Press Start: System Discovered! Book 1
Dean Parker likes to play classic video games. When he found his old console from when he was a kid, he dusts it off and sets it up. He played his old games, but he had finished them all long ago. So, what does he do? He takes a trip to the local game shop to browse the used titles. Browsing the old cartridges, he finds one that he never heard of: Dark Ages: The Death of Magic.
When a store attendant tells him that game is rumored to never have been beaten, he had to have it. Occupying all his free time he finally beats the unbeatable game. What happens next, he never would have guessed. He is introduced to the System. Something that has always existed but not everyone knew about.
Join Dean as he is introduced to the seedy underbelly of a world where the myths of magic from the past read like history. Joined by his childhood friend, he must survive in a world of magic hidden from everyone. A world that has remained secret through the blood of those who have discovered it. And to top it all off, he discovers that his childhood friend—his best friend—isn’t even human.
My Opinion: 167 pages, $2.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This seems like the work of a fan of LitRPG and there are a few minor technical writing issues that didn’t ruin the story for me but may be issues for other readers.
The story is fairly slice of life and feels a bit longer than what the page count says it is. I genuinely liked the opening 5% that gets the main character (MC) into the game world. It really nailed the experience of an old school gamer vibe. After that 5%, it becomes a real life RPG story with the MC becoming part of the system, where magical creatures and humans have urban fantasy RPG powers. The early part of the story is a bit awkward as it tries to setup up the magic and game mechanics system and the characters. Dialogue feels especially off when there are more than two characters in a scene and few dialogue tags. This improves as the story gets going and the characters are developed and get background. The mid-late story has a bit more action as the larger urban fantasy world is fleshed out.
The story is written in 3rd person present tense, which may be an issue for some readers. There’s a lack of dialogue tags, and some of the dialogue and writing is a little awkward. Those last points improve a little as the story goes on and the author becomes more comfortable with his characters and world. If you can get past that there's a decent urban fantasy story here with RPG progression and some neat powers.
On the game mechanic side, it's the same DnD kind of stats, health, and mana. The unique mechanic is that EXP is gained from raising skill levels which then contribute to levels. Other than that magic, while there are skills associated with it, is a bit urban fantasy with spells and mana being manipulated through will. One of the things that did keep me interested in the story was the development of the magic system and some of the neat spells that were developed and how they were used in the story.
Overall, despite some of the technical writing issues, I liked the story. Like many enthusiasts stories in the LitRPG genre, the beginning is the hardest to get through sometimes but the writing and world building improve as the story goes on. For me, the magic system and the powers were just interesting enough to keep me turning pages until the writing got better and the story developed into a fairly decent urban fantasy story with RPG progression. Not sure I’d read a second book, but enjoyed the first enough.
Score: 7.1 out of 10