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

[JEMC]

Thursday news, part two:

The futility of Helldivers 2's 'Menkent Line' has parts of the community feeling bot fatigue: 'We fought hard to establish a defensive line, and for what?'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-futility-of-helldivers-2s-menkent-line-has-parts-of-the-community-feeling-bot-fatigue-we-fought-hard-to-establish-a-defensive-line-and-for-what/
The ever-marching galactic war campaign of Helldivers 2 is impressive, so much so that it's a little difficult to follow, though the sense of FOMO is there for the right reasons, that being "I'm missing out on a cool, emergent, player-driven story". Well, that's the idea at least—right now, the community's a little bummed out.

No Rest for the Wicked chief defends early access, says more games should do it: 'Imagine [if] Dark Souls 1 had been in early access'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/no-rest-for-the-wicked-chief-defends-early-access-says-more-games-should-do-it-imagine-if-dark-souls-1-had-been-in-early-access/
No Rest for the Wicked, the action RPG from Ori and the Blind Forest developer Moon Studios, launched into early access on Steam last week, and it's really quite good. Not everyone is entirely taken with it, though: An awful lot of negative reviews flowed in immediately after release, complaining about a raft of issues including performance, balance, and an overall lack of polish.
(...)
Regardless of all that and whatever anyone else might think about it, Moon Studios CEO and creative director Thomas Mahler has no regrets, calling the early access release "one of the best decisions we could've made."
"I see some people are still irked about why games like Wicked, Hades 2, Larian's new game, etc. launch into early access even if the studio 'should have the funds to finish the game and release it then'," Mahler wrote on Twitter. "But that's looking at a complex problem through a way too simple lens.

Surprise! Minecraft's brand new mob has rolled out months before the update we expected it would be in
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/surprise-minecrafts-brand-new-mob-has-rolled-out-months-before-the-update-we-expected-it-would-be-in/
Minecraft launched some new creatures this week in the form of armadillos and eight new types of wolf. If you thought: "Hold on, aren't armadillos the new mob coming in the Minecraft 1.21 update later this year?" Yup, that's what I'd assumed too. They'd been in snapshots already, but now they've actually rolled out not as an experimental feature, but as part of a regular old game update this week (version 1.20.8 for Bedrock and 1.20.5 for Java edition). Surprise!

Klei's new co-op brawler makes a strong first impression in early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/rotwood-early-access-launch/
I like a game that chucks me into the thick of it with minimal preamble: Just beat me up! I'll learn! Klei's new co-op brawler is one of those: You can handwave the NPC welcoming committee who tries to explain the controls and just start swinging a hammer at forest monsters within seconds. My kind of game.
I've only played about an hour of Rotwood, which released on Steam in early access today, but for $11 (even less right now since it's on sale), I'd already recommend it to my friends. They've invested as much in lesser games just to have something new to play in co-op, and I've even been enjoying Rotwood as a solo game.

Lords of the Fallen now has one of those masochistic enemy randomizer modes for action RPG fans looking for punishment
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/lords-of-the-fallen-now-has-one-of-those-masochistic-enemy-randomizer-modes-for-action-rpg-fans-looking-for-punishment/
Lords of the Fallen's final update, version 1.5, gives it what every good action RPG must have: a randomizer mode for the sickos who thrive in the chaos of unpredictable enemies and loot.

Manor Lords' publisher explains why there's no price attached yet: 'we don’t want players to get scammed or cheated'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/manor-lords-publisher-explains-why-theres-no-price-attached-yet-we-dont-want-players-to-get-scammed-or-cheated/
Medieval city-builder Manor Lords is Steam's most wishlisted game and is a mere day away from release, but no one is actually sure how much it's going to cost. 
Apparently, that's on purpose. Tim Bender, the CEO of Hooded Horse, Manor Lords' publisher, took to Reddit to explain the collective decision not to disclose the price until its launch day. "We don’t like to declare a price in advance of release," Bender says. "Because sharing the US price alone will lead to misunderstandings. People will be concluding the game is unaffordable in their region when at launch they will have pricing that will work for them." 

US game devs celebrate as non-compete clauses, previously deemed 'a trash way to keep the talent', face a ban from the FTC—which would free up movement across the AAA industry
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/us-game-devs-celebrate-as-non-compete-clauses-previously-deemed-a-trash-way-to-keep-the-talent-face-a-ban-from-the-ftcwhich-would-free-up-movement-across-the-aaa-industry/
Workers from just about every industry in the US are celebrating a landmark announcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that, unless stopped, will ban non-compete clauses in around four months.
A non-compete is, in essence, a clause that dictates whether a worker can find employment (or create a product) that directly competes with their employer—even if they aren't working for them anymore. Typically, these will last around six months to a year after the end of employment, but they can last longer.