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

[JEMC]

Friday news, part two:

Build an empire that will last for thousands of years in strategy city builder Memoriapolis
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/build-an-empire-that-will-last-for-thousands-of-years-in-strategy-city-builder-memoriapolis/
In most city builders I usually wind up feeling like an urban planner or a mayor. In Memoriapolis, which launched into early access on Steam today, I feel more like a god-emperor because the city I'm managing isn't just going to grow and expand for a few years or decades or even centuries, but for millenia.

MOBAs are suddenly back in fashion, and one dev says it might be because of soulslikes: 'Now that more players understand that it feels great to master a difficult game, I think more are willing to take that journey'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/mobas-are-suddenly-back-in-fashion-and-one-dev-says-it-might-be-because-of-soulslikes-now-that-more-players-understand-that-it-feels-great-to-master-a-difficult-game-i-think-more-are-willing-to-take-that-journey/
2024 is feeling very 2016 all of a sudden. No, I don't mean because we're reentering the psychic maelstrom of election season; I'm talking about the MOBAs. (…)
(… a couple paragraphs later…)
Whether it's a temporary burst of activity or the beginning of a renaissance, MOBAs are back in vogue. The question is: Why now? For Alex Cantatore, executive producer for Smite 2, soulslikes deserve some of the credit.
"I've often described MOBAs as the 'soulslike' of multiplayer genres," Cantatore told PC Gamer via email. "They're really hard. You're going to die a lot to learn the game." While technically demanding games have always had their audience, we're now in a world where games like Elden Ring can casually brutalize their players and still sell tens of millions of copies. With punishing games achieving a mainstream appeal, Cantatore says MOBAs have an opportunity to attract an audience they might not have been able to eight years ago.

Remedy is leaving Epic in the dark place to self-publish Control 2 through a 'strategic cooperation agreement' with Annapurna
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/remedy-is-leaving-epic-in-the-dark-place-to-self-publish-control-2-through-a-strategic-cooperation-agreement-with-annapurna/
Remedy will self-publish Control 2 as part of a new "strategic cooperation agreement" with Annapurna. A press release accompanying the announcement says Annapurna will provide half of Control 2's development budget, and in return gains the rights to adapt Control and Alan Wake for film and television.

In survival MMO Dune: Awakening players can 'see just a little bit into the future' once they get 'saturated with spice'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/in-survival-mmo-dune-awakening-players-can-see-just-a-little-bit-into-the-future-once-they-get-saturated-with-spice/
In survival MMO Dune: Awakening, the spice you harvest on Arrakis will play a huge role in crafting, the economy, and even the base taxes you pay to the emperor. But the famously expensive space drug can also muck with your mind, and while it doesn't sound like it'll transform you into a weird gross slug monster (like the guild navigators in Dune), it will still have an impact on your character when you're exposed to it.

Randy Pitchford says Tiny Tina's Wonderlands didn't get DLC because there was 'no way to do that and put the focus on Borderlands 4 that we needed to'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/randy-pitchford-says-tiny-tinas-wonderlands-didnt-get-dlc-because-there-was-no-way-to-do-that-and-put-the-focus-on-borderlands-4-that-we-needed-to/
The Borderlands spinoff looter-shooter Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is pretty good, if you're into that sort of thing, and it was apparently something of a surprise hit too: Publisher Take-Two Interactive said in 2022 that the game "outperformed our expectations" and was "the best new franchise launch from 2K in several years." Given all that, you might have expected more Tiny Tina to happen in fairly short order—but it didn't.
The reason, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford recently explained on Twitter, is simple: Borderlands 4. "I wish we could’ve managed some big campaign DLC, but no way to do that *and* put the focus on Borderlands 4 that we needed to," he tweeted. "I’m sorry I couldn’t talk about it at the time, but the world is the world."
>> Yeah, they needed to work hard on BL4 to have it ready to capitalize on the success of the movie...

Gearbox's first Risk of Rain 2 expansion gets hammered on Steam as developer admits the PC version 'is in a really bad place'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/gearboxs-first-risk-of-rain-2-expansion-gets-hammered-on-steam-as-developer-admits-the-pc-version-is-in-a-really-bad-place/
Gearbox's acquisition of Risk of Rain in 2022 did not inspire widespread celebration among fans, many of whom worried the studio would find some way to screw it up. And, well, here we are: The Risk of Rain 2 expansion Seekers of the Storm, the first made by Gearbox, is out, and it's a train wreck.

Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred's new runewords system will let barbarians teleport like loud, massively muscled sorcerers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4-vessel-of-hatreds-new-runewords-system-will-let-barbarians-teleport-like-loud-massively-muscled-sorcerers/
With Diablo 4's runewords, sorcerers won't be the only class who can teleport across the screen. Barbarians won't be the only ones who can shout so loud their skin turns to iron. Stealth? Not just for rogues anymore either. Runewords break the rules of Sanctuary and they're coming with the Vessel of Hatred expansion in October.

6 years after making one of our senior editors so mad he beat up a defenseless armadillo, Green Hell is ending development 'with teary eyes' and one last update
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/6-years-after-making-one-of-our-senior-editors-so-mad-he-beat-up-a-defenseless-armadillo-green-hell-is-ending-development-with-teary-eyes-and-one-last-update/
After a five year run on Steam—six, if you count the year it spent in early access before its 1.0 launch—the hit survival game Green Hell is calling it quits with its next update.

Demonschool, the Persona-like tactical RPG about battling demons while getting a good education, has been delayed into 2025 so developers can add 'more life and liveliness' to the game world
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/demonschool-the-persona-like-tactical-rpg-about-battling-demons-while-getting-a-good-education-has-been-delayed-into-2025-so-developers-can-add-more-life-and-liveliness-to-the-game-world/
Quite a few PC Gamer folk have been excited for Demonschool since it was announced at the PC Gaming Show in 2022. Rich Stanton said it was "one to keep a disembodied eye on," Robin Valentine said it has the potential to deliver "the most interesting turn-based combats of 2024," and Harvey Randall predicted that it could be "another Into the Breach." That's a lot of enthusiasm! And so it genuinely pains me to have to be the one to tell them (and you) the game has been delayed into early 2025.

Sid Meier was apparently baffled by the decision to launch Civilization 5 without Genghis Khan: 'Sid said, What?'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/sid-meier-was-apparently-baffled-by-the-decision-to-launch-civilization-5-without-genghis-khan-sid-said-what/
He was out of town when I visited Firaxis to play Civilization 7 earlier this month, but I did walk past the office from which Civilization creator Sid Meier continues to guide the strategy developer. One example of that guidance, although it came 14 years ago now, was the quick addition of Ghengis Khan as a free Civilization 5 update.
"We ended up shipping Civ 5 without Genghis Khan," said Civ 7 executive producer Dennis Shirk in a recent interview with GameRant. "Sid said, 'What?' We ended up releasing Genghis Khan the next month in a free update because he was right. We shouldn't have shipped without Genghis Khan, so there's always going to be that collection, that foundation."
>> That comment implies that Sid is not very involved in the making of the games anymore. Not much of a surprise.