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

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Monday news, part two:

Amnesia developer Frictional Games snuck a teaser trailer into its ARG
https://www.pcgamer.com/amensia-developer-frictional-games-snuck-a-teaser-trailer-into-its-arg/
Since December, Amnesia developer Frictional Games has been teasing its next game via an ARG, which started out as a largely empty website with a weird pulsating shape at the centre of it. Since then, it's grown into a fetus, while strange video clips have been discovered hidden in the site's code. Now a teaser trailer has been uncovered.

Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders is finally on PC, 16 years late
https://www.pcgamer.com/kingdom-under-fire-the-crusaders-is-finally-on-pc-16-years-late/
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, with its massive RTS battles and hack-and-slash combat, left me pretty smitten when it launched on the original Xbox all the way back in 2004. After 16 years, it's finally made its PC debut.

EVE Online's annual Fanfest is cancelled due to coronavirus concerns
https://www.pcgamer.com/eve-onlines-annual-fanfest-is-cancelled-due-to-coronavirus-concerns/
EVE Online developer CCP Games announced today that its annual fan convention, called EVE Fanfest, will be cancelled this year due to concerns over the ongoing Covid-19 (generally referred to as the coronavirus) outbreak. The event, which was supposed to happen over the weekend of April 2, typically draws in thousands of players from all over the world who come to talk with the developers and learn about what's next for the 16-year-old MMO.

Crusader Kings 3 shows off more of its RPG lifestyle system
https://www.pcgamer.com/crusader-kings-3-shows-off-more-of-its-rpg-lifestyle-system/
One of the ways you can nurture your devious little medieval ruler in Crusader Kings 3 is by exploring the lifestyle system. It's the subject of the team's February update, and Paradox has been posting accompanying developer diaries on the specifics over the last month. Check out the update video above.

High Hell dev's next game is a vandalism-and-photography sim on a world of sludge
https://www.pcgamer.com/high-hell-devs-next-game-is-a-vandalism-and-photography-sim-on-a-world-of-sludge/
The first trailer for Devolver Digital's upcoming vandalism-and-photography simulator Sludge Life immediately reminded me of the visual style of High Hell, the door-kicking, drug-burning FPS from 2017. Not a coincidence, as it turns out, because it's being made by the same people, Terri Vellmann and Adam "Doseone" Drucker, and also appears to share quite a bit of the weirdness that ran through its predecessor.

Doom Eternal can do 1000 fps if you've got the hardware for it
https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-eternal-can-do-1000-fps-if-youve-got-the-hardware-for-it/
Back in the days of Quake and Quake 2 (and probably others, but that's what I played), it was common for players to minimize graphical settings in order to maximize framerates. Speed is life in online games, after all. It's also great for bragging rights, and if you could maintain a solid 30 fps while the bullets were flying and the bombs exploding, you were a real hero on the id Software forums.
Things have changed somewhat since those long-ago days when players used console commands to remove Quake's framerate cap. Speaking to IGN, id Sofware's lead engine programmer Billy Kahn said that the id Tech 7 engine has been dramatically overhauled for Doom Eternal, enabling "bigger explosions, more vibrant looking particle effects," and a ridiculous number of frames moving from your monitor to your eyeballs every second.

Iris and the Giant is a stylish roguelike CCG about a young girl and her demons
https://www.pcgamer.com/iris-and-the-giant-is-a-stylish-roguelike-ccg-about-a-young-girl-and-her-demons/
Digital card games aren't really my bag, but Iris and the Giant caught my eye with its unique art style and promise of a "melancholic and gripping adventure" that blends CCGs, RPGs, and roguelikes. And I'm glad it did, because even though I'm pretty bad at it, I like it a lot.

Game Developers Conference 2020 has been postponed due to coronavirus concerns
https://www.pcgamer.com/game-developers-conference-2020-has-been-cancelled-due-to-coronavirus-concerns/
After losing multiple major participants over the past few days, GDC has announced that the 2020 event will be postponed until "later in the summer" due to ongoing concerns about the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Ratropolis is a real-time deckbuilder with a strategy twist and adorable art
https://www.pcgamer.com/ratropolis-is-a-real-time-deckbuilder-with-a-strategy-twist-and-adorable-art/
Here’s a strategy game packed with nascent brilliance: Ratropolis. You take command of a colony of tiny mice fleeing the devastation of their old city to found a new one. You play as one of six unique leaders, each with their own unique powers and abilities, to survive waves of enemies.

New Outriders trailer shows off gorgeous, ruined sci-fi vistas
https://www.pcgamer.com/new-outriders-trailer-shows-off-gorgeous-ruined-sci-fi-vistas/
The planet Enoch is a pretty lovely place, ain’t it? At least, that’s what a new trailer might lead you to believe. Developers People Can Fly have debuted their “Frontiers of Enoch” trailer at PAX East, giving us another look into the Sci-Fi world developed for their upcoming co-op shooter. The trailer sweeps across vistas both verdant and devastated, showing off some pretty inspired sci-fi landscapes where, very clearly, something has gone quite wrong. Strange rippling blue energy plays across floating chunks of earth, and pulses from stones in jungles overrun with pulsating fungus. Amid it all are the ruins of a civilization both human and—perhaps—alien.

Atomic Heart’s first new trailer in a year is 100% absolute Soviet-themed bonkers
https://www.pcgamer.com/atomic-hearts-first-new-trailer-in-a-year-is-100-absolute-soviet-themed-bonkers/
I have only the vaguest idea what’s going on in the brand new trailer for Atomic Heart, but I am very much in love with it. The wonderful Soviet-themed immersive sim we first saw last year has come a long way since we first got a look at it, and had a few controversies too—accusations of faked gameplay footage and managerial incompetence. It was otherwise pretty quiet. Last month’s 45-minute gameplay slice was the first we’d seen in a long while. Now this, as well, a trailer I have watched several times. Feast your eyes on “the laboratory of the USSR, which is used to carry out experiments on people and construct robots.”

Core Decay is a retro-shooter immersive sim about a cyborg on a dying Earth
https://www.pcgamer.com/core-decay-is-a-retro-shooter-immersive-sim-about-a-cyborg-on-a-dying-earth/
The retro-shooter genre has mostly focused on being like Doom or Quake. Fast-paced games with an emphasis on twitch reflexes and knowing the enemies rather than outsmarting them. That’s not bad—it gave us games like Dusk. But how about the other late-90s shooters like Deus Ex or System Shock? There’s a lot of nostalgia for those, and Core Decay is a game that looks to replicate that look and style of play, but with 21st century sensibilities.

Call of Duty zombies mode director Jason Blundell leaves Treyarch
https://www.pcgamer.com/call-of-duty-zombies-mode-director-jason-blundell-leaves-treyarch/
In a note posted to Treyarch Studios' Twitter account, co-studio head and zombies mode director Jason Blundell has announced his departure. "After thirteen fantastic, action-packed years," he writes, "I am moving on from Treyarch. During my time at the studio I've been privileged to work on a variety of projects, wearing many hats along the way, with my time on the Zombies team proving to be quite special."

Here's how Star Citizen is planning to implement survival mechanics
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-how-star-citizen-is-planning-to-implement-survival-mechanics/
The latest episode of Inside Star Citizen explains how Cloud Imperium plan to implement survival mechanics, with senior FPS systems designer Jonny Jacevicius saying that, while "Star Citizen's not a survival game in the traditional sense," it will have an "actor status system" to cover eating, drinking, and maintaining temperature.

Mainframe Defenders is a slick, simple tactical roguelite
https://www.pcgamer.com/mainframe-defenders-is-a-slick-simple-tactical-roguelite/
Sometimes you just want action points, customizable equipment, and cool robots. On this day, when I wanted those, I stumbled across Mainframe Defenders. It’s a tactical strategy game that has you command teams of four robotic soldiers to outmaneuver and defeat enemies in objective-based missions. I was at first turned off by the game’s harsh, black-and-green presentation, but the slick in-game animations quickly turned that around for me. Screenshots don’t capture how this game looks and feels in motion. Some of the best roguelikes keep it simple, presenting basic systems then giving you parts and pieces to manipulate them with—Mainframe Defenders is very much that kind of game.

Latest in long-running strategy series, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14, releases in English
https://www.pcgamer.com/latest-in-long-running-strategy-series-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-14-releases-in-english/
The 14th entry in Koei’s long-running strategy series, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV, is now available in English on Steam. The series is known for its expansive depiction of the period in Chinese history covered by the classic novel, and covered last year by Total War: Three Kingdoms. The game is an expansive military strategy title, focusing on maneuvering large armies over a huge hex map of China. It first came to PC earlier this year, but only in other languages. February 28th served as its English and official Western release. It uses a paused-real-time system that has divided fans of the game, where orders are planned by the player but executed by the AI.

Bethesda was surprised how uninterested players were in Fallout 76's PvP
https://www.pcgamer.com/bethesda-was-surprised-how-uninterested-players-were-in-fallout-76s-pvp/
(...)
As Bethesda's senior vice president of global marketing and communications Pete Hines told USGamer, "I think we were a little surprised how few people wanted to take part in PvP and how many more they were interested in PvE together. As opposed to, 'I want to test my mettle against you and let's get into a duel.' There's some folks who do, don't get me wrong, but I think it's a smaller percentage of our player base than we thought," Hines said.

Valorant, Riot's new free-to-play hardcore FPS, will launch summer 2020
https://www.pcgamer.com/valorant-riots-new-free-to-play-hardcore-fps-will-launch-summer-2020/
You won't have to wait long to play Riot Games' take on a hardcore shooter, because "Project A," aka Valorant, is planned to release this summer. Announced during a recent hands-on preview event, producer Anna Donlon revealed that Valorant would first go through a beta test before Riot Games would confirm an exact release date, but that Riot was "committed to that summer window."

Chuck dice or get squished in this free match puzzle game
https://www.pcgamer.com/chuck-dice-or-get-squished-in-this-free-match-puzzle-game/
Beautiful Castle Death Machine is an Ancient-Japan-themed fan remake of the game Palamedes, which as we all know—*opens Wikipedia*—is a Taito puzzle game where you have to throw and match dice citation needed. The match-3-esque puzzler was released for the Arcade, NES and GameBoy, but as far as I can tell it's been stuffed in a dicey vault since the year 1990, so it's nice to see developer seancode dusting the concept off and recreating it for the browser.

E3 2020 is moving ahead 'full speed' despite the coronavirus
https://www.pcgamer.com/e3-2020-is-moving-ahead-full-speed-despite-the-coronavirus/
Last week, GDC was postponed amid growing concerns about the coronavirus, Covid-19. It's one of a large number of events to have been pushed back or cancelled in the last month. The ESA, which organises E3, is also keeping an eye on the situation, but at the moment it's moving ahead as planned.
>> How many of you think it's going to be cancelled?