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

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The news, part two:

Ubisoft is taking another bunch of old games out behind the woodshed
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-is-taking-another-bunch-of-old-games-out-behind-the-woodshed/
In what is becoming almost an annual event, though hardly the celebratory kind, Ubisoft has announced it is closing the servers for a bunch of the publisher's older titles. In the past Ubisoft has somewhat messed-up the messaging on such things, leaving players under the false impression that the affected titles would become unplayable, but now it's being clear that its "decommissioning" will only affect the online side of these titles, and you'll still be able to play the singleplayer elements.
>> Speaking of Ubisoft, they've used AI created art in their social media accounts, and people hate it.

Tim Schafer and Double Fine celebrate 25 years of Grim Fandango and thank fans for their memories: 'I'll keep them next to where my heart used to be!'
https://www.pcgamer.com/tim-schafer-and-double-fine-celebrate-25-years-of-grim-fandango-and-thank-fans-for-their-memories-ill-keep-them-next-to-where-my-heart-used-to-be/
Grim Fandango released on October 30, 1998, and so yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of arguably the greatest adventure game LucasArts ever made. Yeah OK, OK, simmer down Monkey Island fans: it's Manny Calavera's time to shine. And to mark the occasion Double Fine, the studio founded by Grim Fandango writer Tim Schafer, has published a compilation of reminiscences from fans and the developers and collected some of the finest cosplay and other bits people have made inspired by the game.

Alt-history multiplayer FPS '83 is back from the dead under a new studio, and they're looking for testers
https://www.pcgamer.com/alt-history-multiplayer-fps-83-is-back-from-the-dead-under-a-new-studio-and-theyre-looking-for-testers/
'83 was announced in 2019 as a persistent FPS for up to 80 players set in an alt-history world where the Cold War turned hot. Development was being handled by Antimatter Games, the team behind the excellent Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, but work was put on hold in May 2022 so the team could focus on its IGI Origins reboot, and then it all ran aground a year later when parent company Enad Global 7 elected to close the studio. The fates of '83 and IGI Origins were unclear in the wake of the studio shutdown, but it sure didn't look good for either of them.
Now, though, it seems that at least one of them is back from the presumed-dead. A studio called Blue Dot Games announced on Discord earlier this week that it's looking for playtesters for a pre-alpha build of '83 as it prepares to move forward with development.

Remedy's Max Payne remakes and Control spinoff are now in 'production readiness' but the success of Alan Wake 2 might mean they're still a long way off
https://www.pcgamer.com/remedys-max-payne-remakes-and-control-spinoff-are-now-in-production-readiness-but-the-success-of-alan-wake-2-might-mean-theyre-still-a-long-way-off/
Alan Wake 2 is Remedy's big project of the moment, but it's far from the only thing the studio is working on. Today, as part of its most recent financial report, the company shared a look at how its other projects, including a sequel to Control and remakes of the first two Max Payne games, are coming along.

A wildly popular beta has skyrocketed The Finals into the top-wishlisted game on Steam, priming it to be the FPS to watch in 2024
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-wildly-popular-beta-has-skyrocketed-the-finals-into-the-top-wishlisted-game-on-steam-priming-it-to-be-the-fps-to-watch-in-2024/
The hottest game on Steam right now is an FPS that's not technically out yet. Hundreds of thousands of people are trying out The Finals, a highly-destructible competitive shooter from ex-Battlefield devs currently in open beta.

CD Projekt wants the Cyberpunk series to experience 'a similar evolution' to The Witcher games
https://www.pcgamer.com/cd-projekt-wants-the-cyberpunk-series-to-experience-a-similar-evolution-to-the-witcher-games/
As troubled as Cyberpunk 2077 was at launch, it's remarkable to think back to what a CD Projekt Red game looked like just 12 years before. The first Witcher game is almost comically rudimentary next to the lavishly motion captured, ray traced first-person world of Cyberpunk. But it was fun, with a fantasy setting that felt different to other RPGs I'd played at the time. The graphical leap in 2011's The Witcher 2 was nothing short of stunning, and the quality of the sidequests in The Witcher 3's massive open world made CD Projekt my favorite RPG developer just four years later. I'm thinking about that progression now that CD Projekt is moving on to work on Cyberpunk 2077's sequel—and so are the developers.
"Consider The Witcher games and how much they changed with each installment. We want a similar evolution here," narrative director Igor Sarzyński said in a recent interview with PC Gamer.

Bungie fans outraged as beloved Destiny composers and other veteran employees are put out of work
https://www.pcgamer.com/bungie-fans-outraged-as-beloved-destiny-composers-and-other-veteran-employees-are-put-out-of-work/
There have been an awful lot of layoffs across the game industry in 2023, but against that bleak backdrop this week's cuts at Bungie came as a shock. Fans are mourning the loss of a number of long-term employees, particularly composers Michael Salvatori, who wrote countless memorable tracks for both Destiny games as well as earlier Bungie projects going all the way back to Myth: The Fallen Lords, and Michael Sechrist, the composer of Deep Stone Lullaby, which we called "the most gorgeous piece of game music that you've never heard."

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will have a voiced main character: 'it draws the player in that much more', says the game's ex-Bioware narrative quality designer
https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-will-have-a-voiced-main-character-it-draws-the-player-in-that-much-more-says-the-games-ex-bioware-narrative-designer/
Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 (which I'll be calling 'Bloodlines 2' from here on) has had a troubled history. (...)
I had the pleasure of speaking to TCR's Arone Le Bray, the game's narrative designer, about the project, and particularly about the game's newly announced protagonist Phyre (pronounced "Fire"). They'll be fully voiced in the vein of RPG protagonists like Mass Effect's Commander Shepard, Cyberpunk 2077's V, or the Inquisitor from Dragon Age Inquisition. That's a major departure from the first game, which leant on a more Dragon Age: Origins-meets-Bethesda style of doing things.
>> It will also take a page from Baldur's Gate 3 narrative design.

Remnant 2's first DLC, The Awakened King, is inbound—here's everything we know about it
https://www.pcgamer.com/remnant-2s-first-dlc-the-awakened-king-is-inboundheres-everything-we-know-about-it/
Get ready for stormy skies, moody Elizabethan streets, and fantastic fae castles. We're goin' back to Losomn.
I booted up Remnant 2 earlier this week, and was quickly reminded of why it's still one of my faves from this year. It's a great third-person romp that's a mixture of soulslike staples and ARPG-style procedural generation. I must've had a premonition, because its first DLC has just been announced today.

Jiminy Cricket! Lies of P isn't just getting DLC, it's getting a full sequel too
https://www.pcgamer.com/jiminy-cricket-lies-of-p-isnt-just-getting-dlc-its-getting-a-full-sequel-too/
We learned in October, unofficially, that the popular Pinocchiosouls game Lies of P is getting DLC. Now it's official, and it's not only DLC: A full sequel is planned too.
Word of the sequel came via a "director's letter," actually a video, in which game director Ji Won Choi announced that Lies of P has now surpassed one million copies sold, always a nice benchmark of success. To celebrate, Choi confirmed that DLC is in fact on the way, and in a very indirect way, also revealed plans for an all-new game.