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

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The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam weeklong deals:

• Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter, still in Early Access, will be 34% off until Saturday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272010/Destroyer_The_UBoat_Hunter/
• Sands of Aura, also in Early Access, will be 33% off until February 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1119840/Sands_of_Aura/
• The Sonic franchise is on sale with up to 75% discounts until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/36333614-Sega-Promotions/sale/sonic-franchise-sale
• And the... Midwinter in Middle-Earth Sale comes with up to 85% discounts on those titles, even the Lego ones, until Monday, 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/midwinterinmiddleearthsale
• The following is nothing but a small sample of the weeklong deals:
  • Return to Monkey Island, the new one, will be 25% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2060130/Return_to_Monkey_Island/
  • The VR ONLY Ragnarock, that has a demo, gets a 40% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1345820/Ragnarock/
  • What Comes After is half its usual price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1421760/What_Comes_After/
  • Faery - Legends of Avalon is 65% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/303790/Faery__Legends_of_Avalon/
  • And the last one is The Gardens Between, with an 80% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/600990/The_Gardens_Between/

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 fan remake is most impressive, and you can play the first two levels right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-jedi-knight-dark-forces-2-fan-remake-is-most-impressive-and-you-can-play-the-first-two-levels-right-now/
It might be 26 years old, but Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 is still a banger. It's so good, in fact, that we were still singing its praises as recently as 2020, praising its lightsaber-swinging and movement. But there's no getting around it, Dark Forces 2 is an ugly game by today's standards, which you'll only notice if you actually manage to get the thing running on modern machines. Thankfully, someone's decided to remake the whole thing in Unreal Engine 4.
The fan remake comes from a developer named Ruppertle, who mostly tinkers with Arma mods when they aren't remaking '90s PC classics from scratch, and you can currently play through two levels from the original game in it. On top of that, there's four wave-based survival levels, and a sandbox mode. Oh, and a 3D model viewer, in case you want to sit and marvel at the poly count for a while.
>> There's a 1:10 video of the mod.

Modders are using AI to put voice acting in Morrowind, and I'm impressed and concerned all at once
https://www.pcgamer.com/modders-are-using-ai-to-put-voice-acting-in-morrowind-and-im-impressed-and-concerned-all-at-once/
Morrowind, Lee Harvey Oswald's favourite Elder Scrolls game and mine, has its rough edges. Its combat makes no sense, its characters all have one polygon they share between each other, and the people walk like no one taught them about knees. But I suspect the thing that turns most people away is all that reading. You could fill a stadium with the number of players that switched Morrowind off as soon as Sellus Gravius started spitting multiple voiceless paragraphs of instructions at them, but now modders have started using AI to fix it. I'm just not sure how I feel about the results.
Modders are using a tool called ElevenAI to literally give voice to Morrowind's voiceless, and projects using it have sprung up with increasing frequency in recent months. We've got some greetings for Nami the librarian, barks for quest-givers like Caius Cosades, and a fledgling, perhaps-doomed project to voice the entirety of Morrowind using all the latest whizzbang AI tech.

GAMING NEWS

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Title Update 4 released, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/monster-hunter-rise-sunbreak-title-update-4-released-full-patch-notes/
Capcom has just released a brand new update for Monster Hunter Rise. According to the release notes, Title Update 4 adds new monsters, including a Risen elder dragon, and new Anomaly Research Quests. Furthermore, it brings a new “3D Audio” option, and new Event Quests.

ExeKiller is a new futuristic western FPS using Unreal Engine 5
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/exekiller-is-a-new-futuristic-western-fps-using-unreal-engine-5/
Now here is something that passed under my radar. Earlier this month, Paradark Studio revealed a new futuristic western first-person action-adventure shooter, called ExeKiller. ExeKiller will be using Unreal Engine 5, targets a 2024 release date, and below you can find a pre-alpha gameplay trailer for it.

Forspoken Update 1.03 released, does not bring major performance improvements, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/forspoken-update-1-03-released-does-not-bring-major-performance-improvements-full-patch-notes/
Square Enix has just released a new update for Forspoken. The February 7th Update is 200MB in size, and, from the looks of it, does not bring any major performance improvements.

Here is everything you need to know about the PC version of Hogwarts Legacy
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/here-is-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-pc-version-of-hogwarts-legacy/
The Deluxe Edition for Hogwarts Legacy will become available to those that have pre-ordered it later today. As such, we’ve decided to share an article and inform you about everything you need to know about the game’s PC version.

Maximum Football is the first sports game in Unreal Engine 5, gets first gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/maximum-football-is-the-first-sports-game-in-unreal-engine-5-gets-first-gameplay-trailer/
Modus Games today revealed a first look at the first sports game that will be using Unreal Engine 5, Maximum Football. Maximum Football will be coming to Steam Early Access this Spring, and will be free to play.