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

[JEMC]

And yes, today there’s a third part of the news:

Obsidian's first person RPG Avowed is reportedly getting delayed into next year despite being 'in good shape' for its original November release
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/obsidians-first-person-rpg-avowed-is-reportedly-getting-delayed-into-next-year-despite-being-in-good-shape-for-its-original-november-release/
According to The Verge's Notepad newsletter (users may encounter a paywall) on Microsoft happenings, Obsidian's first person action RPG Avowed is about to get delayed into early 2025. The game itself is supposedly in "good shape" to meet its original November release window, but Microsoft is sheepish about overcrowding its holiday release schedule.

Blizzard could've let Diablo 4's weakest classes ride it out until the expansion, but it's showering them in buffs for season 5 instead
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/blizzard-couldve-let-diablo-4s-weakest-classes-ride-it-out-until-the-expansion-but-its-showering-them-in-buffs-for-season-5-instead/
Sorcerers and druids have had a rough time competing with Diablo 4's other classes even though Blizzard has improved almost everything else about the game. Both of them fall behind the others when it comes to raw power, and their most effective builds are not as fun. But in season 5, which starts next week, sorcerers and druids are getting loads of buffs to help them out before Blizzard takes a more comprehensive look at them after the expansion's release in October.

Once Human patch speeds up motorcycles and makes respeccing easier
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/once-human-august-2024-patch/
Once Human, the multiplayer open world survival horror game that released last month, has a big patch out today with loads of bug fixes, quality of life improvements, and some special events for August.

Bungie was reportedly going to pull the trigger on layoffs regardless of The Final Shape's success, due to leadership under-delivering on 'financial promises' to Sony
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/bungie-was-reportedly-going-to-pull-the-trigger-on-layoffs-regardless-of-the-final-shape-s-success-due-to-leadership-under-delivering-on-financial-promises-to-sony/
Late last month, Bungie laid off 220 employees in a decision which—to put it lightly—has shaken the company. The impacted developers have already expressed their frustration, anger, and disappointment on social media, especially in the wake of claims that CEO Pete Parsons spent $2.4 million on vintage vehicles over the past 2 years.
(...)
Further twisting the knife is a report from journalist Stephen Totilo, who spoke with several anonymous former Bungie employees in a Game File newsletter.
The newsletter claims, as per its sources, that "Bungie’s leaders had overstated their studio’s financial prospects to Sony, and Wednesday’s cuts were needed to stop continued losses that amounted to an ongoing reality check."

World of Warcraft: The War Within's pre-patch event has been fixed, removing 90-minute wait times and turning its weekly quests into account-wide dailies
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft-the-war-within-s-pre-patch-event-has-been-fixed-removing-90-minute-wait-times-and-turning-its-weekly-quests-into-account-wide-dailies/
World of Warcraft: The War Within looks very promising—but its pre-patch event hasn't exactly come roaring out the gate.
To summarise the issues: rewards were slim, with precious little to do in between big boss events that were over very quickly—which wasn't great, since they only popped once every 90 minutes, with an arbitrarily-lowered timer as the pre-patch event proceeded apace.
After some community outcry, Blizzard has, it seems, fixed basically every problem the players had in short order, as per an announcement on the game's forums via community manager Kaivax: "We’ve been working to address two main concerns: the wait time for the event, and the rate at which you can earn rewards."

Paradox indefinitely delays Prison Architect 2, just like it did with Life By You before it was scrapped
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/paradox-indefinitely-delays-prison-architect-2-just-like-it-did-with-life-by-you-before-it-was-scrapped/
Prison Architect 2 is delayed yet again, but this time, it could be for good. We've seen the upcoming management game delayed before—due to "new technical challenges" that warranted developers spending more time on stability testing. However, this time, the issue's  more pronounced. 
"Our continuous internal reviews and beta test groups have highlighted areas that we need to focus on more, mainly performance and content, which we need to address before launch to ensure that you, the players, get a good experience in the game," the Prison Architect 2 team says in a blog post. "We need to raise the quality a bit more to meet the standards we'd like to achieve with this sequel."
However, Paradox has also confirmed that it cannot "commit to a new release date" as it looks like the publisher and developer Kokku is going back to the drawing board for the time being: "Over the next few months, we will focus on improving the game and building a more robust release timeline. This also means we will be limiting our communication with you all until we have a timeline we feel comfortable with."
>> It’s Paradox. They’re probably trying to find out how much content needs the game at launch while leaving enough stuff out to sell later in dozens of DLCs.

And now it’s time to check the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• There are 9 Limited Time Offers that will last until Monday:
  • Cats Love Boxes is 30% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/cats_love_boxes
  • Wavetale gets a 75% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/wavetale
  • Sea Dogs: City of Abandoned Ships is 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/sea_dogs_city_of_abandoned_ships
  • Starpoint Gemini 3 also has an 80% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/starpoint_gemini_3
  • The GOG RTS Bundle, with 2 games, has an 83% discount. Be warned, there are only 1000 units of this bundle: https://www.gog.com/en/game/gog_rts_bundle
  • Sword of Aragon is 85% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/sword_of_aragon
  • The GOG-Opera GX Platformer Bundle consists of three games, gets an 85% discount and has only has 1000 units for sale: https://www.gog.com/en/game/gogopera_gx_platformer_bundle
  • Ground Control Anthology is 90% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/ground_control_expansion
  • The last LTO is GOG Adventure&Puzzle Bundle is 91% off, has three games and, like the other two bundles, only 1000 units for sale: https://www.gog.com/en/game/gog_rts_bundle
• And there’s also a Shooter Promo, with up to 95% discounts during 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240802_shooter_sale

+Steam

• Enshrouded, still in Early Access, will be 20% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1203620/Enshrouded/
• Myth of Empires will be free to try during the weekend and 50% off until August 8: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371580/Myth_of_Empires/
• Sun Haven gets a 50% discount until the 8th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432860/Sun_Haven/
• Operation: Tango gets a 55% discount until the 8th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1335790/Operation_Tango/
• The Early Access title Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is going to be 25% off until August, the 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2321470/Deep_Rock_Galactic_Survivor/
• STASIS: BONE TOTEM will be half its price until the 15th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1426010/STASIS_BONE_TOTEM/
• And Publisher THQ Nordic puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts until the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/THQNordicPublisherSale2024

And that’s it. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.