Zachary pushed his hair out of the way, sliding his headset on and laying down on his bed, watching as the startup animation played through the eyepieces. The VR headset booted up, connecting its neural circuits to his mind as he felt his body whisked out of his bed and into a standing position on a seemingly endless plain in a void.
"Still not used to it." Zachary said as he stared at his hands, amazed at how he could feel everything. Last week, Zachary decided to treat himself to a state of the art VR headset for his birthday. The latest model that he purchased on recommendation from his friend allowed for complete immersion in a digital world, including all five senses and next to no latency. The buzz surrounding these headsets were taking over social media, and were impossible to avoid.
Zachary opened a menu using his hand and selected the first game and only game on the list: The Tower. The Tower was perhaps the most popular game on the platform currently, promising a challenging roguelite experience you could play with friends. Not only was the game good, but its mechanics made it a viral sensation online too. Zachary didn't know much about it however, as his friend Theo gifted the game to him, promising to show him the ropes.
A game invite popped up from Theo and Zachary selected it mentally, placing him in the game. When he came to his senses, he found himself in the lobby of an abandoned building. High ceilings gave way to a broken skylight, with rays of light streaming in. Overgrowth climbed over a mezzanine and concrete debris lay on the ground. Zachary had heard about the setting being cool, but this was something else.
"Zach, hey! You have your headset muted or something?" Theo yelled from a short distance away, his voice echoing.
"Oh! Sorry, was caught up in all of this." Zach snapped out of his trance as he walked over to Theo.
"It's understandable, heh. Its hard not to be on your first time." Theo said. He said as he pulled up a menu, tapping away. Zach noticed that unlike other games he had played, Theo looked exactly as he did in real life, not using an avatar or other sort of character. Not only that, but he was wearing some sort of futuristic suit. It looked like a thin, sleek black bit of light and flexible futuristic armor. A quick inspection of his body revealed that he was wearing one as well.
"And... Done, lets get started! I'll teach you as we go." Theo said as he finished tapping on the menu, causing a green light to glow in front of the two of them as an elevator door opened up with a ding. Theo stepped inside and beckoned Zach to follow along.
Nervously, Zachary stepped inside the elevator, waiting as the text scrawled across his field of vision, displaying "FLOOR 0". The elevator came to a stop, opening up on what looked like an abandoned office space. It was dark, only illuminated by the sun that made it through the closed blinds. Papers and various supplies were strewn about on the desks and on the floor. Theo stepped out and flicked his wrist, instantly summoning a short dagger. Zach copied the motion, producing his own weapon. He was shocked at the realistic feeling weight in his hand.
"Holy shit, that's cool!" Zach exclaimed, swinging the dagger around a bit, a tooltip popping up in his vision to explain how to use weapons.
"Yep, and that's just the shitty starter weapon!" Theo responded. "I'll let you do the tutorial though."
Zack explored the floor, reading the prompts that were placed in front of him. "Each floor will have a randomized layout filled with enemies and loot. Players have a limited inventory space for healing items, utilities, and weapons. Additionally, wearable gear can be acquired." He read aloud. "Makes sense, seems kinda obvious." Zach said, before nearly jumping out of his skin.
A wooden mannequin jumped out at him from behind an office cubicle, freezing in place as a tooltip appeared. "This is an enemy, use your weapon to dispatch it. Enemies will be of several different types and have many different properties, and may have weak points. Try swinging for the joints." Zach read, steadying himself.
With a few quick swipes of his dagger, Zack landed critical hits on the joints of the mannequin. Damage numbers confirmed his hits as the mannequin fell backwards, disappearing in a puff of smoke. A small "+6" XP" emanated from it, causing another pop up.
"Now this is where it gets good." Theo smirked, leaning against the wall as he watched.
"Defeating enemies will earn you XP. Collect enough and you can level up. Levelling up will provide you with various options to augment yourself or get new loot. Please select one of the three options below." Zach read, gazing at the menu that had presented itself.
On the left of the menu was a live mirror of Zachary and a list of his stats and currently applied gear. Three options were available as his first level up. The first simply listed "Stat Bonus: +2 Strength", augmenting his stats by giving him a small bit of extra muscle and improving his physical attacks. The second was glowing green and displayed a small magic looking staff with a crystal on its tip. It was labeled "Gear: Uncommon Crystalline Staff". The third was a brilliant gold colour with a question mark in the middle that read "Random Form Effect".
"Form effects were the key way of making big changes to your build in The Tower, and may drastically change your body and stats. Form effects can be overwritten by others in the future. Some may be permanent, and others can be activated." Zach read, raising his eyebrow as he looked at Theo. "Hmm, what should I pick?" Zach asked.
"Can't go wrong with any of them, I just wanna see you figure it out." Theo said, awaiting his friend's choice...