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

[JEMC]

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Epic Store gives away Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/homeworld-deserts-of-kharak.
Next week, they'll give away Cave Story+.

Steam has two new deals:

• Spirit of the North will be 80% off until August, 30th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1213700/Spirit_of_the_North/
• The Endzone franchise, with the game and DLCs, go on sale with up to 80% discounts until the 6th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/endzone-franchise-sale

Humble Bundle has launched the new Masterful Modern 3D Platformers, with up to 10 items to get during the next 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/masters-modern-3d-platformers

Fanatical's Summer Sale is over and now it's back to its regular deals, that include a new Star Deal and a bundle:

• The new Star Deal is Marvel's Midnight Suns Legendary Edition will be 66% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/marvels-midnight-suns-legendary-edition
• The new Diamond Collection BYOB Reloaded Edition features 12 titles to choose from for your 3, 4 or 5 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/diamond-collection-reloaded-edition-build-your-own-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Epic goes on the hunt for even more exclusives with a new program offering bigger payouts to smaller studios
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-goes-on-the-hunt-for-even-more-exclusives-with-a-new-program-offering-bigger-payouts-to-smaller-studios/
If you thought the era of the Epic Games Store exclusive was winding down, think again. Epic announced today a new program called Epic First Run that throws open the exclusivity doors to just about anyone with a new game.
The Epic Games Store has grown into a successful, major digital storefront since its launch in 2018 in large part due to exclusive game releases: Epic has used the massive financial success of Fortnite to pay publishers in advance to launch games on its storefront, and more to the point, not launch them on Steam, at least temporarily.
It's managed to attract some big names over the years, like Borderlands 3, Control, Hitman 3, and Kingdom Hearts, but it's been a ridiculously expensive endeavor, too: We learned in May 2021 that it had already spent more than $1 billion on exclusives. Despite not making money on them, Epic said in March 2023 that it was going to continue pursuing exclusives for its storefront, but would focus more on major releases, which had proven much more effective at attracting new users to EGS than smaller games.
The new Epic First Run program is a way to augment that strategy by bringing smaller studios back into the picture. Instead of negotiating up-front deals with developers and publishers for individual games, First Run grants them 100% of all net revenues earned during the first six months of a game's release on the Epic store in exchange for those six months being mostly exclusive. It's open to any developer or publisher with a game coming out on or after October 16 (when the program goes live) that hasn't previously been released through another third-party storefront or subscription service.
>> Epic gets exclusives without spending money.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

D&D's favourite spellblade subclass has been modded into Baldur's Gate 3, along with its much-desired 'blade' cantrips
https://www.pcgamer.com/dandds-favourite-spellblade-subclass-has-been-modded-into-baldurs-gate-3-along-with-its-much-desired-blade-cantrips/
I'm still shocked that the Warlock's Hexblade patron from Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition (D&D 5e) isn't in Baldur's Gate 3. For those unfamiliar, the Hexblade is a Warlock subclass from the rulebook Xanathar's Guide to Everything, focused on mixing martial might with pact magic. It's a perfect spellblade—sometimes called a 'gish' in the tabletop community.
Wyll—the Blade of Frontiers—is clearly meant to be a Hexblade, mixing swordplay with magic in equal measure, but the game's existing Pact of the Blade isn't enough to bridge that gap. Trying to make a melee warlock in Baldur's Gate 3 is just a constant fight against the fact that Eldritch Blast is better in every way, dealing the same amount of damage at range. The Hexblade is also really popular for multiclassing for just about any spellblade, due to a few key features: (...)
Fortunately, modder Feriat111 of Nexus Mods has righted this wrong with the mod "Hexblade Subclass and New Invocations". The adds a seemingly faithful recreation of the subclass alongside several key Invocations (Warlock exclusive abilities) such as Grasp of Hadar, which lets your Eldritch Blast pull targets towards you, as well as Eldritch Smite, a version of the Paladin's Divine Smite that deals force damage.
>> The article has no screenshots nor videos.

GAMING NEWS

First 17 minutes of gameplay from the story mode of Mortal Kombat 1
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/first-17-minutes-of-gameplay-from-the-story-mode-of-mortal-kombat-1/
IGN has shared a video, showcasing the first 17 minutes of gameplay from the story mode of Mortal Kombat 1. This video contains spoilers so make sure to avoid it if you want to experience on your own the story campaign of Mortal Kombat 1.

Immortals of Aveum cannot run at Native 4K/60fps on NVIDIA RTX 4090, even on Low Settings
https://www.dsogaming.com/articles/immortals-of-aveum-cannot-run-at-native-4k-60fps-on-nvidia-rtx-4090-even-on-low-settings/
Immortals of Aveum is a new single-player magic FPS game that is powered by Unreal Engine 5. The game uses both Lumen and Nanite, and it for gaming at native 4K, it requires GPUs that have not been released yet. Even the mighty NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is unable to offer 60fps at Native 4K… on LOW SETTINGS.
>> The game deserves to sell like crap, to match the effort the studio made in optimization.

The Last of Us Part I Patch 1.1.2 improves visuals and user experience
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-last-of-us-part-i-patch-1-1-2-improves-visuals-and-user-experience/
Iron Galaxy and Naughty Dog have released Patch 1.1.2 for the PC version of The Last of Us Part I. According to the changelog, this latest update packs improvements to the game’s visuals and user experience.

Here are 14 minutes of gameplay from the Alan Wake 2 Gamescom 2023 Demo
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-14-minutes-of-gameplay-from-the-alan-wake-2-gamescom-2023-demo/
At Gamescom 2023, Remedy had a playable demo of Alan Wake 2 that attendees could play. So, below you can find a video, showcasing 14 minutes of gameplay footage from it.

The first Broken Sword game is getting a 4K remaster
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-first-broken-sword-game-is-getting-a-4k-remaster/
Revolution Software has announced a 4K remaster of the first Broken Sword game, called Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged. In addition, the company is working on the next part of this adventure series, called Broken Sword – Parzival’s Stone.
>> Colour me interested.

First screenshots for the spiritual successor to GTR, GTRevival
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/first-screenshots-for-the-spiritual-successor-to-gtr-gtrevival/
Ian Bell, the CEO of Straight4 (and former founder of Slightly Mad Studios) has released the first unedited in-game screenshots for GTRevival. GTRevival will be a spiritual successor to the legendary sim racing series, GTR, and these screenshots will give you a glimpse at what Straight4 aims to create.

New gameplay teaser trailer for the dinosaur survival horror game, Deathground
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-gameplay-teaser-trailer-for-the-dinosaur-survival-horror-game-deathground/
Jaw Drop Games has released a new gameplay teaser trailer for its upcoming dinosaur survival horror game, Deathground. This teaser trailer is one minute long, and it packs a number of gameplay sequences from this new dino game.