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

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The news, part two:

Dwarf Fortress's graphical adventure mode launches today, includes extremely Dwarf Fortress touches like '186 animal people portraits' and a unique sound effect for walking on soap
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/dwarf-fortresss-graphical-adventure-mode-launches-today-including-extremely-dwarf-fortress-touches-like-186-animal-people-portraits-and-a-unique-sound-effect-for-walking-on-soap/
Adventure mode, Dwarf Fortress's lesser-appreciated RPG-style alternative to building and managing a colony of dwarves, is finally playable on Steam, with snazzy new pixel art graphics, a whole new set of songs, and the same detailed UI makeover the main mode got when it launched in late 2022. It's launching today in beta, which means it's not quite finished, but the bulk of the mode is there, allowing you to go into one of your own fortresses for a ground-level view or go out into the world in search of quests.

WoW: The War Within will tell its main story via delves and dungeons 'when it makes sense', giving me hope for an escape from 2 decades of raid-centric storytelling
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wow-the-war-within-will-tell-its-main-story-via-delves-and-dungeons-when-it-makes-sense-giving-me-hope-for-an-escape-from-2-decades-of-raid-centric-storytelling/
I've always wanted to love the setting of World of Warcraft—but its storytelling, gnarled up in confusing timelines, optional quests, raid cutscenes, and books,has always kept me at arm's length. Despite that, I've always been rooting for it to get better. That's mostly out of nostalgia, sure, but I also have a love for the mechanics of stories, and I like to cheer for an underdog.
(...)
Going to a recent alpha showcase event for The War Within, however, gave me hope for the game's narrative future. I spoke with associate design director Maria Hamilton in a one-on-one interview, as well as game director Ion Hazzikostas during a roundtable—and one point came up multiple times: The WoW team can really do more with its story, now, for good or for ill.
>> Talking about nostalgia, it’s something they’ve leaned into when developing this update.

Blizzard quietly had World of Warcraft players test run The War Within's biggest new feature last year: underground zones
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/blizzard-quietly-had-world-of-warcraft-players-test-run-the-war-withins-biggest-new-feature-last-year-underground-zones/
Blizzard quietly had World of Warcraft Dragonflight players test run an upcoming The War Within feature without telling them.
Zaralek Cavern, which arrived last May in patch 10.1, lets you explore the zone underneath Dragonflight's main landmass at a scale never done before in the MMO. It works sort of like Elden Ring's underground areas except it's fully accessible without loading screens or long elevator rides. You can dip down there to finish some quests and leave whenever you like.

World of Warcraft's executive producer says the game's recent maverick events like Plunderstorm and MoP: Remix are owed to a squad of madcaps called 'the live team'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcrafts-executive-producer-says-the-games-recent-maverick-events-like-plunderstorm-and-mop-remix-are-owed-to-a-squad-of-madcaps-called-the-live-team/
If you've been paying any attention to World of Warcraft in the past year or so, you'll have noticed that things are getting a little weird. Not in a bad way—in fact, while other MMORPGs would struggle with a content lull before their next big expansion, we're only a few months out from The War Within and there's never been so many ways to get your WoW fix.
(...)
Speaking to executive producer Holly Longdale in a group interview during a World of Warcraft: The War Within preview event, myself and several other journalists got to talking with her about WoW's new era of experimentation—unsurprisingly, Longdale says there's a whole team dedicated to throwing delicious gameplay spaghetti at the wall.
>> I don’t know if she’s part of that team or not, but one single developer worked on the arachnophobia filter to turn spiders into crabs.

People who don't play life sims might not understand that they're 'the most complex RPGs ever written,' says Life by You director
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/rod-humble-interview-life-sim-inclusivity/
The Sims isn't the only PC life simulation game in town anymore. Dozens of smaller, more focused life sims have appeared in the years since Stardew Valley took off, and now upcoming Sims competitors like Paralives and Life by You are aiming for the same kind of broad home, relationship, family, and career simulation that EA's 24-year-old Sims series is synonymous with.
Life by You director Rod Humble, who was the head of The Sims series for several years in the 2000s, thinks the fundamental inclusivity of the life sim genre is responsible for its growth.
>> The director also welcomes paid mods.

Ready or Not studio Void Interactive confirms it was hacked in March but says 'no user-related data' was stolen
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ready-or-not-studio-void-interactive-confirms-it-was-hacked-in-march-but-says-no-user-related-data-was-stolen/
Ready or Not developer Void Interactive has confirmed that it suffered a significant hack that saw at least some of the game's source code stolen, but said that no data relating to Ready or Not players or its own staff was taken.

One of Steam's best-reviewed games gets a surprise open world sequel, and it's a plunder-em-up built around rickety pirate robots
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/one-of-steams-best-reviewed-games-gets-a-surprise-open-world-sequel-and-its-a-plunder-em-up-built-around-rickety-pirate-robots/
SteamWorld Heist 2, sequel to Image and Form's 2016 sci-fi strategy game about bouncing bullets into rickety robots, is coming to PC on August 8th.
The surprise follow-up announced during the recent Nintendo Direct, and switches out the original's motley crew of space pirates for regular, water-based pirates. Assuming the role of the roguish Captain Leeway, you'll assemble your own crew of bionic buccaneers as you explore a Caribbean-like ocean called the Great Sea.

CDPR says the Witcher 4 is being 'intensively worked on' but Cyberpunk 2's still in the 'fairly early stages'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cdpr-says-the-witcher-4-is-being-intensively-worked-on-but-cyberpunk-2s-still-in-the-fairly-early-stages/
In a new interview with Aftermath CDPR's Pawel Sasko, associate director of the next Cyberpunk game (codenamed Orion, but we'll call it Cyberpunk 2 for now), discussed some of the changes in production the studio's made since the infamously botched Cyberpunk 2077 launch. The crunch in the run-up to release got so intense that some key team members left CDPR shortly after the game's launch, and the then-CEO had to issue an apology to employees after saying the situation was "not that bad."

It's time to suit up and squish some bugs as Helldiver 2's latest Major Order tasks us with killing 2 billion Terminids
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/its-time-to-suit-up-and-squish-some-bugs-as-helldiver-2s-latest-major-order-tasks-us-with-killing-2-billion-terminids/
The latest Major Order for Helldivers 2 has just dropped and, while I think killing 2 billion bugs in a week sounds slightly excessive, it seems as if this is no challenge at all for the dedicated Divers hellbent on spreading democracy. 
>> By the way, Arrowhead is aware of an exploit to farm super credits, but isn’t too worried about it.

Descent 3 programmer releases the classic space shooter's source code, including a surprise patch developed 15 years ago but never released
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/descent-3-programmer-releases-the-classic-space-shooters-source-code-including-a-surprise-patch-developed-15-years-ago-but-never-released/
The source code for Descent 3 has been released, and is available to download now on Github.
Spotted by Linux programmer Daniel Gibson on Mastodon, the code was released by Descent 3 programmer Kevin Bentley earlier this week. Described by Bentley as the "latest version" of the code, it includes an unreleased '1.5' patch codesigned by Bentley and another Descent 3 designer, Kevin Slutter, several years ago.