That being said, I decided to take my own advice and try an aspect of gaming I'd never explored before. With that in mind I downloaded Minecraft, set it to hardcore mode, and began what could be a new series to the blog. Enjoy!
I had no idea where I was. My head ached, my body was shivering, and my nose wasn't too pleased either. Blinking away the murkiness in my brain, my vision focused on a scene of decay.
The pristine snow beneath me stood defiantly against the dying earth down below. What had happened here? Had I done this? I couldn't tell if this decay was going to stay where it was or continue to overtake the greenery on its edge, but I decided not to find out. I needed to know why I was here.
A forest stretched beyond the limits of my vision. No civilization, no clue why I was here, and no help. I was on my own, and survival was key.
My stomach started to growl, and the sound of food clucked in response. Creeping along the hills I spotted a group of cows, pigs, and chickens grazing casually together. I knew I couldn't hope to take down such large creatures on my own, and chicken would only get me so much food. I crept away and started scavenging the trees for supplies to make some crude weapons.
By some miracle I managed to fashion myself a poor facsimile of a sword. It wouldn't slice, but it seemed sturdy enough to survive some stabbing. There was no way to know without testing it, so I returned to the animals and made my move.
I didn't care because I had a major problem - fire. I had no flint, no coal, nothing but trees and a few porkchops just daring me to eat them raw. I accepted their challenge, eating one and shoving the other in my pocket.
I set out to further explore my surroundings and maybe find room for a shelter. I thought to simply take a stick to a mound of dirt and carve myself a little hole, but without knowing my threats I decided against it.
My searching took me far into the forest. Or circles, I really couldn't tell. All I knew is that the sun had started waving farewell with its final wisps of light and I began to frantically search for anything to protect me.
As I ducked beneath low branch I came back up to see a grotesque figure that looked like it had crawled out of the decayed ground far behind me. Its clothes were tattered, its flesh looked almost rotted, with sores and festering wounds punctuating the exposed skin. It lunged at me, a gutteral sound escaping its feral, lipless mouth.
In a moment of panicked instinct I slashed at him with my feeble sword then ran for my life. Branches whipped my face, stones cut my bare feet, and all around me I could hear more of these creatures crying out in hunger. Cold snow gave way to wet earth, and I managed to compose myself enough to realize the groaning had stopped. My legs felt weak and my lungs felt like they were filled with splinters.
Look around I realized that the snowy forest had given way to a lush jungle. With vine hanging down from the trees around me I knew I could find safe haven far above. Climbing up a promising vine, my entire body began to shake from weakness and I crashed to the ground below, taking some bruises but nothing too serious. Gritting my teeth I resumed my ascent and soon found myself resting comfortable atop the tree while the creatures below me shambled about aimlessly, unsure of where their meal had gone.
I closed my eyes, took a bite, swallowed, and my body screamed in protest to my poor decision. I had the presence of mind to grab a sturdy branch as my entire body convulsed. Whatever energy I'd had left was draining out of my body and through the leaves of the tree. I fought back tears as my body went limp and draped itself along the branch I'd come to call home. I blacked out to the sounds a groaning chorus beneath me and wondered if I'd sleep through my own death.
I was awakened from the darkness as my left side exploded in pain. I reached down protectively only to gasp as my hand slammed in to the shaft of an arrow. I glanced around frantically to find my attacker and heard a sizzling sound behind me. I looked down to see the entire forest ablaze as the first few trickles of sunlight turned the creatures in to an angry inferno. Squinting, I could see one of the creatures frantically waving a bow over its head. I smiled darkly, becoming aware of the pain in my side once again by rejoicing that my attacker got what was his.
Satisfied that the threat had ended I knew I had to reach the ground before the addition of bleeding to my weakened condition sent me falling to my death. My descent wasn't graceful, but I survived well enough to keep walking.
I decided to search for food by keeping nearby mountain on one side of me to lessen the chance of surprises. Indeed I was surprised when a few minutes of walking greeted me with the first good thing to happen to me since I arrived in this nightmare. A cave. That meant shelter, security, a place to make a bed, and perhaps even access to materials for stronger tools!
I stood transfixed at the cave and fought back the urge to weep. Was I relieved at finding shelter? Angry because I had no idea what was going on? Delirious from food poisoning, exhaustion, and an arrow in the side? As this point I didn't care, I just knew that salvation, at least for the moment, was right in front of me.
And from the bowels of the cave, far removed from the dawn's protective rays, I heard the twang of a bowstring and looked down to see a second arrow nestled deep within my chest, silently mocking my failure.
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Yes, my first adventures in hardcore had me dead after 1 day. I couldn't believe it - I took a screenshot of the cave, I sat there for just a second as I started making plans for shelter, and an unseen skeleton archer ended me. Still, I must admit that I enjoyed how punishing this mode is!
So what did you guys think? Should we keep watching and see if someone else wakes up in this mysterious place? Would you like to see me fail at different hardcore games? Let me know!
See you tomorrow!
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