Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

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Monday news, the not long at all part two:

Destiny 2 Season of the Drifter will tweak Gambit, shotguns and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/destiny-2-season-of-the-drifter-will-tweak-gambit-shotguns-and-more/
Destiny 2's new season starts in March, and it's bringing some welcome changes, including a nerf to rapid-fire shotguns and significant tweaks to the excellent Gambit mode. Bungie says that it's tried to address some of the feedback it's received since the mode appeared last year.

The latest Epic Games Store exclusive is a horror adventure with Tesla
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-latest-epic-games-store-exclusive-is-a-horror-adventure-with-tesla/
Art Deco adventure Close to the Sun is the latest game to appear exclusively on the Epic Games Store. It's a first-person horror romp that looks quite a bit like BioShock but contains no combat. You'll be stuck on a boat with Nikola Tesla, and bad news: he's a dick.

The Division 2 will have 50-person clans with their own progression system
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-division-2-will-have-50-person-clans-with-their-own-progression-system/
With The Division 2's launch only a few weeks away, Ubisoft has unveiled the game's clan system. It's a big step up from the first game's non-existent system, letting you make and manage them in-game where you can all work towards common goals and earn clan XP. You even get a wing of the White House to live in, which I'm sure will look lovely once you clear out all McDonalds garbage left by the previous tenant.

Rise of Legions is a fast, free RTS based on an old Warcraft 3 mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/rise-of-legions-is-a-fast-free-rts-based-on-an-old-warcraft-3-mod/
Rise of Legions is a "castle siege RTS" built around "short, intense 1v1 matches" that has players trying to smash their opponent's castle before their own castle ends up similarly schmucked. It's based on the old Warcraft 3 mod Castle Fight, if that rings a bell, it's free, and it's playable today on Steam Early Access.

Death Mark, a horror game released last year for the PS4, is coming to Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/death-mark-a-horror-game-released-last-year-for-the-ps4-is-coming-to-steam/
(...) Death Mark, a horror adventure released last year for the PlayStation 4, PS Vita, and Nintendo Switch. It's apparently quite good: PlayStation Official Magazine UK said it has "beautifully gruesome artwork, clever dialogue, and a classical soundtrack that sends shivers up your spine," and it holds an aggregate rating of 83 on Metacritic, although that only includes four critic reviews, which isn't a lot to go on. We'll have the opportunity to find out for ourselves soon enough, as Aksys Games announced today that it will be out on Steam on April 4.
>> Never heard of it.

BioWare reveals more of Anthem's 90-day roadmap, commits to 'lots of work ahead'
https://www.pcgamer.com/anthem-roadmap/
Anthem has been out for a week for some people, and as of today it's out for everyone. And it's not great, sorry to say: It's pretty, but suffers from numerous technical issues, unclear systems, and worst of all, uninspired and sometimes frustrating gameplay.
BioWare's head of live service Chad Robertson acknowledged some of that in an update posted today, saying that "we understand that we have lots of work ahead of us to continue to improve the game," and sharing the first 90-day roadmap that lays out its short-term plans for Anthem's future.

FTC plans a 'public workshop' on loot boxes later this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/ftc-plans-a-public-workshop-on-loot-boxes-later-this-year/
In February 2018, US senator Maggie Hassan called on the ESRB to take steps to reduce the prevalence of loot boxes in videogames, and warned that if it did not, the government step in. Later the same year, the Federal Trade Commission signaled its willingness to get involved in the matter. Now, according to Variety, the wheels have begun turning: A letter sent to Hassan by FTC chairman Joseph Simons said the commission is planning a "public workshop on loot boxes" later this year.

Fallout 76 2019 roadmap includes a new main questline and legendary abilities
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-76-roadmap/
Bethesda has unveiled its Fallout 76 roadmap for 2019. And it's a busy one! It's broken into seasons, with Wild Appalachia (including survival mode) coming in spring, high-level Vault raids and a new game mode called Nuclear Winter coming (somewhat ironically) in the summer, and Wastelanders—which promises a whole new main quest—coming this Fall.

Devotion review bombed by Chinese Steam users over Winnie the Pooh meme
https://www.pcgamer.com/devotion-review-bombed-by-chinese-steam-users-over-winnie-the-pooh-meme/
Taiwanese horror game Devotion is excellent, judging by James's write-up—but the game has been review bombed on Steam over a meme that compares Chinese president Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh.

Rainbow Six Siege devs tease stealthy Danish operator and proximity alarm gadget
https://www.pcgamer.com/rainbow-six-siege-teases-stealthy-danish-operator-and-proximity-alarm-gadget/
Ubisoft's latest Rainbow Six Siege teaser reveals that the upcoming Danish operator, arriving in Season 2 of Year 4, will be an “expert in covert reconnaissance and stealth tactics"—and also suggests that a proximity alarm gadget will come to the shooter soon.

Watch 10 minutes of gameplay from The Occupation, the upcoming journo thriller
https://www.pcgamer.com/watch-10-minutes-of-gameplay-from-the-occupation-the-upcoming-journo-thriller/
Developer White Paper Games has released a 10-minute video showing some of the ways you can solve the investigative journalism puzzles in The Occupation, which is due out early next month.

Founder of Just Cause developer Avalanche will leave studio in April
https://www.pcgamer.com/founder-of-just-cause-developer-avalanche-will-leave-studio-in-april/
Christofer Sundberg, the co-founder of Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, has announced that he will leave the company at the end of April.
He founded the studio along Linus Blomberg, now Avalanche's chief technical officer, 16 years ago. The developer is best known for its four Just Cause games as well as 2015's Mad Max. Currently, it's working on Rage 2 alongside id Software.

Respawn 'discussing' fix for uneven Apex Legends hitboxes
https://www.pcgamer.com/respawn-considering-fix-for-apex-legends-uneven-hitboxes/
Apex Legends players have discovered that the hitbox for Pathfinder, the loveable robot, is much bigger than it should be, at least in the game's tutorial. As you can see in the video above from Youtuber SookieSpy, shooting close to Pathfinder's body, or even between its legs, registers as a hit whereas the same isn't true for Bloodhound. It's especially apparent around the feet, and you can harm Pathfinder by shooting a way in front of its toes.
When questioned about the "disproportionate hitboxes between legends" yesterday on Reddit, a Respawn community manager said the development team were "aware of it and we were actually discussing it today".

Chillout fish game Koi released on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/chillout-fish-game-koi-released-on-steam/
Originally released on mobile in 2015, Koi is a relaxing little indie game about a fish who opens flowers and fights pollution. Imagine the opening stage of Spore crossed with Flower (which also recently came to Steam), and you've got a good idea of the basic concept.

Mysterious Bethesda placeholders appear on Amazon
https://www.pcgamer.com/mysterious-bethesda-placeholders-appear-on-amazon/
Over on Amazon placeholder listings briefly appeared for a new product from Bethesda, as spotted by @Wario64 on Twitter. The now-vanished pages were for Standard, Deluxe, and Collector's Editions of something coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and were accompanied by a countdown, which is still up. It counts down from 10 in an old-time projector way, which sure has that Fallout look. That said, we're still expecting Wolfenstein: Youngblood from Bethesda this year.
>> shikamaru317 made a thread about it during thr weekend.

Paradox ARG hints at Vampire: The Masquerade-related announcement in March
https://www.pcgamer.com/paradox-continues-vampire-the-masquerade-teases-in-dating-app-arg/
Paradox's dating app alternate reality game, Tender, has continued its vampire-related teases and promised a big announcement on March 21, which has us more excited than ever at the prospect of a sequel to, or remaster of, Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines, the 2004 RPG.

Epic is exploring a Fortnite respawn system
https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnite-respawn-ping/
Whether Epic took a cue from Apex Legends or not, producer Zack Estep confirmed during a Fortnite AMA that a respawn system for squad play is a possibility and that we'll know more soon.

Fortnite Season 8 will be pirate-themed, judging by latest teaser
https://www.pcgamer.com/fortnite-season-8-teaser-points-to-pirate-theme/
"X Marks The Spot, treasure abound. Loot that has been lost, can always be found," reads the latest teaser for Fortnite's upcoming Season 8, which Epic Games tweeted alongside a picture of a pirate hook, above. It looks like James's prediction that Season 8, which starts in four days, will be water-themed is correct.
>> And when it arrives, the planes will be vaulted.

Puzzle game Baba is You is coming to break your brain
https://www.pcgamer.com/puzzle-game-baba-is-you-is-coming-to-break-your-brain/
Baba is You is a puzzle game that won both Best Student Game and Best Design at the IGF Awards. On the surface it's a game about collecting flags by pushing blocks and crossing obstacles, but what makes it brain-breaking is that the rules of each level are a part of the level you can interact with. BABA IS YOU reads one rule, and ROCK IS PUSH another. But shove the words around to read ROCK IS YOU and suddenly you're controlling a boulder.

Here's some long-awaited footage of Chex Quest HD
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-some-long-awaited-footage-of-chex-quest-hd/
Announced a couple of years ago, Chex Quest HD is a remake of everyone's favourite Doom WAD designed to peddle cereal. If you're too young to know about Chex Quest this is going to seem very strange but here we go. Chex Quest was given away as a promotion with Chex cereal in 1996, a parent-safe reskin of the classic shooter where you picked up fruit, vegetables, and water instead of health and armor while using a sci-fi spoon thing to defeat snot aliens. It was gaming's best cereal-based shooter.

Metro Exodus players use Steam reviews to attack Epic store exclusivity
https://www.pcgamer.com/metro-exodus-players-are-using-steam-reviews-to-attack-epic-store-exclusivity/
When Deep Silver and Epic Games announced that Metro Exodus would be an Epic Games Store exclusive, angry 'fans' review bombed the other games in the series in impotent retaliation. Now, with Exodus out, the opposite is happening; players are leaving positive reviews on Steam, but they're still really mad about the exclusivity deal.

Activision and EA CEOs appear on list of 'most overpaid' in the US
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-and-ea-ceos-appear-on-list-of-most-overpaid-in-the-us/
Activision's Bobby Kotick and EA's Andrew Wilson are among the "most overpaid" CEOs in the US, according to As You Sow. The non-profit has been revealing, among other things, the pay gaps between employees and CEOs since 2015 and recently published its 2019 list featuring the pair.
>> mild shock.gif

Black Ops 4 loot boxes have been overhauled but still don't sound great
https://www.pcgamer.com/black-ops-4-loot-boxes-werent-part-of-the-original-plan/
Update: Treyarch has overhauled Black Ops 4's new loot box system after it slid into the PS4 version of the game and nobody liked it. Perhaps we're now seeing the benefits of having to wait a bit longer to get updates on PC.
Instead of needing to shell out real money for these 'reserve crates', you can once again earn 'reserve cases', loot boxes earned by playing, at every tier beyond 100. The rate at which you can earn them through playing Black Ops 4 has also been doubled.