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

[JEMC]

Monday news, the it's-so-long-that-I've-been-this-close-to-split-it-in-two-posts part two:

Watch the PC Gaming Show 2019 live here on Monday, June 10
https://www.pcgamer.com/pc-gaming-show-livestream-2019/
The PC Gaming Show is back for E3 2019, and you can watch it live on Monday, June 10 at 10 am Pacific on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. (Find your timezone here.)
Hosts Sean "Day[9]" Plott and Frankie Ward are returning for another blast of never-before-seen trailers, announcements, and developer interviews. Here are a few (but not all) of the sponsors and presenters at this year's show
>> 19:00 CEST (Central European Summer Time) for me... I'll probably be able to watch it.

Shadows will kill you in Lightmatter, a first-person puzzler coming this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/shadows-will-kill-you-in-lightmatter-a-first-person-puzzler-coming-this-year/
“Think ‘the floor is lava,’ just with shadows that kill you,” the narrator helpfully explains in the trailer for Lightmatter, a first-person puzzle game in the vein of Antichamber and The Talos Principle.

Fallout Shelter sequel is adding PvP and more exploration, but it will only be available in China
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-shelter-sequel-is-adding-pvp-and-more-exploration-but-it-will-only-be-available-in-china/
Bethesda is getting set to launch a sequel to the massively popular Fallout Shelter, but it will start out being exclusively available in China.
Fallout YouTuber JuiceHead has compiled some promotional and early access footage of Fallout Shelter Online, which you can view above. The game looks like it’s taking the core gameplay from the original Fallout Shelter and adding a lot of interesting multiplayer features, such as the ability to battle other players and join guilds. There’s also a big overworld to explore, full of dungeons to send your dwellers out to raid.

Chris Avellone explains Fallout: New Vegas' abrupt ending
https://www.pcgamer.com/chris-avellone-explains-fallout-new-vegas-abrupt-ending/
Fallout: New Vegas is a great RPG with a not-so-great ending. You follow your heart, make your choices, and it all leads up to a grand finale slideshow that tells you how it all worked out. You can't even continue playing the game after the Super Slam at Hoover Dam. It wasn't always supposed to be like that, though: Chris Avellone, one of the writers on New Vegas, told Eurogamer that the original plan was to have post-game content that would give players the ability to explore the world after the credits had rolled.
>> To solve that, at least in part, there's the FPGE – Functional Post Game Ending mod.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will not have Zombies
https://www.pcgamer.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-will-not-have-zombies/
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will have grit. It will have ripped headlines. It will have a mustache the size of Belgium. It will have politics. What it will not have, however, is legions of the angry undead. Campaign gameplay director Jacob Minkoff confirmed with PlayStation Lifestyle that the rebooted Modern Warfare will not have a Zombies mode.

Warren Spector says balancing violence in System Shock 3 is 'very hard'
https://www.pcgamer.com/warren-spector-says-balancing-violence-in-system-shock-3-is-very-hard/
In an interview with VGC Spector said that reluctance to embrace violence has carried over into his work on System Shock 3. Assuming it's similar to the first two games, the new System Shock won't be a straight shooter, but there will be shooting, and plenty of evidence of violence—broken bodies, blood on walls, all that kind of good stuff—that's occurred prior to the player's arrival. That's presented something of a challenge for Spector, who joined developer Otherside Entertainment in 2016 to head up development of the game.

Now the Divinity studio is teasing us with calamari and kraken
https://www.pcgamer.com/now-the-divinity-studio-is-teasing-us-with-calamari-and-kraken/
Yesterday, Larian's website was plastered with a big number three. That might cause one to assume the Divinity studio is about to announce Divinity: Original Sin 3 (or maybe even Divinity 3), but evidence actually points to something a little different. Poke around in the video file, and you'll find references to Baldur's Gate 3 and Wizards of the Coast. Today, Larian replaced that video with a new one featuring tentacles wrapping around the Roman numeral. Naturally, I immediately downloaded it and opened it in a text editor to hunt for more clues.

John Romero's new Doom episode, Sigil, is out now for free
https://www.pcgamer.com/john-romeros-new-doom-episode-sigil-is-out-now-for-free/
John Romero, one of the creators of Doom, has released his unofficial fifth episode for the shooter, and you can play it now for free.
Sigil comprises nine new, labyrinthine levels for the original Doom. Each contains “more detail” than the levels in episodes 1-4, but Romero says they should feel like they “belong in the original game as if they were a true fifth episode”. They're playable in singleplayer, co-op and deathmatch.
>> Get it from its official website.

Katana Zero adds hard mode, speedrun mode in latest update
https://www.pcgamer.com/katana-zero-adds-hard-mode-speedrun-mode-in-latest-update/
Time-bending 2D slash-em-up Katana Zero, which Lauren was rather taken with in her review, has added two new modes: a hard mode that you can play after you finish the main game and an option-heavy speedrun mode.

Celeste's free ultra-hard DLC will contain more than 100 levels
https://www.pcgamer.com/celestes-free-dlc-will-contain-more-than-100-levels/
Challenging platformer Celeste's upcoming free DLC will be even more generous than I first thought: it will contain more than 100 levels, creator Matt Thorson revealed yesterday, which is more than the dev team initially intended.

Kerbal Space Program's second expansion, Breaking Ground, is out now
https://www.pcgamer.com/kerbal-space-programs-second-expansion-breaking-ground-is-out-now/
Kerbal Space Program, still one of the best games you can play on PC today, has brought out its second-ever expansion, Breaking Ground, which gives you more things to do once you touch down on another planet.

Shoot 'em up Devil Engine hides demo for its upcoming expansion behind a cheat code
https://www.pcgamer.com/shoot-em-up-devil-engine-hides-demo-for-its-upcoming-expansion-behind-a-cheat-code/
Protoculture Games has announced a major expansion for its side-scrolling shmup Devil Engine that will double the size of the game—and you can play a demo for it right now, as long as you put in the right cheat code.

Hitman 2's June roadmap includes the bank level, and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/hitman-2s-june-roadmap-includes-a-bank-level-and-more/
Hitman 2's June roadmap is here.
The bank level, revealed back in April, will be out on June 25 as part of the expansion pass along with two special assignments. As part of the Legacy Pack two of the previous game's elusive targets (the guru and the congressman) will be returning to Sapienza on June 7. Free to everyone will be a new escalation contract called The O'Leary Conflagration that's all about messing with Helen's Muffin Kitchen and will probably involving burning a whole lot of people to death. That's due on June 13, and will be followed on June 20 by another escalation called The Unpalatable Termination and new featured contracts with the theme of "Assassin's Greed". Performing them will unlock the handyman toolbox. June 27 brings yet another escalation, The Aquatic Retribution (a trip to the aquarium, apparently) and finally on June 29 there's another legacy elusive target: Mr. Giggles, the entertainer, will be back in Marrakesh.

Mortal Kombat 11 trailer hints at the Terminator and Ash as playable characters
https://www.pcgamer.com/mortal-kombat-11-trailer-hints-at-the-terminator-and-ash-as-playable-characters/
The trailer for the Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack is mostly focused on showing off Shang Tsung and his ability to shapeshift into a variety of palette-swap ninjas, which actually looks much cooler than I've just made it sound. The trailer also lists several other characters coming as part of the DLC—Sindel, Nightwolf, and comic book antihero Spawn—then mentions "two more guests will be revealed".

Minecraft: Story Mode is being delisted later this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/minecraft-story-mode-is-being-delisted-later-this-month/
This week GOG delisted all Telltale games in light of the publisher's closure last year, and now Microsoft is following suit with Minecraft: Story Mode. Seasons 1 and 2 will no longer be available after June 25—even if you own them, you won't be able to download them after that date.

Auto Chess gets a $1 Custom Pass for cosmetics and extra win bonuses
https://www.pcgamer.com/auto-chess-gets-a-dollar1-custom-pass-for-cosmetics/
The developers of Auto Chess, the brilliant deck-based custom game for Dota 2, have released a $1 Custom Pass that nets you a few cosmetics and extra win bonuses.
If you buy the pass, which lasts 30 days, you'll get a golden border for your avatar, golden paint for your chat messages and a gold effect on your damage projectiles. You'll also get a Baby Roshan courier as your chess player, as well as the right to vote on new chess pieces or pieces that need rebalancing.

Slime Rancher to add new, glitchy world and a chicken cloner in free update this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/slime-rancher-to-add-glitch-slimes-and-a-chicken-cloner-in-free-update-this-month/
Slime Rancher's next major update transports you to a simulated Far, Far Range complete with glitch slimes and new gadgets, and it will be out on June 18 for free, developer Monomi Park has announced.

Riot has a new method for identifying overpowered League of Legends champions
https://www.pcgamer.com/league-of-legends-team-reveals-new-method-to-decide-if-champions-are-overpowered/
Riot's game design manager David Capurro has laid out plans for a more systematic approach to balancing League of Legends' champions that puts more emphasis on the average player.

Bethesda was 'ready for' Fallout 76's rough reception, says Todd Howard
https://www.pcgamer.com/bethesda-were-ready-for-fallout-76s-rough-reception-says-todd-howard/
Bethesda director Todd Howard has said that the studio expected a rough reception for Fallout 76, and that he thinks the online RPG has somewhat damaged the developer's reputation.
>> Well, they knew the POS they had in their hands.

Fable started life as Wishworld, a magic dueling game with fire, lightning and mermen
https://www.pcgamer.com/fable-started-life-as-wishworld-a-magic-dueling-game-with-fire-lightning-and-mermen/
The creators of Fable initially envisaged it as a magic dueling game where you shaped the world around you, creating forests, volcanoes and lakes before slinging spells at your enemy, according to Dene Carter, one of the original developers.

Development of Barkley 2 is in more trouble than anyone knew
https://www.pcgamer.com/development-of-barkley-2-is-in-more-trouble-than-anyone-knew/
Last time we checked in on Barkley 2 about 18 months ago our conclusion was that development was "still slowly grinding forward". It may be doing so even slower than we thought.
(...)
But now a former developer has posted on the Something Awful forums to explain that the project is in more trouble than anyone knew. Posting under the name Horatio, they wrote, "I was asked to join the project 3 years after the KS when the project had little money and was in shambles. I was committed to trying to finish the game but it was consistently set back by horrible management and I ended up quitting. The person who owns ToG and is running it now had nothing to do with Barkley 1 and has zero game dev experience. He is the ToG PR guy."

Sidescroller Seed Hunter pairs a roguelike with Monster Hunter-inspired weapons
https://www.pcgamer.com/sidescroller-seed-hunter-pairs-a-roguelike-with-monster-hunter-inspired-weapons/
Seed Hunter is the kind of game that makes you want to dodge roll a lot, because it feels good to quickly jump behind an enemy and lay into their back with a combo, and because the average boss is probably three times your size and holding an axe that could slice you to mincemeat. But it's also the kind of game that only lets you dodge three times in quick succession before waiting for a stamina meter to refill. Combat's fast, but you can't just mash and dodge your way through. You have to learn how your weapon moves to stay alive for long.

There's a Doom Eternal mural going up on the Hotel Figueroa and it looks dope as hell
https://www.pcgamer.com/theres-a-doom-eternal-mural-going-up-on-the-hotel-figueroa-and-it-looks-dope-as-hell/
It's not uncommon for the Figueroa Hotel to get a makeover in the leadup to E3. In previous years it's been used to advertise Gwent, Grand Theft Auto 5, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and Skyrim. Last year it was repainted with a Fallout 76 theme, but let's hope that hasn't cursed it or anything because this year it's being repainted in honor of the new Doom game.

Why Artifact failed to take off, according to designer Richard Garfield
https://www.pcgamer.com/why-artifact-failed-to-take-off-according-to-designer-richard-garfield/
Artifact and Magic: The Gathering designer Richard Garfield believes the term “pay-to-win” is a “sloppy” way to describe games, particularly Artifact. Garfield and 3 Donkeys design partner Skaff Elias shared some thoughts about Artifact’s design intent and its poor reception in a recent interview with Win.gg.

Stalk a serial killer in a simulated city in the Deus Ex-like Shadows of Doubt
https://www.pcgamer.com/stalk-a-serial-killer-in-a-simulated-city-in-the-deus-ex-like-shadows-of-doubt/
One thing that keeps detective games from feeling authentic is that they tend to have traditional game limitations: there are only so many places you can go, only so many people you can talk to. Shadows of Doubt plans to fix that by building a fully simulated neo-noir city in which to track down a serial killer. Developer Cole Jefferies describes it as "A detective stealth game somewhere between Deus Ex and Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective!".