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

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The news, part two:

GAMING NEWS

Payday 3 fans lament its inevitable shutdown after Starbreeze confirms transition to always-online: 'This game is on death row'
https://www.pcgamer.com/payday-3-fans-lament-its-inevitable-shutdown-after-starbreeze-confirms-transition-to-always-online-this-game-is-on-death-row/
Bad news, wonky internet havers and those of you leading the rich lives of hermits out in the woods: Payday 3's developers have confirmed the upcoming multiplayer heist-em-up will be uncompromisingly always-online. Fans have speculated this might be the case for a while, ever since the game's system specs on Steam started featuring a requirement for a "Broadband internet connection" earlier this year, but it was confirmed by Starbreeze global brand director Almir Listo in a recent stream.

One of Japanese horror's most influential games is getting a remaster and its first official English translation
https://www.pcgamer.com/one-of-japanese-horrors-most-influential-games-is-getting-a-remaster-and-its-first-official-english-translation/
Clock Tower is a game developed by the now-defunct Human Co. and released in Japan for the Super Famicom in 1995. Directed by Hifumi Kono (Steel Battalion, Infinite Space), the game is a point-and-click adventure with a survival horror theme, with the player exploring a mansion as a young girl named Jennifer while being stalked by the deadly Scissorman. It is sometimes grotesque, always scary, and came to be a big influence on Japanese horror games.
It sold well enough to get a director's cut a year later and spawn several sequels, but Clock Tower never released outside Japan (though there are fan translations). Now Limited Run Games, which has been on a real hot streak of reviving classic games lately, has announced that in collaboration with developer WayForward the game is being re-released as a "reprint" with new elements.

Fallout co-creator unearths his 20-year-old pitch for Baldur's Gate 3: a first-person action RPG with PvPvE multiplayer
https://www.pcgamer.com/troika-baldurs-gate-3-pitch-tim-cain/
Tim Cain, one of the creators of the original Fallout and a co-founder of cult RPG studio Troika, has released a vlog revealing Troika's 2003 pitch to Wizards of the Coast for Baldur's Gate 3. This version sounds like an even wilder departure for the series than Larian's highly anticipated upcoming sequel.

Game publisher CEO says talk on monitoring employees with AI was hypothetical and taken out of context: 'We don't use any of these tools for HR'
https://www.pcgamer.com/game-publisher-ceo-says-talk-on-monitoring-employees-with-ai-was-hypothetical-and-taken-out-of-context-we-dont-use-any-of-these-tools-for-hr/
Tinybuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik stirred up a hornet's nest at a recent Develop Brighton presentation when he seemed to imply that the company uses artificial intelligence to monitor its employees in order to determine which of them are toxic or suffering burnout, and then deal with them accordingly. Nichiporchik has since said that his presentation was taken out of context online, and that he was describing hypothetical scenarios aimed at illustrating potential good and bad uses of AI.

After more than 2 years of work, Cyberpunk 2077 finally reaches a 'very positive' user rating on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/after-more-than-two-years-of-work-cyberpunk-2077-finally-reaches-a-very-positive-user-rating-on-steam/
Cyberpunk 2077's long, slow journey to redemption took a notable step forward today as its Steam user rating ticked over from "mostly positive" to "very positive," meaning that 80% of its more than 553,000 user ratings are now a thumbs-up.

Never before seen, 22-year-old E3 presentations help explain the rough first impression⁠—and enduring appeal⁠—of BioWare's other Dungeons & Dragons RPG
https://www.pcgamer.com/never-before-seen-22-year-old-e3-presentations-help-explain-the-rough-first-impressionand-enduring-appealof-biowares-other-dungeons-and-dragons-rpg/
Gaming YouTube channel Noclip continues to release rare, archival videogame footage on its secondary preservation channel. Last week, Noclip made good on a prior promise and dropped nearly an hour of never before seen Neverwinter Nights footage from E3s 2000 and 2001. Their presenter isn't identified, but it sounds like Trent Oster, NwN's project director who would later found prolific RPG remasterer Beamdog.

Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is getting a free update with new enemies and gear, seems to be teasing more DLC
https://www.pcgamer.com/chaos-gate-daemonhunters-is-getting-a-free-update-with-new-enemies-and-gear-seems-to-be-teasing-more-dlc/
Since its release in 2022, turn-based tactics face-brutalizer Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters has received a string of free updates, with another due this month. While that update will add an enemy spawn group called the Tainted Sons, three new bits of wargear for the beleaguered Grey Knights, and two more warp surge events, the latest video on the official Daemonhunters YouTube channel seems to be teasing something different.

If I could go back in time and save one canceled game, it'd be the 2005 Fallout spiritual successor prototyped by the series' original creators
https://www.pcgamer.com/if-i-could-go-back-in-time-and-save-one-canceled-game-itd-be-the-2005-fallout-spiritual-successor-prototyped-by-the-series-original-creators/
One of my most cherished YouTube videos is this strange 2007 number from a guy with 15 followers and the handle "FilmNoir82". It shows off a tech demo for an unreleased, post-apocalyptic RPG (with music ripped from David Lynch's 1984 Dune) by Troika Games, a beloved, but short lived studio founded by former Fallout developers Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson.
(...)
I always interpreted this demo as Troika's stab at Fallout 3 before getting outbid on the license by Bethesda, but in a vlog on his ever-informative YouTube channel, Troika co-founder Tim Cain revealed that the project would have been very much its own thing. Though Cain is uncertain about exact details, it sounds like the Fallout license was out of Troika's reach before it put much work into the project, code-named "Epic," and the team shifted gears into making a bespoke setting.

A new trailer for this 'embroidered medieval platformer' shows off the sprawling underworld buried under its sunny village.
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-new-trailer-for-this-embroidered-medieval-platformer-shows-off-the-sprawling-underworld-buried-under-its-sunny-village/
Scarlet Deer Inn is a game with a unique art style: all of its 2D sprite characters have been sourced from real-world embroidery. Most of its previews so far have focused on the game's sunny, bucolic overworld, but its latest trailer shows off a little bit more of the extensive catacombs featured in the game.

WoW's new specialisation turns death knights into 13 million DPS boss scourges, as long as you bring 22 of them along
https://www.pcgamer.com/wows-new-specialisation-turns-death-knights-into-13-million-dps-boss-scourges-as-long-as-you-bring-22-of-them-along/
Blizzard's new specialisation, the augmentation evoker, has continued to stir up the game's meta in weird and interesting ways. It acts as a support DPS, with most of its damage coming from buffs to its allies—a completely new playstyle for an MMO approaching its 20th birthday.

BattleBit developer says the game's success is 'just wild' and DICE is still capable of delivering 'an absolute stunner of a Battlefield'
https://www.pcgamer.com/battlebit-developer-says-the-games-success-is-just-wild-and-dice-is-still-capable-of-delivering-an-absolute-stunner-of-a-battlefield/
BattleBit Remastered is one of the year's breakout hits, a low-poly Battlefield-style FPS big on the destruction and, most importantly for players, big on value. The game has quickly found an enormous audience, many of whom are delighted by the idea of a game with an upfront price that doesn't subsequently nickel-and-dime them with a battle pass or DLC elements: you pays your money, you gets the whole thing.
The game has sold over two million copies in its first few weeks of release, and developer TheLiquidHorse took part in a fan Q&A to talk about BattleBit's future. "This is just wild," the developer said of the game's success. "I don't even think any one of us has realised what we actually have done now."

Payday 3 did too good a job of silently releasing a stealth trailer, so the devs had to prompt fans with bad poetry
https://www.pcgamer.com/payday-3-did-too-good-a-job-of-silently-releasing-a-stealth-trailer-so-the-devs-had-to-prompt-fans-with-bad-poetry/
(...)
Payday 3 released a video showcasing its stealth mechanics five days ago, but decided to play into the theme by hiding it. If you go to the Payday 3 website and watch the gameplay trailer, but turn down the volume during it, then the stealth trailer fades in and replaces it. It's a really neat idea even if a bit fiddly. Alternatively, visiting the page in an incognito Chrome browser will show the stealth trailer.