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

[JEMC]

Once again, the Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

MultiVersus was July's biggest-selling game, ousting Elden Ring from the top spot
https://www.pcgamer.com/multiversus-was-julys-biggest-selling-game-ousting-elden-ring-from-the-top-spot/
Warner Bros' character brawler MultiVersus has taken the industry by storm since it arrived in open beta last month. But the scale of its popularity was recently confirmed by analytics group NPD, which reported that Multiversus was the top-selling video game of last month, despite only landing on Steam on the 19th.

2D isometric horror adventure game, STASIS, is free to keep on GOG
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/2d-isometric-horror-adventure-game-stasis-is-free-to-keep-on-gog/
The Brotherhood is currently offering for free its 2D isometric horror adventure game, STASIS. For the next three days, PC gamers can visit the game’s GOG store page and acquire their free copy.
STASIS is a point-and-click, sci-fi, horror adventure game played from a unique isometric perspective. According to its description, the game intertwines a gruesome narrative with retro adventure gameplay.
>> You have 70 hours to claim it: https://www.gog.com/en/game/stasis

GOG starts the week with a bang, and not just becuase of the free game:

• The GOG Sale has begun! You'll be able to find up to 90% discounts on more tha 3500 games until September 5th. Check it out
• And there's also a booklet with highlighted discounts... and also some free games. Learn more here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/oh_wow_check_the_gog_sale_special_deals_booklet_right_now

Steam's offerings are more boring, with only two new deals:

• Thunder Tier One will be 40% off during the next 19 hours: https://store.steampowered.com/app/377300/Thunder_Tier_One/
• And NEBULOUS: Fleet Command, still in Early Access, gets a 20% discount until Sunday, 28: https://store.steampowered.com/app/887570/NEBULOUS_Fleet_Command/

There are three deals at Humble

• At Humble Bundle we find the Valiant VR Bundle, with up to 7 games to get during the next 18 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/valiant-vr
• And at the Humble Store there are two more sales:
  • The End of Summer Sale has launched with lots of games from lots of publishers on sale during the next 15 days. Check out some of them here: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/summer-sale-2022/
  • And there's a 48 hours sale starring Deep Rock Galactic, 55% off: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/deep-rock-galactic

Fanatical's Summer Sale enters its final 24 hours with new flash deals and bundles:

• The Star Deals are: Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters (28% off), Jurassic World Evolution 2 - Deluxe Edition (60% off), Evil Genius 2: World Domination Deluxe Edition (63% off) and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (78% off)
• The three bundles, which were available when the Summer Sale started and make a comeback during 3 days, are: The Jackbox Quintpack (5 games, 50% off), S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete Bundle (3 games, 66% off) and Rimworld with all expansions (1 game + 2 DLCs, 12% off), but the last one hasn't been fully reactivated yet.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

It's probably already too late to clean up your gaming habits for Steam's upcoming 'year in review'
https://www.pcgamer.com/its-probably-already-too-late-to-clean-up-your-gaming-habits-for-steams-upcoming-year-in-review/
SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik recently unearthed evidence of a "year in review" feature similar to those offered by Spotify or Nintendo in the Steam API. Djundik provided a screenshot of the evidence, as well as a brief description of the feature, supposedly set to arrive with the end-of-year Winter Sale.
The screenshot provided by Djundik includes playtime across various platforms like Linux, Mac, Windows, and the Deck, as well as peripheral information like controller and VR playtime. The total playtime for a whole year seems like an especially sobering metric⁠—I spend a lot of time on Steam, it's gonna be like being reminded of how much of your life is spent sleeping or on the toilet.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New version of the Playstation 5 emulator, Kyty, available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-version-of-the-playstation-5-emulator-kyty-available-for-download/
Developer InoriRus has released a brand new version of the first Playstation 5 emulator, Kyty. According to the developer, it’s possible to run some simple games for PS4 and homebrews for PS5 now with this emulator.
Naturally, and since this emulator is in a very early stage, players may encounter graphics glitches, crashes, freezes and low FPS. And no, don’t expect to be playing the latest PS5 triple-A games with this emulator.
Kyty can also emulate Sony’s previous console, the Playstation 4. Thus, Kyty is currently the fourth PS4 emulator that is in active development. The other three are Spine, fpPS4 and GPCS4. All three of them are still in an early development stage.

Here is Red Dead Redemption running with more than 100fps on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-is-red-dead-redemption-running-with-more-than-100fps-on-pc/
The team behind the best Xbox 360 emulator, Xenia, has released a brand new version that comes with some impressive performance increases in numerous games. As such, PC gamers can now experience the first Red Dead Redemption with more than 60fps.
YouTube’s ‘Emulators & Gameplay HD’ has shared the following video, showcasing Red Dead Redemption running on the latest Xenia Canary version. In order to capture this footage, the YouTuber used an Intel i9-12900K with an NVIDIA GeForce 3080Ti.
As we can see, the game could run with more than 137fps at times. This of course happens in big and empty areas. Inside towns, the framerate averages between 60-90fps. This is still impressive considering the game was originally locked at 30fps on consoles.

Take a look at The Witcher 3 with Reshade Ray Tracing & over 100 mods
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/take-a-look-at-the-witcher-3-with-reshade-ray-tracing-over-100-mods/
Digital Dreams has shared a new video, showcasing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with Reshade Ray Tracing and over 100 mods. This video also highlights BlitzFX; a graphical overhaul that integrates modern state-of-the-art rendering techniques into the game.
Going into more details, BlitzFX adds contact hardening soft shadows, as well as screen space contact and distant shadows. Additionally, it improves sun and water rendering, as well as anti-aliasing on vegetation and tonemapping. Do note that this isn’t a Reshade mod. Instead, this is a custom DirectX effect injector.
Alongside BlitzFX, Digital Dreams used the Phoenix Lighting Mod and their own Beyond All Limits Reshade Ray Tracing Mod.
>> The video is almost 10 minutes long and you'll find a link with all the mods used in the article.

Be a remarkably bad cop in remarkably good Half-Life 2 mod Entropy: Zero 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/be-a-remarkably-bad-cop-in-remarkably-good-half-life-2-mod-entropy-zero-2/
Outrageously ambitiousHalf-Life 2 megamod Entropy: Zero 2 is out, letting you experience a campaign in the boots of the Combine bad guys. You're the Bad Cop, protagonist and alien overlord collaborator, and your job is to tail Gordon Freeman through Nova Prospekt prison before taking a journey to track down resistance fighter Dr. Judith Mossman in a snowy northern facility.
If you're a Half-Life 2 player I'm sure you know how that goes. Either way, you'll play through a shockingly detailed campaign, fully voiced, fully choreographed, that takes something like 7-10 hours to beat. Frankly, it's on the quality of many games we considered big to mid-budget 20-some years ago.
Oh, and there's Portal shenanigans afoot and an Aperture science facility involved. You get a turret buddy. Naturally, the Portal turret buddy is named Wilson, because everyone who watched Tom Hanks in Castaway has had that indelible concept scratched upon their brain.

Doom meets Devil May Cry in this acrobatic action mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/doom-meets-devil-may-cry-in-this-acrobatic-action-mod/
If you've ever played Doom and felt like your feet touch the ground too much, then prepare to leap and dash your way to hell and back in The False Angel, a spectacular mod for Doom II that's launching later this week.
The mod has you assume the role of Victoria Noire, a "once regular human" whose abilities have been enhanced with some celestial technology. Heavily inspired by Devil May Cry, the mod introduces a wide range of new, ridiculously powerful weapons to Doom. This include ranged weapons like high-powered assault rifles, sniper-rifles, and rapid-fire pistols. But the mod also adds melee weapons, like a pair of blades Victoria can use to slash up enemies and what appears to be some kind of chainsaw-spear for carving at-a-distance.

GAMING NEWS

Six minutes of in-game cutscene from the Unreal Engine 5-powered game, Black Myth: Wukong
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/six-minutes-of-in-game-cutscene-from-the-unreal-engine-5-powered-game-black-myth-wukong/
Game Science has released a new video for its upcoming Unreal Engine 5-powered action-adventure game, Black Myth: Wukong. This video features 6 minutes in-game cutscene, and all the characters in this video make their first appearances.
>> This is not the video that TallSilhouette shared this weekend.

New Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 single-player gameplay trailer confirms the appearance of a specific villain
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-single-player-gameplay-trailer-confirms-the-appearance-of-a-specific-villain/
A new short gameplay trailer from the single-player campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has appeared online. This trailer features 15 seconds of gameplay footage, and confirms the appearance of a specific villain.