Sorei Electronics truly seed to be seriously reflecting on why they had always been stuck in second place.
They began reevaluating from both the perspective of ga quality and technical capability.
And perhaps during that introspection, they finally identified a field that Gastar Electronic Entertainnt had yet to fully explore—the field of high-speed world loading.
The faster a ga loads its world, the easier it is for players to feel imrsed.
Imagine one ga takes a full one or two minutes to load a new scene, while another allows seamless transitions in re seconds—or even instantly. The player experience would obviously be worlds apart.
Even if the slower-loading ga is objectively better, player patience has its limits. Sitting through long load tis again and again just kills the montum. And even if you do tough it out once, you probably won't want to replay it again anyti soon—because it feels like a chore.
So, Sorei Electronics seized this opportunity and invested heavily into developing high-speed loading technology for gas, hoping it would be their breakthrough.
And, remarkably—they found one.
Once loading speeds reached a certain level, they discovered the ga world could switch between scenes almost seamlessly.
Even if the environnts had completely different styles, the transition could happen instantly.
...
That feeling of jumping between different worlds in an instant was truly unique.
When Okawa Yoichi and his team were working on the ga, they decided to try a short demo using this new tech.
What they saw stunned them: one mont, the protagonist of Solar Knight was standing among ancient ruins—then in the blink of an eye, he was in the very sa place, now restored to the peak of its glorious civilization.
The seamless transition felt like true ti travel. The experience was srizing.
Everyone who saw that demo, including Okawa himself, was blown away.
It was the perfect marriage of cutting-edge technology and innovative gaplay.
After watching that demo, Okawa made a bold decision on the spot: he imdiately halted the current developnt of Solar Knight, despite over $30 million already invested. He formally requested approval from Hayakawa Uehito to reboot the entire project, personally guaranteeing that the new Solar Knight would dazzle players.
Naturally, Hayakawa approved. A few tens of millions in losses were nothing Sorei couldn't handle.
And he'd seen that demo himself—he'd been just as impressed. If they could really pull off a ga like that, it might very well be the turning point for Sorei's entire gaming division.
Back in the live broadcast, Takayuki now found himself looking forward to what ca next.
He thought back to a ga from his previous world that best showcased ultra-fast loading: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
That ga had made a splash thanks to its stunning real-ti dinsion-hopping gaplay.
The Ratchet & Clank series had always been solid but never top-tier. But Rift Apart beca the breakout title that drew huge attention to the franchise.
In the end, the full experience didn't quite live up to the demo hype—but that's another story.
Right now, Takayuki sincerely hoped the Solar Knight demo in this world wouldn't flop. He actually wanted to see it succeed, to fully realize the potential of ultra-fast mory loading—because if it worked, it would prove the path forward was the right one.
Okawa had now entered the gaplay demo.
This was Solar Knight: Chrono Odyssey. The interface looked fairly basic—clearly, the demo was made in a short ti and hadn't had its visual details fully polished.
On screen was the iconic figure of the Solar Knight.
Much like the Hero from Dragon Quest, the Solar Knight was not a single person, but a mantle passed down through generations.
Sotis the Knight saves a princess. Sotis the world. But always—always—they're on a quest to save sothing.
The Solar Knight had never had a face. Always helted. Always silent.
Even after over ten installnts, the protagonist still said nothing.
It had beco a running joke in the gaming world.
There were even four "Silent Kings" among video ga protagonists in this world:
Link from The Legend of Zelda
The Hero from Dragon Quest
The Solar Knight
The Pokémon Trainer
(And honorable ntion: the silent race car driver from Need for Speed)
No matter how many sequels were released, these characters just refused to talk—even while every NPC around them had fully voiced lines.
By comparison, Mario was downright chatty.
Takayuki stared at the livestream, eyes glued to the screen. Okawa pressed buttons rapidly, and the ga reached its main nu.
The demo began with the Solar Knight standing at the mouth of a cave. He picked up an oil lamp and slowly made his way inside.
This was all in real-ti, rendered live. About a minute in, he reached the end of the cave, where a large dial engraved with ti markings stood.
The Knight picked it up.
Suddenly, the world around him shifted.
What was once a pitch-black cave was now bathed in daylight. A massive group of people appeared, kneeling in reverence toward the altar where the dial had been.
But as soon as they spotted the Solar Knight holding their sacred relic—they went berserk, screaming and charging at him.
A prompt appeared on screen, instructing the player to press a button.
Okawa reacted instantly. The screen flashed—and the Knight was back in the dark cave, as if nothing had ever happened.
"This," Okawa said, "is just the tip of the iceberg. And we're only getting started. Please, allow to show you more."
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