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

[JEMC]

Monday news, part two:

Manor Lords' new massive patch stops your villagers from partying too hard and introduces players to the woeful world of the King's Tax
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/manor-lords-first-massive-patch-stops-your-villagers-from-partying-too-hard-and-introduces-players-to-the-woeful-world-of-the-kings-tax/
The new pre-release patch for Manor Lords has just been released for all to try out, and it sure does fix a long list of problems, more so than the developer Greg "Slavic Magic" Styczeń had previously promised.

Brace yourself, EA is thinking real hard about inserting ads into its videogames
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/brace-yourself-ea-is-thinking-real-hard-about-inserting-ads-into-its-videogames/
In his office at EA, Andrew Wilson sits dreaming. Specifically, the CEO is dreaming about ways to deliver ads to EA players, up to (and including) potentially sticking them into the corporation's $60/$70, "AAA" videogames.
That's per a recent earnings call between Wilson and EA investors (via Tom's Hardware), in which the EA boss was asked if there were plans "for more dynamic ad insertion across more traditional AAA games." Wilson's answer? "We have teams internally in the company right now looking at how do we do very thoughtful implementations inside of our game experiences." Gulp.

Here's when Homeworld 3 launches in your region
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/homeworld-3-release-time-launch-date-collectors-edition-early-access/
After more than two decades of waiting, Homeworld 3 is almost upon us. You'll just need a bit more patience—unless you shelled out for one of the special editions—but after waiting for this long, I'm sure you can handle it. 
In the meantime, you can check out our Homeworld 3 review. After such a long wait I wish it could have inspired a slightly more glowing critique—I didn't really gel with the War Games mode or some of the other changes—but the campaign missions are fantastic and the busy maps are a lot of fun to fight over. It's a good sequel, even if it's not my favourite Homeworld.

Can you guess which 2 mysterious games Deus Ex director Warren Spector secretly worked on, but decided not to be credited for?
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/can-you-guess-which-2-mysterious-games-deus-ex-director-warren-spector-secretly-worked-on-but-decided-not-to-be-credited-for/
Veteran PC game creator Warren Spector is credited with working on 46 games on Mobygames, though that may not be a perfectly comprehensive list for a designer and director who's been making games since the 1980s. Actually, it's definitely not a perfectly comprehensive list—while Mobygames has Spector's credits on the likes of Deus Ex (producer and project director), Ultima 6 (writing), and Epic Mickey (creative director), there's no way for the Mobygames database to include projects he wasn't credited on to begin with.

Bungie's first big hit, Marathon, is now free on Steam thanks to a fan revival that has Bungie's blessing
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/bungies-first-big-hit-classic-marathon-is-free-on-steam-with-marathon-2-and-marathon-infinity-to-follow/
Bungie's first real shooter hit, Marathon, has been released on Steam for modern hardware as Classic Marathon, a fan-led port that has Bungie's blessing to release. Classic Marathon is completely free, letting you have the rare experience of playing a classic game not only easily but with zero time spent hunting down an old copy and fighting with compatibility.
>> I recall reading about this somewhere, but I haven’t found a post in this thread about it. If any of you did post it and I somehow missed it, my apologies.

Stray Gods will get a whole story DLC focused on Anthony Rapp's Orpheus
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/visual-novel/stray-gods-will-get-a-whole-story-dlc-focused-on-anthony-rapps-orpheus/
Last year's Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is getting story-focused DLC in the form of Stray Gods: Orpheus, which will star the titular mythical bard rather than base game protagonist Grace. Coming back to earth for a new story, Orpheus will once again be played by Anthony Rapp, the American actor and singer best known for his performance in the original run of the musical Rent, the film version of the same show, and most recently (and to most of you, my fellow nerds) in Star Trek: Discovery.

The physics-based vehicle destruction game I've waited two years for just hit 1.0 with a full campaign inspired by 1997's Blast Corps
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/the-physics-based-vehicle-demolition-game-ive-waited-two-years-for-just-hit-10-with-a-full-campaign-inspired-by-1997s-blast-corps/
I'm a simple man. You put a physics-based vehicle destruction game in front of me and I'm likely to gobble it up. Such was my reaction to Instruments of Destruction when it came to early access back in 2022, but I held back my hunger for destruction, instead opting to wait for its beautiful demolition tech to gain some structure.
That day has arrived: Instruments of Destruction, from one-person studio Radiangames, hit 1.0 today after two years in the oven, and the work shows. New to 1.0 is a full 50+ mission campaign that asks you to tactically destroy, avoid, or gingerly toss structures in 100+ prebuilt vehicles. So far I've been in the seat of a simple bulldozer, a rolly ball with jump and smash buttons, a tractor that shoots explosive cannonballs, and a truck with front-mounted saw blades and a platform that punts entire buildings into the air. Levels are less than five minutes each with bonus objectives, and completing each one unlocks a challenge version for repeat playthroughs. It's such a joy that I had to tear myself away after blazing through the tutorial world this morning.

The RTS genre will never be mainstream unless you change it until it's 'no longer the kind of RTS that I want to play,' says Crate Entertainment CEO
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/crate-ceo-rts-genre-interview/
Crate Entertainment has been working its way through some very 'PC gaming' game genres: First it made an action RPG, Grim Dawn, then it made town builder Farthest Frontier (which is scheduled to leave early access sometime this year), and now it's also working on a real-time strategy game. Unlike some of its contemporaries, however, Crate isn't trying to crack the code to making a mainstream RTS megahit: Real-time strategy is a "nerd genre," Crate Entertainment CEO Arthur Bruno joked in a recent interview with PC Gamer, and he accepts the limited audience that implies.

Things get real weird in this dungeon crawler where you type to succeed
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/things-get-real-weird-in-this-dungeon-crawler-where-you-type-to-succeed/
The strange, stylish Cryptmaster has released on Steam, a text-driven graphical dungeon crawler with a striking black-and-white aesthetic. The pitch?  Everything in Cryptmaster is controlled by saying anything you'd like. Typing in a word is what gives you powers, solves puzzles, and moves your game forward.

In this clever roguelike you build and rewire your powers using spare parts
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/in-this-clever-roguelike-you-build-and-rewire-your-powers-using-spare-parts/
Rogue Voltage dropped on Steam this week, a roguelike deckbuilder of sorts where you wire up and configure weird devices to blow up your enemies in turn-based combat. The core of Rogue Voltage is making crazy machines that do weird stuff. How you do that is the cool part.