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

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Friday news, the sequel you were expecting:

Avowed's game director says Obsidian's choice to limit players to just two races is partially down to its first-person camera
https://www.pcgamer.com/avoweds-game-director-says-obsidians-choice-to-limit-players-to-just-two-races-is-partially-down-to-its-first-person-camera/
One of the unfortunate bummers about Avowed—which is set in the Pillars of Eternity universe—is that you'll be limited to playing either a human or an elf for story reasons, as your adventurer will be an envoy from the largely elf-slash-human dominated Aedyr Empire. That's kinda disappointing, seeing as Aumaua, Dwarves, and the fuzzy li'l Orlan are all appealing character choices from the setting.
Narrative aside, it seems like the main reason behind the choice was motivated by the technical nightmares of a first person camera. That's according to game director Carrie Patel, who spoke with IGN recently on the subject.
>> Well, they created that problem when they chose to use that camera.

Dredge dev says a mechanic that killed NPCs without warning if you let them go hungry lasted for about 3 days after the game's launch before they patched it out, because 'people f*cking hated it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/dredge-dev-says-a-mechanic-that-killed-npcs-without-warning-if-you-let-them-go-hungry-lasted-for-about-3-days-after-the-games-launch-before-they-patched-it-out-because-people-fcking-hated-it/
Dredge was one of 2023's out-of-left field indie greats—we gave it an 89 in our Dredge review, then later bestowed it with Best Setting award for our Game of the Year shoutouts. It wears that mantle well from what I've seen as a genuinely brilliant bit of bathophobia–inducing atmospheric horror, in which you man a dinky little tugboat on an ocean of lovecraftian terrors.
It also attempted to create a dire, consequence-filled world where you can fail quests by accident. While the air of sea-soaked tension definitely landed for its players, one choice in that vein was so unpopular the devs patched it out in around three days, as revealed in an interview with the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences earlier this week.

The Day Before was an even bigger disaster than you thought: devs reportedly made to pay fines for bad work, learned it was an MMO from the trailers, and no one's sure where the bosses are
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-day-before-was-an-even-bigger-disaster-than-you-thought-devs-reportedly-made-to-pay-fines-for-bad-work-learned-it-was-an-mmo-from-the-trailers-and-no-ones-sure-where-the-bosses-are/
A new documentary from German games sites Game Two and GameStar has shed some more light on the disastrous development of The Day Before, and boy howdy, it's worse than you thought. Game Two says it spoke to 16 former Fntastic employees, one of its former "volunteers," and seven staff from The Day Before's publisher Mytona. The picture they paint is, well, staggering.

Devolver Digital's new CEO is its old CEO
https://www.pcgamer.com/devolver-digitals-new-ceo-is-its-old-ceo/
Devolver Digital has a new boss: A trading update (via Game Developer) reveals that Douglas Morin has stepped down as CEO of the company, and will be replaced by Devolver co-founder and executive chairman Harry Miller.

Inkle reveals a surprise collaboration with Google in The Forever Labyrinth, 'an art-filled quest through time and space'
https://www.pcgamer.com/inkle-reveals-a-surprise-collaboration-with-google-in-the-forever-labyrinth-an-art-filled-quest-through-time-and-space/
Inkle, the developer of highly-regarded narrative-focused games including 80 Days, Heaven's Vault, and A Highland Song, has unveiled a new game developed in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture: A free, browser-based "art-filled quest through time and space" called The Forever Labyrinth.

Palworld could have a major problem with an item that's meant to boost your chances of capturing pals, but lowers it instead
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-could-have-a-major-problem-with-an-item-thats-meant-to-boost-your-chances-of-capturing-pals-but-lowers-it-instead/
There are some practical ways to boost your chances of nabbing a Pal in Palworld—for example, you can get around an initial check by throwing your sphere from behind (called a 'back bonus'). The most reliable way, however, is using a Lifmunk Effigy: Items scattered around the world that boost your capture rate. Or at least that's the idea.

Atlus pinky swears that 'fans can rest assured knowing that Persona 3 Reload offers a complete experience,' so you won't be buying Persona 3 Reload: Royal years from now
https://www.pcgamer.com/atlus-pinky-swears-that-fans-can-rest-assured-knowing-that-persona-3-reload-offers-a-complete-experience-so-you-wont-be-buying-persona-3-reload-royal-years-from-now/
Here's the thing about Persona 3 Reload: it's not all of Persona 3. In particular, the remake is missing the epilogue campaign—called The Answer—that came with Persona 3 FES back on the PS2, and it's missing the female protagonist you could play as in the PSP (and now PC) version of the game, Persona 3 Portable.
All of that sounds like a great excuse for Atlus to put out a Persona 5 Royal/Persona 4 Golden-style reissue of the game somewhere down the line, selling you the game again in the form of a version that comes with those currently missing pieces plugged in.
But apparently the studio is breaking the habit of a lifetime, because Persona Team production manager Kazuhisa Wada recently told Gamerwk (translated by Persona Central) that Atlus is currently "not considering a revision like with Persona 5 to Persona 5 Royal" for Persona 3 Reload. "Fans can rest assured knowing that Persona 3 Reload offers a complete experience," said Wada.
>> The question is, can we trust him?

And now, the GOG and Steam deals for the weekend:

+GOG

• Nothing much at GOG, with the New Year Sale and its up to 90% discounts still going on until Monday: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2024_new_year_sale

+Steam

• DREDGE will be 30% off until Monday, February 5th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562430/DREDGE/
• Ember Knights gets a 25% discount until the 6th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1135230/Ember_Knights/
• Last Train Home is going to be 34% off until February, the 8th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1469610/Last_Train_Home/
• Eastshade is also going to be on sale until the 8th, but with a 60% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/715560/Eastshade/
• Hogwarts Legacy gets a 40% deal until the 11th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/app/990080/Hogwarts_Legacy/
• LoveChoice 拣爱 will be 33% off until the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/939400/LoveChoice/
• And Citizen Sleeper is the last deal, with a 50% discount until February, the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1578650/Citizen_Sleeper/

Those were all the news. Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.