Jogo Mortal (2024)

This my first ever review and I felt compelled to write this after watching the drama and then reading the novel. Prior to this drama I had no knowledge of the novel or any of its content at all. This was a no skip drama, and like the other reviewers have commented, it left me feeling empty and wanting more, which led me to read the novel too.

First off I will do a review on the drama before I read the novel, theres a review for the novel comparison afterward, that may contain some spoilers.

Initial Rating: 8-9
Final Rating: 9
*Story*
The story speaks about how Lin Qiu Shi finds him self stuck in this virtual world where he has to pass these "Doors" in order to escape the game and the overall story very compelling with each arc representing each door getting more interesting than the other. Each of the arc is a standalone story and kept me on my toes. I do not usually watch horror, but the mystery and the story telling of the this drama kept me engaged. From how the main character slowly piece together the puzzles within the door and how the level of difficulty each door gets, To how Lin Qiu Shi's character building up his skills to pass through each door, as well as his interactions with Ruan Nan Zhu. The characters itself also made it more likable to watch and the interactions between each character really brought this drama to life. Knowing this is based on a BL novel versus not knowing makes no difference. The interaction between the main leads, mostly comes off as more friendship or like someone of great importance which makes alot of sense, since they are basically entrusting each other with their life for every door they go into.

Acting:
Majority of the acting cast of this drama are new actors or relatively young actors with minimal experience. However each of these actors managed to bring each of these characters to life and embodied the characters themselves. I will mostly speak of the main characters as this drama has a pretty large cast, but I will have to say that almost all the minor characters got me relating to them in some way. Some that made me cry or laugh because of their interactions.

First of all Xia Zhi Guang, for those you who may not know him, I've known this guy existed like almost 6-7 years ago, because I watched X-Fire and then I also watched Produce 101 season 2 china version. I will have you know that if you watched him in any of these none of you will think of him as Ruan Nan Zhu. There was even a post about it on weibo that was questioning "How on earth did the directors and producers managed to see a Ruan Nan Zhu in Xia Zhi Guang? Cause I sure as hell didn't" and the proceeds to pulls up his past clips. I have seen him in these shows and his existence was practically invisible, guy has strong skills in dancing, but he didn't really stand out to me much. His acting here was amazing, from the occasionally drama queen to coolness and coldness of Ruan Nan Zhu. Of course, he is still a new actor and his acting isn't perfection, but I felt he really embodied Ruan Nan Zhu.

Huang Jun Jie should be consider as relatively experience actor, I have seen him in other works and can say that he act well in certain roles and sometimes his acting is not good. In here, while I wouldn't say this acting is phenomenal, I say he brought out the character Lin Qiu Shi, showed his growth and coldness as person, once he started adapting to the world of doors where you don't have time to worry about other people life or death when you have to manage to survive yourself.

Music:
Definitely not the best, tbh for a low budget drama, they did a pretty good job. I felt the team that worked on the music and background noises did a pretty good job of putting sounds at the appropriate timing to bring in the mood. Such as when something eerie was gonna happen or when Lin Qiu Shi/Ruan Nan Zhu felt something was off. I think the importance of the music/sound used in this drama really added to the element of it and made it easier for me to get more absorbed into the storyline and naturally feel scared. I almost didn't dare to even watch this at night time. However, there were 2 songs that stand out, the song for Lu Zuo Zi, which is still stuck in my head and did it creep me out the almost every time I heard it and I Know – 高佳依.

Rewatch Value:
I will definitely rewatch, the attention to detail in this drama is pretty insane and while I watched almost every episode without skipping anything. I feel like I missed some clues and I definitely will rewatch it, just because every arc and story is so engaging, I don't feel like watching it once is enough.

SPOILERS
Now below is where my review comes after the novel. It will contain a bit of spoiler towards the novel and the drama so read at your own risk. It is also comparison between 2 and how it affected my final rating. I will try to avoid major spoilers, but no guarantees.

First off compared to the drama, where it is based on a virtual world, the novel is more mystery based. The whole concept of the doors are actually different between the 2 and if you were watching the drama, im pretty sure there are a few plot holes that didn't make sense at all. Once you read the novel and the setting it will fall in to place. In the drama, Lin Qiu Shi is stuck in a virtual world where supposedly his "old friend" mailed him a game and unless he plans on stopping to play game entirely he can't avoid it. This concept actually doesn't really sound realistic and the only reason this reasoning works is because Lin Qiu Shi works with game designs (If I remember correctly). However infact, this concept of compelling people to play unless this person doesn't plan to play a video game at all doesn't work for all people. In the novel, the condition for doors to appear for a person is if they are approaching death whether it is an accident, murder, suicide or a terminal illness and the only way to prolong their life is through doors. So now the players don't really have a choice but to go through the doors, cause regardless they'll die and this also gives reason for people to cheat and play dirty. Also, the level of each persons door is heavily dependent on players performance, on their first door which is their test. So what determines the condition of their first door is how close they are approaching death, the closer they are to death, the higher the level.

The drama downplayed alot of the story and pretty much revamped alot of the concepts of the story, however it is still phenomenal on its own, though the novel is definitely the better one. In the drama, where Lin Qiu Shi was connecting with the NPCs and helping them resolve their stories, this did not happen in the novel at all. The novel was more gruesome, horrifying and gore. The door gods had feelings, but they didn't all have back stories, they simply just wanted to kill the players. It is definitely not for people who are scared of horrors or easily able to have nightmares. Reading this novel, I got a bit scared opening and closing doors, turning off the lights or even looking at myself in mirrors. For people afraid of gore, I don't think you'll be able to eat for awhile. Also, the novel had more arcs than the drama, but I believe due to budget problems, they couldn't cover it or possibility of censorship that they took them out. The drama did alter some of the arcs most likely due to the gruesome nature of the original story and to be honest great choice, cause if they kept it, this would have been classified as full on horror. They honestly did so good with the altering in stories, that I thought it was the original story until I read the novel. I won't speak into some specific details, because some are just way too gruesome. Also, there are certain drama plot holes that were explained in the novel, i'm not sure if they filmed and it was cut, or they just simply forgot about such small details.

Also, compared to the novel, the drama actually brought more interaction between the characters. In the novel, they were more like a few lines about each characters interactions with the main leads, while the drama really brought more of these interactions to life. Compared to the novel, I related more with all the characters in the drama since it was told from a more third person point of view, while I think the novel made it point that is from Lin Qiu Shi's POV, he really shouldn't get that close to people when there's a chance he might not see them again. Also, they changed a bit of the interactions between Ruan Nan Zhu and Lin Qiu Shi, which I'm sure everyone expects this due to the censorship. The writers tried their best to keep the lines, but took away some of Ruan Nan Zhu characteristics, which is he especially shameless to Lin Qiu Shi and loves teasing him alot, which doesn't show in the drama.

Overall, after reading the novel, I got to give this drama a solid 9, the novel in every arc there was new characters and zero repeats, but i'm pretty sure considering how low budget this drama was, there was no way they could hire that huge amount of people, especially when they got so much other small details and different sets they have to afford. The creation of this mysteries organization really saved this problem and explained why we would see some repeat characters. After reading the novel, I realized how many choices the director/producer/writers made to ensure this would be able to air and though this drama was only able to go online for 30 mins to an hour which is really sad. It really showed how much effort was put into this show. They really tried to reflect the drama each and every arc sets as realistic to the novel as possible and it was almost to perfection. When I was reading the novel, I had a clear image of how their surrounds would actually look like.

Leia Mais

For all the hype. Is it worthed?

Quite wonder about this drama, when everyone excited about this 'not supposed' to be aired drama. And after I've watched it. I must said I'm happy this magically aired... Haha....

A little shock about the ending & the plot twist. But for me this still one beautiful drama, so no matter what I can't give this drama a lower score...

U can say this drama about human brain, human psychology and friendship. But in the end this also about survival.

Ok. Now let's talk about drama...

This story about Ling Jiu Shi (JS) who got a VR beta game that's stop in the middle when he played. Wondering about the game, he insisted to search for the 'real' game, and no long after that there's someone mail the game to him. And with that his journey in the spirealm game started. And this game different than any other VR game. When u hurt in the game, u hurt in real life. And when u died, u'll died in real life to, the difference just the way u died in the game & real life is different.

In the game he met Ruan Lan Zhu (LZ), who turn out has a company that collected player to finished the game. His goal, to purify the game back to what it supposed to be, not the game where every player died & hurt, just simply a VR game, where every player can enjoy the game with no fear for their life.

In the game, JS met all kind of player. Like Li Dong Yuan, the other company owner who collected the player for the purpose of money, by guiding new player to avoid death. Or like Yan Ba Lang, the other company owner who collected the player for the purpose of master the game, to make the duplicate of the game. Or simply like Tan Zao Zao, a player that enter the game & just hoping to finished the game without she need to died.

Well no matter how fun or scary the game for the player, cause u know some sick people find this 'scary game' as fun, once u enter u must finished it. The way to finish the door or level only 2, by death or get the key. The game once a while (don't know the duration between the game) will called u in to enter another door and u have no way to avoid it.

Ok. That's a little summary about the game. Now let's discuss about what i like & don't like.

What i like:
+ The eye contact between JS & LZ. Oh so so long don't find the eye that talk about their feeling without any 'lust' behavior... The moment we saw that eye contact we know we watch hidden BL. And all that hidden or implicit dialogue... No wonder this has hard time aired from China government.
+ We can feel human selfishness when they face death. Or
+ The friendship that shape between the player. Especially in the Hei Yao Shi or LZ's company.
+ When u put genuine empathic/care for people, u get genuine feedback/friendship. Like when JS genuinely care to the NPC door guardian/spirit, they become his friends when needed.

What i don't too like:
- No matter how strong the eye contact between JS & LZ. I still hope this other countries production. Cause you know we still can hope to see some 'bed scene' or at least some kiss scene. Haha...
- No time stamp. We don't know how long it past from 1 game to another
- Sometimes so frustrated by how stupid JS was... Like how the game connected to him. I get maybe it's already long2 time not met up with his friend, but really how slow ur brain can be. Even I can already guess big picture who design the game...
- The ending or the plot twist. Ughhhh i almost smash my tab when they reveal the ending. I think I scream as long as the final episode to 'beg' the director not that cruel to us.... What is it do u ask? Hoho... I'm not that CRUEL OR CRAZY to put it here. U may message me for it.

Overall this really one unique drama that I'm glad out here for us to watch

Leia Mais

A beauty should eat litchis!

The Spirealm : Bienvenue dans le monde à l'intérieur des portes.
Ling Jiu Shi : Bienvenue dans ma maison.
S'il savait à quel point le jeu est plus chez lui que lui chez lui...

J'ai lancé le premier épisode sans trop savoir à quoi m'attendre. Dans les grandes lignes, je connaissais l'histoire, mais je n'en savais pas plus. Et puis les portes m'ont envoûtée. Résister à l'envie de regarder l'épisode suivant était presque une torture. J'ai eu l'impression de revenir trois ans en arrière, lorsque je regardais Word of Honor et où chaque week-end était atrocement long, car aucun épisode n'était diffusé.
Les portes étaient mon obsession. Les personnages ne peuvent pas les rejeter ? Très bien, je ne le pouvais pas non plus. Je n'arrêtais pas de penser à elles et aux personnages. Même maintenant, je n'ai qu'une envie, relancer le premier épisode et replonger dans cet univers qui fait s'éparpiller mes pensées alors que cela fait quasiment deux semaines que je l'ai terminé.
Honnêtement, il y a tant de choses à dire sur cette adaptation, je n'ai pas envie d'en faire toute une histoire. Et en même temps, The Spirealm m'a vraiment fasciné.

Depuis Truth of Dare, je n'avais pas revu Huang Jun Jie. Son jeu s'est amélioré depuis, bien qu'il garde quelques mimiques (celle de plisser les yeux, notamment). En réalité, j'ai eu l'impression que le jeu de Huang Jun Jie évoluer en rythme avec son personnage, Ling Jiu Shi. L'acteur était bien au début, puis bon, pour finir à son meilleur. C'est intéressant. J'ignore si c'est une décision de l'acteur de l'interpréter de cette façon, mais c'est une réussite.
Face à lui, Xia Zhi Guang que je ne connaissais pas en tant qu'acteur. Et ok, pour moi, Ruan Lan Zhu était l'homme parfait. Personne n'est prêt pour ce gars. Son personnage est à la fois distingué, dangereux, calculateur à l'intérieur des portes. En-dehors, il garde ce charisme propre au personnage, avec une pointe de douceur uniquement adressée à Ling Jiu Shi.
Le reste du casting est également très bon (des alliés comme des antagonistes), rien à redire là-dessus.

La Chine est douée pour les bromances. The Spirealm fait illusion jusqu'au bout. Les sous-entendus, les petites subtilités ou encore les regards et les quelques contacts. Toujours très subtiles, jamais francs (quoique parfois audacieux (et c'est magnifique)), mais les papillons sont au rendez-vous plus d'une fois. Encore une fois, la Chine démontre son talent pour tisser de belles romances qui n'en sont officiellement pas.

L'histoire regorge de sources d'inspiration toutes aussi entraînantes les unes que les autres. Le livre et le drama sont apparemment très différents sur leur façon de traiter l'univers. La version adaptée est une merveille (je n'ai pas envie de lire le roman, pour être honnête, j'ai seulement lu la fin pour comparer (j'en parle plus bas)). Entre mystère, horreur, comédie (jamais lourde) et moments de tensions, chaque porte apporte son lot d'émotions. Les personnages ne sont pas si nombreux, et en même temps, il y a une richesse dans chacun d'eux sur ce qu'ils apportent (tant alliés que antagonistes).
J'ai vu beaucoup de commentaires sur la fin de l'œuvre d'origine. La série est totalement différente, donc c'est toujours intéressant de découvrir la première. Pour ma part, j'ai décidé de connaître la fin du roman avant d'avoir terminé mon visionnage. Celle du drame est douce-amère, mais cohérente. De ce fait, connaître celle du livre peut aussi adoucir l'amertume avec un peu de douceur. Cependant, comme le traitement des deux œuvres est différent, j'accepte sans aucun problème les deux fins que j'ai trouvé bonnes et intéressantes, même si celle du drame m'a donné envie d'aller sous mon lit et sangloter.

C'est une production qui n'avait pas un budget ultra conséquent, mais qui se révèle extraordinaire dans sa mise en scène. On a vu des dramas mieux financés être moins bons. Les effets sont superbes, les musiques, les plans, etc. En revanche, si vous êtes sensible aux scènes d'horreur, certaines peuvent être dures. Personnellement, je n'ai aucun problème avec c genre, mais devant plusieurs commentaires reconnaissant avoir eu du mal, c'est toujours une bonne idée d'en faire mention.

Bref, The Spirealm m'a tellement entraîné dans son univers que je pourrais continuer à le flatter pendant des heures entières. Si je le compare à Word of Honor, ce n'est pas pour son histoire, mais pour la façon dont ce drame m'a hanté et à élevé mon niveau d'excitation. Parfois, j'oublie à quel point certains univers chinois ont une force d'attraction unique. Coup de cœur !

Leia Mais

AMAZING? AMAZING!

When I tell you how this took over my life and left me questioning what is real and what is not around me, I'm not kidding.

I went into the show, I did not expect to be watching a masterpiece. The acting, ost, plot, characters, everything was on point. The way Ruan Nanzhu looked so lovingly at Lingling was so cute. The way Ruan Nanzhu fell first but Lingling fell harder. All the doors were so interesting to watch and especially the 11th door.

The ending left me absolutely sobbing. You are telling me Lingling waited 50 years!?!?!? 50 years to recreate The Spirealm and have all his friends in that world and live with them. With the version of them that remembered him and loved him. He chose to live in the virtual world where the people he loved remembered him and their story and not the real world where they were alive but did not remember anything. How heartbreaking that part was to watch. Everyone was around him in his life but not in the way he wanted. And the most important person, the man he loved so so much was not there. So, he created the virtual game again, the 12th door of Lingling's happiness, entered that world to live there for the rest of his life with his husband and friends. Loved how the moment he and Ruan Nanzhu's hands touched, Lingling was back to the young age he was when they had first met. Now he could live with his husband for an eternity!

The concept of choosing which one would you want to live in? The Illusion of Life or the Reality of Death? It so perfectly went well with Lingling's story. He chose the Illusion of living with Ruan Nanzhu and his friends then live with the reality that Ruan Nanzhu, the NPC created for him did not even exist.

WATCH THE SHOW NOW!!!

Leia Mais

The magic of 12

DISCLAIMER: My review is based solely on the drama: I have not read the book!

I usually run it the opposite direction every time someone mentions chinese bromance, as I am allergic to censorship. This one actually I ran towards to. The whole story of its release is fascinating, and for once I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

The series was released in February and then, two hours later, removed by the producer. Why? The theories abound: not censored enough, a mistake release, a scandal? Who knows? In any case, one kind soul managed to download it and the rest is, as they say, history. Now they are releasing it again: will it be censored and re-edited? We'll see! But before it happens, I wanted to see this version!

And, oh boy, did it deliver! Story wise, not romancewise!

Lin JiuShi is a genius programmer not really appreciated at work, so he escapes into a gaming club where he tries out bootleg demos of unreleased games. One of those is Spiritual Realm: a VR game where you need to go through 12 doors and solve a mystery in each one before moving to the next door. In the very first door he meets Ruan LanChu, who, impressed with his quick thinking, asks him to join his organization, Obsidian. LJS learns that the game had been taken away from its creator by capitalists from a "beautiful country" (USA right?) and turned into a more dangerous, killing machine. Obsidian's goal is to reach the final door and reboot the game to its original setting.

The story is extraordinary complex: each door's quest is based on a folk tale or a real horror event (sanatorium: again Bad Americans!). There are rules in each door you are not supposed to break under the penalty of death (for example, get wet in the rain!). You need to find a key (solve the mystery) in order to unlock the next door and obtain the helpful hint for it! There are a few groups going through these doors, each with a different goal: the worst being Company X (if this is not a hint at Elon Musk, I don't know what it is).

While watching, there were things bothering me. A lot! For example....Once you enter the game, you cannot leave unless you reach the final door. If you die in the game, you leave and die for real in the real world 15min later. Everyone knows it since the gamers communicate on different chats. So why would anyone start playing if the outcome is certainly death? Everyone thinks that they can beat the system, I guess! As we get to see with a few beloved characters. Once you are inside, do you need to go through the doors in order? Do you have to solve it yourself or does it count as your win if you manage to survive? How come LJS does not recognize elements of a game he wanted to create with his best friend? The role of kaleidoscopes showing up everywhere? And so on, and so forth.... my head kept coming up with questions, finding inconsistencies and plot holes. Eventually, I discovered that there were none of those: everything was explained in the final episodes 76 & 77.

Kudos to the writers for coming up with such a solid screenplay. Which had no need for romance whatsoever. This is based on a BL web novel, and they censored the romance, turning it into a friendship: which was perfectly OK with me. The plot was gripping enough, and it really did not need the romance. To keep fans happy, there were many "double entendre" lines of dialogue and sizzling looks, but that's it. And that was more than enough. I personally hate it when they mix genres too much: and horror and romance do not mix well! More often than not, romance is superfluous!

The storyline revolves around number 12: twelve doors corresponding to twelve months, twelve zodiac signs, twelve hours, twelve sufferings and negative emotions shown through the quest inside doors (birth, old age, illness, death, love parting, resentment, fear, sorrow, sadness, anger...) The whole game is an allegory for the character growth, for dealing with emotions and that is what we eventually understand that the plot is about!

There was not one single annoying character. On the other hand, there was a long arc in the middle of the drama involving an actress playing the game which put the main characters' storyline a bit on the back burner. Nevertheless, there was not one boring second in this drama. They manage to strike the perfect balance between scary, calm and funny. It was a real pleasure to watch.

Dubbing was rather atrocious, though. I did not notice it in the beginning but as the drama progressed, RLZ whispering voice was getting too much just like the sound effects (breathing, lips smacking etc. awful!). Sometimes those voices were so distracting that I'd forget to focus on the plot! LOL

Production value is very high, the special effects were excellent and the scare factor was not very high: the scariest thing happened oof screen or as shadows: so that was just perfect for a horror hater like me (I cannot watch horror or gore). I loved the background music: it was perfect! The dramatic music was appropriately dramatic, the sad one just tugging at the heartstrings making tears come to your eyes but never over the top or too much. Every main support character's death was accompanied by the same song, just maudlin!

SPOILERS AHEAD

Now, the reason I do not rate it as much as I wanted to is the last episode: the completely unnecessary 10 min featuring a 50yr time jump. The story ends up as being a coma dream LJS had after a car accident. The people in the game are the people he meets in the area he lives in. RLZ is actually a NPC character from the VR game LJS wanted to make with his friend in the university. Not being able to forget dream game's RLZ, LJS spends 50 years creating the game Spiritual Realm in order to meet RLZ again and live with him and the members of Obsidian together forever in the VR world.

This ending is the bitterest, saddest, the most tragic end you can imagine! There is nothing bittersweet or happy about spending 50 years of your life to create a fictional character! So he'll download his conscience in the VR database and live happily ever after?!?!? I just wanted to cry for the wasted life because of a coma dream! He had not learned anything after all!

Just don't watch the last episode: the drama ends on episode 77 and it is 10/10!!! That ending is perfect!

Leia Mais

this left me feeling a whole lot of things

This show had so so much potential, and for some of it, they really did a great job. For other things, they just flopped hard.

Jiushi is a game developer who stumbles across a VR game that's so much more than just a game and gets pulled into the world of 12 doors that you have to make your way through, each of them opening up into unique virtual universes with new life threatening challenges, and when you die in the game, you die in real life. When Jiushi goes into his first door, he meets Lanzhu, a master gamer who owns a company that takes other gamers through the doors.

The story is intriguing, it's a fresh spin on the real life VR trope, and the strange worlds that lie behind each of the doors are well thought out and incredibly creative. The main storyline though could have been SO much better. The main story line was veiled in so much mystery, I love not knowing what's going on and learning little bits as you go, but the reveals were lame! There were also psrts of the plot that didn't really make sense that just threw you for a loop and you just had to roll with it. I'm a sucker for a happy ending too, and I saw a lot of ways we could have had a satisfying ending, but this wasn't it. It was disappointing after staying with the story for so long, just for it to end and leave you feeling empty.

The acting was alright. Most of them were good actors, especially Xia Zhiguang who plays Lanzhu, he's amazing. There wasnt anyone terrible, but the guy who plays Jiushi wasnt a great actor, so it threw things off. These two could have had chemistry to kill for, some of their scenes you just sit there holding your breath, but the writers must have been scared towards the end since there's not much chemistry outside of the sad parts. I get it though, because ultimately the show was taken down, so sadly, their fear was justified.

Production value was great, the world graphics were mostly good quality,the music was awkward though? There was literally only actual music on what was supposed to be the romantic scenes, but it felt forced in there.

Overall I enjoyed this, but not nearly as much as I anticipated. It could have been amazing, and the ending just leaves you empty.

Leia Mais

Wonderful, emotional, and just beautiful (except the ending haha)

If anyone's read the novel before going into the series, they would surely have high expectations, and I certainly did too. I was not disappointed in the least, the plot, the mystery, the acting were all just executed to perfection. I love the cast, and they all suit their characters really well.

I felt that I was really able to develop such a deep bond with so many different characters, and in such a short time, which is something even the best TV series don't always manage to achieve. RNZ and LJS are adorable, and they give off such obvious lovey-dovey vibes i keep squeeling and kicking my legs everytime they're together.

As someone who extremely hates watching any visually scary / even the tiniest bit of horror, I love that while the story is one of horror mystery, they somehow managed to make it not that horrifying, and most of the time I actually felt it to be slightly comedic. I was really glad the director took into consideration scaredy-cats like me.

Finally, the ending. This was the only reason I had to take the .5 off that 10/10. The ending was a tad chaotic, unexplainable, not understandable, and slightly sad. There were many things that I failed to understand, but ultimately if I switched my brain off, I still enjoyed the very last few scenes of melancholic happiness.

Ps - to novel readers: the ending is quite different than that in the novel, and definitely not as happy i would say, since the series left the ending quite open-ended

PPS - to all international fans out there, I actually feel so bad for you since the subs are probably not that easy to understand (or not understandable at all haha)

Leia Mais

escape rooms in fantasy of life and death virtual game..

basically just watch the drama, for my interpretation of the storyline... with the guessing words from not accurate/auto generated subtitles.. just for reminder sake of comfortable watching, i do put a mindset for this drama that to just follow the flow of the drama, don't expect too much, and have a funtasy virtual journey through the end, it's really worth my time, because i couldn't stop watching the drama till the end of episode.

1st episode i'm hook up for the RPG storyline, any dramas about RPG in beautiful scenery always added to my list to watch.. that's what i thought at first... then, unbelievably it's a horror one, and to added it to my surprise it's a spooky and gory one, i do horror but not the spooky-gory kind (such as "sell your haunted house"), so i'm a bit hesitant to continue at first, but after 2nd episode, i get my nerved tone down for the mystery of each door to solve, i like the solving cases storyline, so i can't stop continue watching them even in night time..
yep it's no draggy storyline, but yet a bit fast pace, i couldn't get too much attached emotionally, even when there're deaths of the support characters, i couldn't get the sadness about them, i just thought it's part of the game which is required to, after all it's a life and death virtual game.
for me, every solving cases storyline just need decent ending, and this drama is one of them, i don't expect much to have it a happy or sad ending, just enough for my logic to have the resolve ending.
and good BGM made me hook up through all the storyline.

both Main Lead characters Ruan Lan Zhu and Ling Jiu Shi give a superb chemistry, in gestures and eyes telling, they're so in sync in mind too, the calmness and knowing what to do from both ML, made the drama enjoyable to follow through the end, no fussy scenes from them, i always love the pair of Introvert characters, so comfortable to watch.. i love the early attitude from RLZ for his sassy and love to tease LJS, through gestures, eyes and words ("what's yours are mine, what's mine still be mine", keep me laughing hearing this sassy remarks), but it's getting lesser from the middle to the ending, a bit disappointed actually though, LJS still the same but a bit upgrade from too oblivious to a bit quick to catch RLZ rephrase.
and i prefer with RLZ's hair style of the 1st episode with his bangs down, soo real RPG character, breathtaking, lol..
i love BL storyline, but this drama not enough to be categorized as BL one IMO, just Bromance, because the storyline didn't focusing about their feeling, just a gesture here and there, not too emotionally attached storyline about them ("Untamed" were more for the romance than here), again IMO.

Re-watch the drama only when i miss RLZ, it's too spooky and gory for my nerve, just for a day-watch, not recommended at night-watch, if you don't have a strong nerve as me, lol.
well, just a tiny wish-of-thoughts about the whole set of story, it'll be really awesome feeling if it's actually done as the novel set of nuance that it's a real door, not just a virtual game, ayy just a bit imagining thoughts whether it'll feel different when i know it's not just game-set storyline, hehe, the drama already awesome as it is.

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The bromance depicted in this series was nothing short of deep and beautiful. Despite the constraints of censorship, the creators managed to capture the essence of the romance between the main leads with incredible subtlety and finesse. Through nuanced gestures, meaningful glances, and tender moments, they conveyed the profound connection between the characters in a way that was both touching and heartfelt.

Watching the final episode of this series left me with a profound sense of emptiness and sadness. It's as if saying goodbye to dear friends whom I've grown to cherish over the course of the show. Already, I find myself missing the characters deeply, wishing for just a bit more time in their world.

The actors delivered such incredible performances, bringing the characters to life in a way that felt genuine and heartfelt. Their portrayal of emotions was so captivating that I found myself completely immersed in their journey, feeling every joy and sorrow alongside them.

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