaken them on a curve, leaving everyone else choking on dust.
In the gaming industry, mutual learning and imitation had never been a secret.
But if you wanted to imitate Raiden Games, you had to match them in detail and quality. Otherwise, no matter how much you copied, the result would only be a distorted imitation.
When Raiden Games rose, two major game companies, along with numerous large and small firms, immediately ordered their technical teams to launch intensive research efforts.
Several companies had studied Raiden Games' newly transformed games. They even attempted to steal the opponent's engine and data packages, but every attempt ended in failure.
In the past, Raize would never have failed to guard against such possibilities. After merging with the Mind Stone however, anyone hoping to crack the games he optimized would have to wait another hundred years.
Every technical team and hacker brought in failed to crack the game data packages after Raiden Games' transformation.
"I've never seen encryption like this before. It shouldn't exist in this world. No—this kind of technology shouldn't exist in this era at all."
That was how nearly every technician and hacker described it.
After hearing this, the people within the companies were left dumbfounded. What was this supposed to mean? Was the other side an outsider, or perhaps an alien?
A man in a suit and glasses, every inch of him dressed like an "elite professional," was staring at his technical team with a headache-inducing expression as they sat there helplessly.
This man was Nobuyuki Sugou.
As the president of Yuuki game company, he was regarded by Shouzou Yuuki, head of the Yuuki family, as an adopted son.
The company's rise had only been possible thanks to the Yuuki family's backing. His responsibility was to deliver results worthy of that support.
At present, his company and an electronics manufacturing firm were effectively in-laws, mutually supporting and cooperating with one another.
All gaming-related electronic products were handled by the Yuuki family. If he failed here, it would inevitably affect them as well.
"Is there really no way to crack Raiden Games' game data packages?"
Clinging to his last shred of hope, Sugou asked the leader of the technical team in a deep voice.
If they couldn't keep up with the pace of the gaming industry and remained perpetually behind, complete elimination was only a matter of time.
Sugou had seen firsthand how players in the market were becoming increasingly demanding. Failure to advance meant extinction.
A selfish, ambitious man by nature, his ultimate goal was to climb higher and higher step by step. This company, nurtured by the Yuuki family, was his stepping stone. It absolutely could not fail at such a critical moment.
Everything about the company was tied to his future.
The leader of the technical team was a middle-aged man. Though older, his technical skills were far from lacking. With a bitter expression, he said to Sugou:
"Boss, forget cracking Raiden Games' data packages. Our entire team, including the technical consultants you hired, hasn't been able to touch even a fraction of their core. Raiden Games definitely possesses technology far ahead of ours. Without understanding it at a fundamental level, it's impossible to break even a small part of it."
"If it were possible, I'd be willing to pay any price to obtain that encryption technology."
Another well-dressed young software engineer stepped up beside the team leader and spoke with the same conviction.
After witnessing Raiden Games' technology, he genuinely wanted to learn it. That kind of technology was practically a wealth code.
With it, wouldn't he become an important figure in any company he joined?
Upon hearing this, Sugou's expression darkened and shifted unpredictably. Were they really going to stand by helplessly as Raiden Games seized the enormous profit pie while they had no way to respond?
No. As long as one was willing to think, willing to act, or even willing to resort to unscrupulous methods, there would always be a way.
If the direct approach didn't work, then take the indirect route. If imitation failed, then use a different method to deal with Raiden Games.
As long as the other side ran into trouble, their own problems would naturally resolve themselves.