Game Loading Review
Danmei Web Novel Review: Game Loading by Long Qi
Do you like stories where it’s only the main couple, with no love triangles or rectangles popping up? Stories where it's just that couple and they’re solid from beginning to end. It’s the two of them against the world, that ride or die kind of relationship. What about the opposite end of the spectrum? Do you prefer harems? Those stories where one character, usually the main one, is the center of everybody’s attention and the object of everyone's affection.
What if I told you that there was a novel that combined both of these things? It sounds crazy but the web novel Game Loading by Long Qi manages to do exactly that. It features a couple that is completely monogamous, and yet they're involved in multiple harems. How is this possible? It happens because the main character keeps having to seduce several men, but they’re all the same person. It’s such an odd concept that I wanted to discuss the novel.
The Story
Nineteen year old university dropout Xie Xi has been relying on gaming to make a living. Thankfully, he’s always been lucky when it comes to games so he’s been able to scrape by. After refusing his mother’s offer to live with her and her new husband Xie Xi loses his last connection to his original world. This then leads to him being pulled into a game world.
Who’s it for?
Fans of infinite flow novels might be interested in this one. It starts out in modern times but Xie Xi goes world hopping through vastly different game instances. He is one of those characters who always remains calm regardless of the role he's forced to play. He’ll be a European noble in one game world and a merman in another. You’re never sure what type of setting he’ll encounter next but he uses his intelligence and, let’s be honest, luck to win.
Most of the instances have fantasy or supernatural elements and there’s a fair amount of comedy as well. The main appeal of this novel would probably be the romance and the adventure.
The Downsides
One of the benefits of world hopping stories is that readers get to follow along as the characters explore all these exotic worlds. One downside is that readers aren’t always given enough time to truly explore each new place so it’s very surface level world building.
Another is that some of the games may not suit your taste. While reading I noticed that I didn’t like any of the world’s designed by the male lead Jiang Xie. His games are all designed so that Xie Xi needs to coax or seduce various men in order to clear the game. It’s later revealed that these men are versions of Jiang Xie. They are fragments of his soul.
The explanation given is that he and Xie Xi are fated. There’s some type of affinity between them and that's why Xie Xi keeps being pulled into his games. The idea is that Xie Xi’s presence changes the way the pieces of Jiang Xie’s soul react. They often react by being obsessive stalkers by the way.
Keep in mind that these games are open to other players. Doesn’t this mean that he created unfair games that only Xie Xi could easily pass? Games which force Xie Xi to run around collecting the affection of beautiful men while hiding it like he’s some sort of adulterer. He’s buliding a harem, but it’s not his fault because the game is making him. He’s cheating, but not really because they’re all the same man. It’s as if someone wanted to create the most guilt free harem possible and it feels so pointless at times.
The main character is also much younger than the male lead and the author kept stressing on this point in uncomfortable ways. Romances with big age gaps are not my favorite thing because they can be creepy. If not done right they come across as predatory and to me this web novel falls into that category. Especially during the arc where the couple ends up in a student-teacher relationship.
The romance just doesn’t work for me and since this is one of those books where it’s the most important thing it’s hard for me to enjoy the story. If the rest of the plot was stronger I could just ignore the romance. For example, Please Follow the Rules of the Game is another infinite flow novel where I didn’t care much about the romance between the main couple but I loved everything else. The plot, the characters, and the settings were great. I can’t say the same for Game Loading. If you’re not enjoying their relationship and the antics surround it you probably won’t enjoy the novel.
Final Thoughts
This was my second attempt to finish reading this web novel and I don’t think I’ll be trying a third time. After reading over 115 chapters I can say that I’m not a fan.