Spiral Knights is one of those games I play quite a bit and was one of the first few games i downloaded on steam. The game was one of the more cartoon-like games on steam and is still one of my most favorite games to play. Heck, i even have a USB drive with steam and Spiral Knights installed so i could play it as long as i had internet access and well, a computer of course.
But... Something happened that, even im not sure i can figure out.
It was late at night and I was walking around Haven, during the Shroud of the Apocrea event which, if you had a bad computer, you couldn't get to the Grasping Plateau. The Grasping Plateau is this big level, and its a little like the lost woods from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time on the Nintendo 64. This part would always make my game crash no matter what i did to fix it. I was planning on going on a few missions alone seeing as how my guild-mates were going to sleep. Solotron had work in the morning, Asaleth had School, and Angel-Girl had to sleep because well, she had to. I was the only one online in my guild so i decided to go grind for some crowns and put a few into the guild upkeep. So, I prepped for the jelly king which at this point, was nothing more than a pushover. But when I clicked the missions tab... Nothing popped up. Odd, my connection was fine... and i just had my inventory open. Suddenly by some creepy timing, i got a letter from someone who we'll call "Void" I'm not sure who or, what Void is. I hesitated to open the letter, mumbling to myself how this could be something shady, so I just ignored the message and tried to continue on my way. I couldn't do missions so I went to my guild hall and decided to just redecorate some things here and there. After i was done, i went back to Haven only to find it... Empty. This wasn't too abnormal, I have seen Haven empty quite a few times. But then... My mini-map changed to static. "The heck is going on here...?" i whispered to myself. Normally this shouldn't happen anywhere but the Apocrea mission...
The mail received sound played again, saying i had a message from Void. I knew this was odd, But i still went to check. It was the same letter, but with a more recent time-stamp. "This is stupid man, don't do it..." I thought to myself. But regardless I somehow had to see what it was.
"Shrouded."
That somehow gave me chills. I mean, maybe it was the whole atmosphere of the situation, or just the fact I was playing the game at night that made it creepy, but it was something that I couldn't shake. As soon as i closed the message the missions menu came up. The only mission that i could choose was Shroud of the Apocrea and was locked at Elite difficulty. Great... Well i had to obviously start the mission, I dont have anything to do tonight. Besides, i was sick so hey, had to do SOMETHING to ride out the night. So I started the mission. It was the same as it always was but the enimies were slower like they were stunned.
The 7th level was loading and it wasn't until it got to 67% that i realized, i had no Sparks of life with me at all. I'd been doing well on my own due to the fact that all the enemies were slower, thus allowing me to just cut through them like nothing. But if the game started to act like its supposed to i could be in some serious danger here.
After the game hit 100%, i suddenly found myself in what seemed to be Dreams and Nightmares but the colors looked inverted and my knight was entirely gray, almost as if the game had a gray-scale filter on it. In front of me was a long pathway to a large platform. A large button was positioned in the middle, but before i stepped on it i looked around and saw multiple knights which retained their color, some of them looked to be simillar to my guild-mates. It looked as though energy was leaking out from the multiple bodies, their eyes looked lifeless, or at least somewhat lifeless in regards to the game's graphic style. With no other options I stepped on the button. Soon a Apocrean Harvester emerged through the ground but looked almost pitch black.
A message box appeared above it.
"It was a warning... yet you ignored it."
Warning? What warning? Was it talking about the message i got from Void? How would it know about it anyways?
"You ignored it... Now you wont leave. You wont leave... And now you will suffer."
Soon, The battle began, but not for long. I was done in 3 attacks. Once i fell to the ground, the Harvester spoke.
"You will suffer..."
"Suffer..."
"Suffer..."
It kept saying suffer over and over, soon more Harvesters showed up until... My game crashed. I re-opened it and was sent to a Clockwork Terminal, Angel-Girl, Solotron and Asaleth were there.
Angel-Girl: "Zex? Are you okay?"
Zexalor: "I was just in the event mission, why am i here?"
Asaleth: "Dude, you were running around flailing for 7 hours! we
didnt leave because we were legit thinking you had a seizure!"
Solotron: "I was trying to call you on Discord but you didnt
pick up."
7 Hours...? 7 Hours?! How was that possable!? I looked at my window and it was dawn...
Zexalor: "Guys, im telling you I was in the event mission
for only 1 hour. How could i have ended up here?"
Solotron: "You just kept saying suffer over and over again
when we got here. IDK how you did all that movement and type
all that, but that was impressive."
Angel-Girl: "Zex, maybe you should get some sleep. You're sick,
you need to rest."
Zexalor: "Yeah, maybe i should. Sorry for wasting your time guys."
Before i logged off i swear i saw a harvester disappear from the corner of the screen. I slept for about 2 hours, before being woken up by my Skype. Angel-Girl messaged me.
Angel-Girl: "Zex..?"
Zexalor: "Chrissy? whats wrong?"
Angel-Girl: "Look in chat..."
I switched to discord and I saw something that scared me straight awake. It was multiple messages of me saying "SUFFER" over and over again...
Its been 1 year since that happened. I still don't know what the hell happened to make me act like that, but every time before i wake up, i see the Harvester's face for a split second.
Well, the writing itself is not too shabby, but I strongly suggest that you take your time to proof-read next time. There were typos in almost every sentence, really threw me off more than once.
As for the stroy itself, I liked the idea, but I didn't find the execution very compelling. Mainly due to the fact that he was, after all, just playing a game, and could have just walked away any second. Sure, curiosity may drive him on, but it wasn't until the conclusion that he actually felt a physical effect on himself. Perhaps try to make the transition a bit more seemless. For instance, instead of just seeing a text bubble above a Harvester, he could have heard the voice inside his head, or something similar.