It's hard to know where to start with this one. I went in with low expectations, as I have no interest in e-sports, and dropped the one other C-drama that featured them after 2 episodes. I'll avoid spoilers in this review, except in my notes at the end (and I'll try to be vague there as well).

It turned out to be one of my top all-time dramas, and the few I'd rate a 10 with zero hesitation.

General impressions: Poignant, emotionally satisfying (by turns hilarious, then had me on the edge of my seat, then in tears), fantastic characters with believable growth, an intriguing mystery... Also loved the gritty, indie-film vibe in the past storyline, especially in contrast with the slicker production in the present scenes. In general, the art direction really impressed me in this. Best bromance ever! And while the romances were a very small slice of the story, they were really well done. Features what might be the most intense kiss scene I've ever seen in a C-drama or K-drama. Like, I think the actors forgot they were on camera. Or that they were supposed to be acting.

Story: Again, e-sports isn't something I care about or follow, but I thought it was incorporated well. It was mostly a vehicle to move the characters forward, and many of the in-game scenes were shot in live-action which made the matches fun to watch. Features some fantastic action choreography - some of the best I've seen. As for the sci-fi - I know some viewers complained that it didn't make sense, but I didn't mind. I just took it as a plot device to connect the timelines and the two leads, and I was good with that. The big focus of this drama is the development of the characters and their relationships - be it as friends/teammates/family/romantic partners/rivals and so on. And it did that incredibly well. I cannot say enough about how amazing these characters were. There were lovable, layered, flawed, and whether they experienced growth or lost their way I was invested in their individual stories completely.

Acting/Cast: The casting and performances in this were top-notch. I went in as a Wu Lei fan, and while I loved him as Lu Xiao Bei, my favorite character wound up being Lu Han's Xiao Feng. But all the actors in this did an impressive job, and their on-screen chemistry was fantastic.

Music: It was alright. Not to my taste, but it served the scenes well enough.

The not-so-good (but not bad enough to take my 10 rating back - MILD SPOILERS AHEAD):

I will say there were some missteps, though they didn't take away from my overall enjoyment.

While for the most part the drama excelled at making simple, true-to-life scenes feel really impactful, occasionally it went overboard with the sentimentality and felt forced. The whole 'virtual reality' thing later on was weird and didn't fit with the rules the world had established. Also, while I respected An Lan for choosing the life path she did (as she was unhappy when we met her and found her passion in an unexpected place), I felt like Che Gu gave up her dream to help Xiao Bei achieve his, and that didn't sit right. And finally, the last couple episodes were the weakest. Obviously the tournament was what all that hard work was leading up to, but I found the matches overly long and kind of tedious.

Also, this might be a touchy subject, but I feel like I'd be remiss in not mentioning it. The heavy-handed Chinese nationalism at the end came on strong out of seemingly nowhere, and the other teams didn't actually look like they were from their respective countries, which added to the propaganda-ish weirdness of it all. Where the drama was so intimately focused on our group of underdogs until that point, it felt tacked on, and I wonder if getting the drama past censors had something to do with it? An odd choice by the writers if not.