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

[JEMC]

Let’s go with the Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

We can all see that Valve's unannounced shooter Deadlock just hit over 18,000 concurrent players, Gabe
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/we-can-all-see-that-valves-unannounced-shooter-deadlock-just-hit-over-18000-concurrent-players-gabe/
Valve seems to be gearing up to release its first new game in four years, and we already know way too much about it: We've seen dozens of Deadlock's characters and their full movesets on YouTube, we can poke around in its file directories, it has a pretty popular subreddit, and, as reported by VG247, it hit 17,000 concurrent players this weekend, rising to over 18,000 today. Not bad for a game that hasn't even been announced yet.
You can observe the fluctuations of Deadlock's crypto-player base over on SteamDB. According to the utility's creator, Pavel Djundik, a Steam key submission months ago made the details of Deadlock's playtest available for public view, and Valve took no action to change that. It certainly looks like the studio has been ramping up the size of Deadlock's playtest though: Today's peak of 18,254 players represents a 578% increase over last month's high, and honestly, the devs of a lot of fully-released games would be overjoyed to put up numbers like that.
>> I'm not one, though.

GOG has two new sales:

• There’s a new Weekly Sale, sorry, Weekly Deals, with up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240813_weekly_deals_3_august
• The Horror Promo has games of the genre up to 95% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20240813_horror_promo

Steam has new deals, sales and, of course, new weeklong deals:

• The Persona franchise is on sale with up to 70% discounts until next Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/PersonaFranchiseSale2024
• Another Sega franchise on sale: the Two Point Franchise will be up to 82% off until the 19th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TwoPointFranchiseSale2024
• From Poland with Love is a new sale that features up to 90% discounts until Monday, the 19th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/frompolandwithlove2024
• Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is gong to be 20% off until August 23: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1808680/Snufkin_Melody_of_Moominvalley/
• And here’s a small sample of the weeklong deals:
  • The Stairway 7 - Anomaly Hunt Loop Horror Game is 15% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2911820/The_Stairway_7__Anomaly_Hunt_Loop_Horror_Game/
  • The Renovator: Origins has a demo and a 33% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1917550/The_Renovator_Origins/
  • Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is going to be 50% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1184760/Shovel_Knight_Pocket_Dungeon/
  • Please, Don't Touch Anything 3D gets a 60% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/529590/Please_Dont_Touch_Anything_3D/
  • Katamari Damacy REROLL will be 75% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/848350/Katamari_Damacy_REROLL/
  • And SUPER DRAGON BALL HEROES WORLD MISSION has a demo and can be yours thanks to its 90% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/798510/SUPER_DRAGON_BALL_HEROES_WORLD_MISSION/

Fanatical has three new Flash Deals and a bundle:

• These are today’s 24h Flash Deals:
  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is 39% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth
  • Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak has a 73% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/monster-hunter-and-rise-sunbreak
  • The third one is RAGE® 2 - Deluxe Edition, with a 91% deal: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/rage-2-deluxe-edition
• And the BYOB: Warhammer 40,000 Battles has 18 gams to choose from for your 3+, 5+ or 8+ bundles: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bundle-warhammer-40-000-battles

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Black Myth: Wukong PC Benchmark Released, First 4K Results
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/black-myth-wukong-pc-benchmark-tool-released-first-results/
Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most highly anticipated games of 2024. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, this game promises to be quite demanding on Max Settings. And, surprisingly enough, Game Science has released a PC benchmark tool that you can download from Steam.
Game Science has worked hard to make sure the benchmark results are a good match for how the game will actually run. However, because games can be complex and vary a lot, the test results might not always show exactly how the game will feel when you play it.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Torchlight: RTX Remix Path Tracing Demo Available for Download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/torchlight-rtx-remix-path-tracing-demo-available-for-download/
Modder ‘Kralich/David’ has just released a demo for his upcoming RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for Torchlight. As you may have guessed, this mod aims to bring real-time Path Tracing to the first Torchlight game. So, let’s dive in.
Torchlight is a dungeon crawler with randomly generated levels. In this demo, the modder has remastered the Town & Mines section of the game.
Sadly, Kralich/David does not plan to expand on this demo for now. As such, this will remain a cool RTX Remix Demo, just like his RTX Remix for Nerf: Arena. At least for now.
>> The article has a video comparing the visuals between the vanilla and the modded versions.

Dazzling Doom 2 mod upgrades the legendary FPS with full-blown ray tracing, looks hellishly good
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/dazzling-doom-2-mod-upgrades-the-legendary-fps-with-full-blown-ray-tracing-looks-hellishly-good/
Everybody knows that Doom 2 is better than the original Doom. I mean, the double barrelled super shotgun and the Icon of Sin? I rest my case. The legendary FPS has just got even better courtesy of a fantastic new mod that introduces real-time, path traced ray tracing to the game, transforming the look of its hellish halls, infernal environs, and nightmarish demons.
Created by the talented modder shirokii Doom 2: Ray Traced can be downloaded right now for free. Speaking in the release notes of the mod, shirokii states that introducing "real-time path tracing" to Doom 2 "allows shadows, reflections and global illumination without any prebaking. Everything has a shadow. Emissive maps contribute to lighting. Volumetric lighting is traced to simulate a dense atmosphere". Impressive.
>> The article has a roughly 1,5 minutes video.

You can finally play Doom 2 with full Path Tracing and voxels
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/you-can-finally-play-doom-2-with-full-path-tracing-and-voxels/
Two of the best mods for Doom 2 (and Doom 1) were the Voxel Doom Project and Doom 2 RTX. And finally, a modder has made it possible to play Doom 2 with voxels and full Path Tracing. This is a dream come true for a lot of old-school Doom fans. So, waste no time and download it.
Going into more details, the path-traced renderer of this project is based on Half-Life: Ray-Traced. As such, it should be more advanced than the previous RT/PT Mod we’ve shared.
Also, contrary to the previous Path Tracing Mod, this one uses GZDoom. This may please a lot of gamers who did not fancy PrBoom. And although I’ve finished Doom 2 with Path Tracing, I will, once again, replay it.
As said, alongside the Path Tracing effects, this mod also replaces all 2D sprites with voxels. These voxels look similar to the 2D sprites and give a more 3D-ish look to the game. Seriously, Voxel Doom is one of the best graphics mods for id Software’s classics. Thus, I’m really happy to see it working with Path Tracing. This is exactly what I’ve been asking for a long time.
You can go ahead and download the mod from this link. The mod is compatible with the latest Doom 1 + 2 Steam release. It should also be compatible with the original WAD files, though I’m not 100% certain about it. Either way, make sure to follow its installation guide.
(...)
UPDATE:
I’ve just tried the mod and it does not work with the original WAD files. So, to use it, you must use the latest Doom 1 & 2 versions that Bethesda released on Steam.
>> The article has a less than 2 minutes trailer.

GAMING NEWS

STALKER 2 Developer Deep Dive shows 30 minutes of gameplay footage
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/stalker-2-developer-deep-dive-shows-30-minutes-of-gameplay-footage/
GSC GameWorld has released the first developer deep dive video for STALKER 2, which shows 30 whole minutes of gameplay footage from it. STALKER 2 is one of the most anticipated games of 2024. So, make sure to watch this video.

The Farm 51 has just announced Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone, coming to PC in 2025
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-farm-51-has-just-announced-chernobylite-2-exclusion-zone-coming-to-pc-in-2025/
The Farm 51 has just announced the sequel to Chernobylite, Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone. Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone aims to blend open-world combat, crafting, team and base management, and nonlinear storytelling into a compelling and realistic post-apocalyptic action-RPG.

Red Dead Redemption Remastered on PC is imminent
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/red-dead-redemption-remastered-on-pc-is-imminent/
It appears that Take-Two and Rockstar may shadowdrop Red Dead Redemption Remastered on PC any day now. Yep, this isn’t an out of date April’s Fools joke. Red Dead Redemption Remastered is coming to PC.

Terminator: Survivors has been delayed until 2025
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/terminator-survivors-has-been-delayed-until-2025/
NACON has announced that the early access release on PC (Steam) for Terminator: Survivors has been delayed until 2025. The game was originally meant to hit Steam EA on October 24th.