The sound of gunfire echoed in his ears, even as the screen faded to black.
"You have been disconnected from the server."
Leo stared at the pop-up message, unmoving. His fingers hovered over his mechanical keyboard, trembling slightly. He clicked "Retry"—once, twice, ten times—but the outcome was the same.
Server not found.
"...No," he whispered. "No. No. No—NO!"
He slammed his hand on the desk, rattling his monitor. The Discord chat was flooded with messages from his squad:
[ELPATRON69]: Yo? Anyone else kicked?
[LaBrujaXx]: WTF IS THIS
[SilentSiete]: Bro… check the forums.
[ELPATRON69]: They're shutting it down???
[LeoElMuerte]: No. They wouldn't.
But they did.
GUNHAND LEGACY: DEAD WEST—the most iconic Mexican-western shooter of its time, the one game that defined Leo's entire high school and college life—was gone. No warning. No countdown. Just… gone.
Three days passed.
Leo hadn't left his room. Empty ramen cups stacked beside his mousepad. Blinds shut. Monitor still on sleep mode. His phone buzzed, but he didn't check.
What was the point?
He wasn't just addicted to the game—he lived inside it. Every skin, every dusty saloon map, every legendary gunslinger he unlocked with months of grinding... it was his world.
And it had all vanished like a ghost town at sundown.
On the fourth day, he finally scrolled through his feed. The LATAM server groups were exploding.
#EchoesOfRecoil
#GunhandLives
#LeonardoReturns
"New global FPS just dropped. Based on Dead West??"
"THEY BROUGHT BACK THE GUNSLINGER—BUT HE'S FILIPINO NOW?! WTF🔥"
"LEONARDO SKIN COSTS 9,999 RECOINS 💀 I NEED IT."
Leo paused.
His eyes locked onto a looping trailer: a lone gunslinger walking through a burning town under a crimson sky. Black poncho. Golden mask. Two pistols. His name: Leonardo.
Recoins? he thought. Microtransactions?
He read further.
🎮 Echoes of Recoil – Free to Play
🌎 Global release: Available NOW
💰 Premium skins: Unlockable through missions or Recoins
🎯 Cross-platform. Real-time events.
🧠 Adaptive AI: The game learns from YOU.
Leo sat upright.
There was a chill in his spine. He clicked the download link.
11.2 GB. Installing...
As the progress bar inched forward, he noticed something strange in the trailer. The gunslinger, Leonardo, looked up at the camera—
And for a split second...
He smirked.
That smirk—Leo had seen it before. Not in the game, but... in the mirror.
His reflection, years ago. Back when he still felt alive.