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

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Wednesday news, the long part two:

Starfield has some of the worst post-sex dialog I've ever seen
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-has-some-of-the-worst-post-sex-dialog-ive-ever-seen/
Back in March, Australia's Classification Board let slip that there will be no knocking spaceboots in Starfield—and for those unfamiliar with the vernacular, that means no sex. But now the ESRB rating is up, and according to that, you will have the opportunity to play chesterfield rugby with various NPCs, and engage in some genuinely jaw-dropping dialog when it's over.

Activision Blizzard hires barrister who advised Boris Johnson on partygate to front CMA appeal
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-hires-barrister-who-advised-boris-johnson-on-partygate-to-front-cma-appeal/
Activision Blizzard has hired one of the UK's most prominent legal eagles to lead the fight against the Competition and Market Authority's (CMA) recent decision to block the proposed $65 billion deal with Microsoft (thanks, Financial Times). Lord David Pannick KC of Blackstone Chambers is viewed as one of the great barristers of his time, with former clients including Queen Elizabeth II. Most recently he was in the news for advising the disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the partygate scandal (where UK government figures were living it large behind closed doors while imposing lockdown restrictions on the population).

Vampire survival game's new expansion adds awesome multi-level castles with all the Dracula vibes
https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-survival-games-new-expansion-adds-awesome-multi-level-castles-with-all-the-dracula-vibes/
Vampire survival game V Rising remains in early access, and is celebrating its first anniversary with the Gloomrot expansion: In which developer Stunlock Studios has basically said sod it, let's add Frankenstein's monster. The studio has now released a trailer for the expansion, which arrives on May 17, but the big takeaway for me is just how awesome the new castles look.

Dark and Darker early access release delayed: 'We ask everyone to hold the line just a little longer'
https://www.pcgamer.com/dark-and-darker-early-access-release-delayed-we-ask-everyone-to-hold-the-line-just-a-little-longer/
It will probably come as no surprise given Ironmace's ongoing legal dispute with Nexon, but the studio announced today that the planned early access release of Dark and Darker has been delayed.

Walt Disney rolls over in his grave as I wishlist this M-rated Mickey Mouse FPS
https://www.pcgamer.com/walt-disney-rolls-over-in-his-grave-as-i-wishlist-this-m-rated-mickey-mouse-fps/
Just in time for Steamboat Willie's upcoming induction into public domain is a new indie FPS inspired by '30s-era Disney animation: Mouse. Developed by Polish studio Fumi Games, you might have caught a first glimpse at Mouse on TikTok, where short clips of early gameplay have earned millions of views since late April.

Wait, there are two different games about causing large-scale mayhem in a pretend Ikea?
https://www.pcgamer.com/wait-there-are-two-different-games-about-causing-large-scale-mayhem-in-a-pretend-ikea/
We learned last year about The Store is Closed, a survival game that trapped players inside an "infinite furniture store" that was quite clearly an Ikea in all but name—creator Jacob Shaw even referred to it as "an infinite Ikea game" on Reddit. The similarity was overt enough that Ikea threatened legal action, and so when we ran across Retail Royale on Steam—"a chaotic Battle Royale inside a furniture store where everything is a weapon"—our first thought was that The Store is Closed had rebranded, retooled, and come back as a battle royale game. But no: Somehow, there are now two distinct, large-scale pretend-Ikea games on the market.

Make famous VTubers fight in this surprise Steam hit
https://www.pcgamer.com/make-famous-vtubers-fight-in-this-surprise-steam-hit/
Idol Showdown bills itself on Steam as "the definitive fan-made hololive fighting game experience," and that might not be overselling it. Four days after launch, it remains very near the top of Steam's "new and trending" Fighting and Martial Arts game chart, and has earned a "very positive" rating across nearly 2,500 user reviews. And if you have no idea what a "hololive fighting game experience" is, don't be alarmed, because I am about to explain.

Total War: Warhammer 3 roadmap outlines the next year of DLC and updates
https://www.pcgamer.com/total-war-warhammer-3-roadmap-outlines-the-next-year-of-dlc-and-updates/
Creative Assembly has finally laid out plans for how it's going to make Total War: Warhammer 3 both more total and more Warhammer over the next 12 months. The DLC roadmap details three expansions, each of which will be accompanied by a "free-LC" adding a Legendary Hero for everyone. It also mentions "interim patches" for bug fixes, balance changes, and other additions will come between each DLC.

Hollow Knight: Silksong may be delayed, has 'gotten quite big'
https://www.pcgamer.com/hollow-knight-silksong-may-be-delayed-has-gotten-quite-big/
While Hollow Knight: Silksong didn't have an exact release date, its appearance at the Xbox & Bethesda showcase in June of 2022—which Xbox made a point of saying was focused on games coming in the following 12 months—led us to expect that it would release by June, 2023. That may no longer be the case.

Hope you weren't planning on playing Dragon Age: Dreadwolf anytime in the next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/hope-you-werent-planning-on-playing-dragon-age-dreadwolf-anytime-in-the-next-year/
Future videogame and current concept art collection Dragon Age: Dreadwolf has been in development for years now, but there's still some time to go before it finally releases. In its latest financial report, EA gave us all a quick rundown of the game releases on its slate for the 2024 financial year, and Dreadwolf was nowhere to be found, suggesting that we won't see it before April next year at the earliest.

Publisher calls out Metacritic after hit indie JRPG gets inexplicably review bombed
https://www.pcgamer.com/publisher-calls-out-metacritic-after-hit-indie-jrpg-gets-inexplicably-review-bombed/
Review bombs are an endemic part of the modern media landscape at this point. Whether they're about player frustration, politics, or just because a crypto company bought your game, we've all become well-accustomed to the long red candles that pockmark Metacritic and Steam user review charts during periods of controversy. But there's usually some discernible reason for the review bombs, even if it's a really bad one.
Not so in the case of Chained Echoes, a 16-bit throwback JRPG from developer Matthias Linda that is, by all accounts, really rather good. But as spotted by GamesRadar, its Metacritic user review score wilted beneath a wave of negative reviews that contained no actual written text whatsoever, leaving its dev and publisher helpless to do anything about it.

Here's that Murder on the Orient Express adventure game you wanted
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-that-murder-on-the-orient-express-adventure-game-you-wanted/
French publisher Microids has announced a video game adaptation of Agatha Christie's classic mystery novel Murder on the Orient Express. Describing the game as a "faithful, but augmented" retelling of the story, it's set to launch later this year.