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

[JEMC]

Friday news, part two:

Manor Lords dev asks press and YouTubers to stop breaking the game: 'please restrain yourself'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/manor-lords-dev-asks-press-and-youtubers-to-stop-breaking-the-game-please-restrain-yourself/
Manor Lords' sole developer, Greg "Slavic Magic" Styczeń, has made a plea to everyone with a review copy of the soon-to-be-released city builder: please stop messing around with the castle planner and breaking the game. 
In response to the recent issue, he tweeted, "I just saw one press review try to cheese their way and build town walls with the castle planner tool, please restrain yourself from doing so. I'll add a *proper* town wall tool in one of the updates and the castle planner is meant for manors/castles. Should've locked it for now." 

'Marketing's dead, and I can back this s**t up': Larian's publishing director says players 'just want to be spoken to, and they don't want to be bamboozled'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/marketings-dead-and-i-can-back-this-sht-up-larians-publishing-director-says-players-just-want-to-be-spoken-to-and-they-dont-want-to-be-bamboozled/
During Baldur's Gate 3's trip around the award circuit winning every major GOTY trophy there is, the developers at Larian have taken some of their stage time to criticize corporate greed and mass layoffs. In the wake of its massively successful self-published game, Larian hasn't been shy about pointing the finger at what it sees changing—and going wrong—in the games industry. Larian publishing director Michael Douse brought that same energy to a recent PC Gamer roundtable interview, confidently stating "marketing is dead" in a discussion with other prominent game developers.

BlizzCon 2024 isn't happening
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/blizzard-announces-there-will-be-no-blizzcon-in-2024/
One year after bringing it back as a live event for the first time since 2019, Blizzard has announced that the annual weekend convention known as BlizzCon will not return for 2024. The studio says it made the decision internally, not at the direction of new owner Microsoft.

Slay the Spire co-creator advises that 'taking risks is actually the least risky thing you can do,' arguing for the appeal of 'hyper-engaging' games
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/slay-the-spire-co-creator-advises-that-taking-risks-is-actually-the-least-risky-thing-you-can-do-arguing-for-the-appeal-of-hyper-engaging-games/
Casey Yano, co-founder of Slay the Spire developer Mega Crit, quit his job several years ago to work on the deckbuilder that would eventually earn a 92% from PC Gamer and a 97% overwhelmingly positive rating on Steam. It wasn't a smash hit at first, when it launched in early access, but as Slay the Spire picked up attention it eventually became the inspiration for dozens more singleplayer deckbuilding roguelikes. Many of those games have also been successful, but the surprise breakout of this year's Helldivers 2 and its unique approach to a live service shooter prompted PC Gamer's Evan Lahti to ask to what extent developers should be trying to capitalize on whatever's currently trendy.
"If any big companies are listening: Taking risks is actually the least risky thing you can do," Yano said in a recent PC Gamer roundtable interview on the State of PC Gaming. His argument: "People just want novelty. If you see a strange flavor of ice cream, you're gonna try that ice cream. I want to try the weird ice cream. I'm just saying—the pineapple mint sorbet I had the other day was incredible."

Fallout 4's 'next gen' update is over 14 gigs, breaks modded saves, and doesn't seem to change much at all
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/fallout-4s-next-gen-update-is-nearly-16-gigs-breaks-modded-saves-and-doesnt-seem-to-change-much-at-all/
Fallout 4's long promised next gen (really current gen) update is finally here after a two-year wait since its initial announcement, but it's not a winner on PC. We anticipated there would be the usual issues with mod compatibility (see the Fallout London devs delaying their highly anticipated project), but PC players aren't getting much benefit from the ~14.4 gig patch.

Remember all those Destiny 2 guns you deleted after they got sunset? Bungie admits you shouldn't have done that: 'We regret we have no recovery mechanism'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/remember-all-those-destiny-2-guns-you-deleted-after-they-got-sunset-bungie-admits-you-shouldnt-have-done-that-we-regret-we-have-no-recovery-mechanism/
In what has come as an unexpected but huge W for those with a chronic hoarding problem, Bungie has today announced that it is undoing the last part of one of its most unpopular design decisions: Weapon sunsetting. Back in 2020, the studio made a huge call to remove huge swathes of content from the game, including entire planetary destinations and raids, and also capped the power of all old weapons, meaning they could no longer be 'infused' to the current power cap, rendering them useless in many activities.
(...)
So it was quite the shock to read in the latest This Week in Destiny post that, yeah, probably shouldn't have done that...

Escape From Tarkov players rage as developers lock co-op PvE behind a new $250 edition despite promising access to 'all subsequent DLCs' in its old $150 edition
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/escape-from-tarkov-players-rage-as-developers-lock-co-op-pve-behind-a-new-dollar250-edition-despite-promising-access-to-all-subsequent-dlcs-in-its-old-dollar150-edition/
Battlestate Games has unveiled a new $250 edition of Escape From Tarkov that includes access to a PvE mode with co-op support and persistent progress that won't be reset when the game is wiped. It sounds pretty cool, but it has quite a few players upset because the mode is only accessible with the new, very expensive edition of the game—even though the previously-released $150 https://www.escapefromtarkov.com/preorder-page">Edge of Darkness Edition of Tarkov, which is no longer available, promised "free access to all subsequent DLCs."
Battlestate Games claims that the new mode doesn't qualify as DLC, an argument that is going over with Tarkov players about as well as you'd expect.

Helldivers 2 devs send players into a frenzy as they tease 2 new potential stratagems via meme propaganda
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-devs-send-players-into-a-frenzy-as-they-tease-2-new-potential-stratagems-via-meme-propaganda/
Helldivers 2 devs have proven before that they aren't above a little trolling—proclaiming that bugs can't fly (they can), that there are no such things as heavy machine guns (there are) and that blue lasers aren't real (jury's still out on that one).
Super Earth propagandists have apparently discovered new and creative ways to mess with us, however, as shared on the official Helldivers Twitter today.
>> And please, stop bullying the blue armored helldivers.

Wake up! These spider-looking phenomena just spotted on Mars are clearly Helldivers 2 bugs preparing for a surprise attack
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/wake-up-these-spider-looking-phenomena-just-spotted-on-mars-are-clearly-helldivers-2-bugs-preparing-for-a-surprise-attack/
Stop me if you've heard one of these lines of propaganda before. Bugs can't fly. The Automatons haven't developed aerial gunships yet. There's no such thing as a heavy machine gun. These images from the surface of Mars are just "seasonal eruptions of carbon dioxide gas," not thousands of alien spiders gathering for an imminent attack on us, the good citizens of Super Earth.
Yeah, right.

After 10 years on Steam, Korean MMO ArcheAge is giving up on North America and Europe
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/after-10-years-on-steam-korean-mmo-archeage-is-giving-up-on-north-america-and-europe/
A study about what might happen at the end of the world based on player behaviour in the Korean MMO ArcheAge is about to be put to the test. After a nearly 10-year run on Steam, ArcheAge servers in North America and Europe will be closed in June.

FF14 players are struggling to complete the Yo-kai Watch event thanks to a tide of Blue Mages armed with bad vibes and missiles
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/ff14-players-are-struggling-to-complete-the-yo-kai-watch-event-thanks-to-a-tide-of-blue-mages-armed-with-bad-vibes-and-missiles/
The Yo-kai Watch event has made a return to FF14, letting players grab weapon glams, mounts, and a terribly cursed dog. It's a fun excuse to run around the overworld and complete FATEs, which are public group quests that spawn regularly in most zones—but there's a wrinkle to the good times: the feared Blue Mage.

MultiVersus fans, you were right: The character models are actually bigger in the upcoming re-release
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/multiversus-fans-you-were-right-the-character-models-are-actually-bigger-in-the-upcoming-re-release/
You might recall a couple of weeks ago that MultiVersus fans meticulously had picked apart a new gameplay video for its upcoming re-release, and came to two major conclusions: The game looked an awful lot slower, and the character models an awful lot bigger.
While the jury's still out on the first deduction, the second one has recently been confirmed by the developer itself. Player First Games took to Twitter to share a comparison between the old and new character sizes, as well as a little explanation behind the change.

Helldivers 2 players complete another major order by the skin of their teeth, and some can't help but feel Joel's going easy on them
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-helldivers-complete-another-major-order-by-the-skin-of-their-teeth-and-some-cant-help-but-feel-joels-going-easy-on-them/
With only hours to go, things were not looking good for Helldivers 2's latest major order. These come down from on-high with regularity, and shape the game's ongoing galactic war: in this case, Super Earth tasked the Helldivers with successfully liberating 10 planets from enemy takeover. Earlier in the week things looked a bit grim, with only three planets freed from alien tyranny, but as the finish line came into sight something remarkable happened. Call it democracy manifest if you like but, from my vantage point, it sure looked like we killed a lot of bots and bugs when the chips were down.

Time to check the GOG and Steam deals for the weekend:

+GOG

• Only three Deals of the Day at GOG, with the first one being the NSFW Fetish Locator Week Three, 10% off during 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fetish_locator_week_three
• The second one is Total Annihilation: Kingdoms + Iron Plague, with a 50% discount until Monday’s refresh: https://www.gog.com/en/game/total_annihilation_kingdoms
• And the third one is Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, featuring an 80% deal for 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/kane_and_lynch_dead_men

+Steam

• Capcom is running its Golden Week Sale with up to 87% discounts until the 29th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/capcom/sale/goldenweek
• Activision puts its games up to 75% off until the 2nd of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ActivisionPublisherSale2024
• Bandai Namco also celebrates a Golden Week Sale, with up to 90% discounts until the 6th of May (except Tekken 8’s deal, that will end the 2nd): https://store.steampowered.com/developer/BANDAINAMCO/sale/bandainamcosale
• WITCH ON THE HOLY NIGHT will be 20% off until May, the 7th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2052410/WITCH_ON_THE_HOLY_NIGHT/
• FOREWARNED gets a 40% discount until May 9: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562420/FOREWARNED/
• Ragnarock, that has a demo, will be 60% off until the 9th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1345820/Ragnarock/
• Electrician Simulator sports a 70% deal until May the 9th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1080020/Electrician_Simulator/
• Aliens: Fireteam Elite is going to be 70% off until, once again, May the 9th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1549970/Aliens_Fireteam_Elite/
• And last, but not least, there’s the Steamworld franchise sale, featuring up to 93% discounts until the 9th of May: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/SteamWorldFranchiseSale

That’s all folks! Until next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.