Tutorial - Combat

While I was messing around in my inventory, Locke and her squad gathered around the second door in the armory. They were waiting for me and Makise. However, instead of joining her squad, Makise approached me.

"Here," she handed my character a pistol, which I gladly accepted. "Just finished syncing it with your biometric signature. Never a bad idea to have a secondary weapon."

As Makise joined her squad, the game piped up once again. "With a second weapon equipped in a weapon slot, you can now swap weapons using the Scroll Wheel to cycle through your equipped weapons or holding down TAB to open the Weapon Selection Wheel."

I held down TAB and a circle divided into halves appeared on the screen. Line drawings of the rifle and pistol I equipped sat on the top and lower halves respectively.

"Hover over the section with the weapon you wish to equip and release TAB."

My avatar put away the rifle and drew the pistol. Apparently, I had picked up bullets for the pistol as the ammo counter displayed 0/60. The line reading "Pistol Rounds (Standard)" faded soon after, just like the "AR Rounds (Standard)" text earlier.

I tried switching weapons again, this time with the scroll wheel. My character rapidly drew and holstered her weapons as I rolled the wheel back and forth. The animations kept canceling each other as the game received new inputs.

In the middle of messing around with the swapping mechanics, the game gave another prompt. "Press R to reload your weapon."

The gun I ended up on was the rifle. Pressing R, my character pulled a magazine seemingly out of nowhere and inserted it into the gun. There was a satisfying sound effect as she actuated the bolt of the rifle. There were now thirty rounds in the rifle, according to the ammo counter. I switched to the pistol and reloaded that too. The ammo counter now read 10/50.

When I finished mastering these controls, Locke spoke up. "Alright, boys and girls. We are leaving! Norris, take care of McNally. Valdez, Degurechaff, your our rear guard. Human Popsicle, Makise, take point."

"Hoorah!" the squad members shouted in affirmation. They moved into position in a loose arc around the door. There was an opening directly in front of the door clearly meant for me. I walked my character there and she readied her weapon. The rifle was now pointed down in the direction of my crosshair.

Makise was already by the keypad. "Door unlocked," she informed. "Opening in 3...2...1..."

"KRRRAAAAAAHHH!" As the door opened, a screaming feral immediately jumped towards my character. Its mouth was wide open, showing off its plethora of jagged teeth. Its arms were extended in front of itself, giving me a good view of its talons.

"Woah!" The jumpscare was effective. I instinctively jumped and distanced myself from the screen, pushing my chair back a foot (0.3 meters). Luckily, my earbud cord was long or else they would have been pulled out.

However, I was saved by the tutorial. In the middle of the feral's leap, time slowed down. A prompt appeared. "Press V to perform a melee attack."

I quickly readjusted my seat and placed my hands back on the mouse and keyboard. I pressed "V." Time resumed. My character swung the butt of her rifle. It connected with the feral with a hard, but meaty "thonk." The battered feral flew back several feet but quickly rolled back up onto its feet.

The graphics were stunning. As the feral stood on all fours, I could see the muscles on the feral's legs tense, bulging under the greyish white skin. I had seen this pose many times before when playing with my family cat. It was preparing to pounce again.

Time slowed once more. "Hold Right Mouse Button to aim. Aiming reduces the spread of your crosshairs, allowing for more accurate shots." I aimed at the feral. The gun moved closer to the center of the screen to mimic the motion of aiming. The crosshair converged on the feral's head until they were roughly two inches (~5 cm) apart.

"Press Left Mouse Button to shoot."

Whoever designed the tutorial had a flair for the dramatic and cinematic. As I fired the rifle, the first several shots retained the slow-motion effect. Bang! There was a flash of light at the muzzle. Before the light had even faded, the feral responded to the impact. Its head flicked up, leaving an arc of blood in its wake. Then, the next shot landed, creating another fountain of blood on its chest. Then another, and another. Bullets casings were ejected one after the other, spinning out of my field of view.

After five shots, real-time resumed. The feral quickly collapsed in a bloody mess on the ground. My finger was still on the trig-, no, left mouse button. The fully automatic fire went on for another second before I reacted and let go.

"That was close. Good job," Locke complimented me. "Let's go!"

I reloaded before moving. In front of us was the caved-in hallway from earlier. The only options were left or right. Makise stepped forth and directed us to the left.

We encountered more ferals immediately. I aimed and fired at a pack of six. However, without the aid of the slow motion, my aim was noticeably worse. In addition, the ferals began moving evasively. They would sporadically hop side to side while sprinting towards us. Some would even briefly take cover behind the debris in the hallway. It took an entire magazine of bullets just for me to kill one of them. Luckily, my squadmates were present. Locke and Makise open fired and killed the remainder.

More and more ferals crawled out of the woodwork. Wait, is it still woodwork if the building isn't made from wood? Does it become steelwork? Ah, nevermind. A lot of ferals appeared both in front and behind us. I heard gunshots behind us. Glancing back, I saw Norris, Valdez, and Degurechaff holding off a pack of seven ferals. Norris was carrying McNally in a fireman's carry and was only using a pistol. The pistol seemed capable of automatic fire. Norris was squeezing off rounds in bursts.

In fact, everyone was firing in bursts. Seeing this, I matched their style. Instead of holding down the left mouse button, I tapped it. My accuracy didn't really change, but I quickly noticed that my bullet usage was much more efficient. I also remembered the information regarding the stances. The squad was moving at a swift pace, so I couldn't stay crouched. But whenever ferals appeared, I had my character kneel. The crosshairs became just a bit smaller. Although it may have just been the placebo effect, I felt my accuracy improve.

Slowly, I found a rhythm. My taps become more consistent to the point I would shoot only three bullets with each burst. Then I'd reload. The process of aiming, shooting, and reloading seemed dull and repetitive, but for me, I found myself relaxing. The simple, repetitive task gave me something to focus on and despite the feral screams, gunshots, and the fact I was moving through a hallway full of blood and viscera, I was calm. The horrors of the situation completely faded from my mind, along with the worries I had from the week of classes.

Several minutes later, we rounded another corner and an elevator came into view at the end of the hallway. The door was already open and the light inside was on. It was probably how Locke's squad entered the facility.

"Make a break for it!" ordered Locke. The entire squad broke into a sprint. My reaction time was a second too slow and I ended up behind the six of them.

We were almost in the elevator when suddenly, red, veiny lines exploded across the screen. With a single attack, my health and armor plummetted straight to zero. My character yelled in pain. She fell to the ground and ended on her back. A feral stood over her, talons red with blood. But before it could attack, blood spewed from its forehead and it collapsed. I heard footsteps, but the sound was muffled.

Valdez appeared in my view. "Don't worry. I got you." He began dragging me the rest of the way into the elevator. From my position, I had a clear view of the approaching horde of ferals. In a moment of pure badassery, my character drew her pistol. The hallway was so full of ferals that I hardly had to aim. Our bullets kept them at bay until Valdez pulled my character into the elevator.

Once we were in, Makise closed the doors. As the elevator began to rise, a soft electronic voice said, "Going to ground level." Only then did I notice that the screen had been getting darker and darker.

"Norris, get her stable. We need..." Locke was talking, but the sound got softer and softer until I heard nothing. Then, my vision completed faded and I was left staring at a black screen.