Second attempt. I go to the blacksmith and ask about weapons. He wants money. Of course he does.
I try stealing from the general store. The shopkeeper—a middle-aged man with a scowl—catches me immediately. He pulls out a knife.
"Thief!" he shouts.
Luna tries to run. He's faster. The knife plunges into her back.
The screen goes red, then black.
"LIFE 2 LOST."
"THREE LIVES REMAINING."
Third attempt. I'm smarter now. I avoid the rats, avoid stealing. I talk to more NPCs, explore outside the town. I find a forest area. Maybe there's something useful out here.
Luna is walking down a forest path when three guys step out from the trees. Bandits. They're armed with swords and bows. Their eyes immediately go to Luna's body, lingering on her chest, her exposed legs.
"Well, well," one of them says, grinning. "What's a pretty thing like you doing out here alone?"
The way he's looking at her makes my skin crawl, even though she's just pixels on a screen.
"Hand over your gold," another bandit says, though he's still staring at her body. "And maybe we'll let you go. Or maybe we'll have some fun first."
Dialogue options appear:
"I don't have any gold." "Please, let me go." Attack Run
I choose to run.
Luna turns and sprints back toward town. An arrow whistles through the air.
It hits her in the back.
She stumbles, falls to her knees. The bandits are laughing, approaching. One of them raises his sword.
The screen goes red, then black.
"LIFE 3 LOST."
"TWO LIVES REMAINING."
I stop playing. It's past midnight. My jaw is clenched. This game is absolutely brutal. Every approach I try ends in death. The world seems open, but it's filled with traps—literal and figurative.
And I hate to admit it, but the way those bandits looked at Luna, the implication of what they would have done... it was genuinely unsettling.
I close the game and go to bed, frustrated and disturbed.
The next day is Friday. I skip my afternoon class and come home early, determined to figure this out.
I boot up the game again.
Fourth attempt. I try a completely different approach. I avoid the rats, avoid the bandits. I focus on exploring the town more thoroughly. I find a tavern I missed before. Inside, there's a woman sitting alone in the corner.
She's... wow.
She's dressed in revealing clothes—a corset that pushes her breasts up and together, a skirt slit high on both sides showing most of her legs. She's beautiful, with long red hair and dark eyes. Clearly a prostitute.
She smiles at Luna when I approach. It's a predatory smile.
"Looking for company?" she purrs, her eyes roaming over Luna's body in a way that's both suggestive and slightly threatening.
Dialogue options appear:
"No, thank you."
"How much?"
"Have you heard about any special swords?"
I'm about to select option 1, but option 3 catches my eye.
I select it.
Her smile widens. "Maybe. Come upstairs and I'll tell you... everything."
Against my better judgment, I follow her upstairs to a room.
The room is dimly lit, a bed in the center. She turns to face Luna, her smile still in place.
"So," she says, stepping closer. "About that sword..."
And then she pulls out a dagger from behind her back.
"You're cute," she says. "But stupid."
The knife plunges into Luna's stomach.
"Idiot," she says as the screen goes red.
"LIFE 4 LOST."
"ONE LIFE REMAINING."
I sit there, staring at the screen, feeling both betrayed and like an idiot.
"Are you fucking kidding me," I say flatly.
One life left.
Fifth attempt. Final attempt.
I'm paranoid now. I trust nothing. I avoid everyone who seems even slightly suspicious. I explore every inch of the town methodically.
I find a well in a back alley. There's a faint glow coming from inside it.
I interact with it. Luna climbs down, the camera following her descent. I definitely notice the upskirt angle the camera gives me as she climbs.
At the bottom, there's a small chamber. And there, embedded in a stone pedestal, is a sword. It's simple-looking, almost plain, but it's glowing faintly.
The Sword of Beginning.
I found it.
Luna reaches out to grab it—
And something drops from the ceiling.
A rabbit.
Except it's not a normal rabbit. It's the size of a large dog, with fangs like a sabertooth tiger and eyes that glow an eerie green. It screeches—an unholy sound that doesn't belong to any rabbit I've ever seen—and its body ripples with muscle that no rabbit should have.
It lunges at Luna.
She tries to dodge. Too slow.
It latches onto her throat, those fangs sinking deep. Blood sprays across the screen. Luna's scream is cut short as the creature tears into her.
The screen goes red. Then black.
"LIFE 5 LOST."
"GAME OVER."
The screen stays black for a long moment, then text appears:
"YOU WERE NOT STRONG ENOUGH."
"YOU WERE NOT SMART ENOUGH."
"YOU WERE NOT WORTHY."
And then the game closes. The file is gone from my desktop. I check my downloads folder—gone. It's like it was never there.
I sit back in my chair, staring at my empty desktop.
"A fucking rabbit," I say to no one. "I died to a goddamn rabbit."
That game was insane. Impossible, almost. The forum post wasn't lying about the 99% fail rate. I spent two days on this, died to giant rats, a shopkeeper, bandits, a prostitute with a knife, and a demonic rabbit.
I never even got to touch the sword.
I feel a strange mix of frustration and disbelief. Part of me wants to find that download link again, try one more time. But I know it's pointless. The game deleted itself. That was the rule.
I shake my head and close my browser.
Forget it. It was just a game.
At least Luna was nice to look at while it lasted.