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

[JEMC]

Tuesday news, the sequel:

A new Pathologic game is coming in 2025 and in case the first two weren't weird enough, this one has time travel
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/a-new-pathologic-game-is-coming-in-2025-and-in-case-the-first-two-werent-weird-enough-this-one-has-time-travel/
Six years after deciding to split Pathologic 2 into multiple separate chapters so it could actually get the game finished and released, Ice-Pick Lodge has chucked that plan into the creepy medical incinerator and decided to go full steam ahead with Pathologic 3 instead.

7 Minutes in Hell is the latest co-op horror game on Steam that wants to get you screaming over proximity chat
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/7-minutes-in-hell-is-the-latest-co-op-horror-game-on-steam-that-wants-to-get-you-screaming-over-proximity-chat/
When a videogame format works, videogame developers make sure we don't forget it: After hits like Phasmophobia and Lethal Company, four-player co-op horror games are the genre du jour—next to extraction shooters, at least—and we now get a new one about about as often as Tim Sweeney says the word "metaverse." The latest is 7 Minutes in Hell, which just released in early access on Steam and challenges up to four players to escape procedurally-generated death mazes with as much cash as they can pick up along the way.

A school shooting videogame made by the parents of a victim aims to change minds about gun control: 'This is not a scary game, it's an educational game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/a-school-shooting-videogame-made-by-the-parents-of-a-victim-aims-to-change-minds-about-gun-control-this-is-not-a-scary-game-its-an-educational-game/
The parents of 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver, a teen who was killed during the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, have released a videogame that aims to convince Americans of the need for increased gun control by challenging players to survive a school shooting.
>> They won’t succeed, sadly, but I hope they can convince some people.

'There were so many meetings': A former Bethesda developer explains why he quit during Starfield and started a solo project
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/there-were-so-many-meetings-a-former-bethesda-developer-explains-why-he-quit-during-starfield-and-started-a-solo-project/
If you've played a Bethesda RPG in the past decade you've seen plenty of Nate Purkeypile's work. The developer worked as a world/lighting artist on Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Skyrim, was lead artist on Fallout 76, and designed several iconic locations like Diamond City, Little Lamplight, and Paradise Falls. 
Purkeypile also worked on Starfield as lead lighting artist and senior world artist, but left Bethesda in the midst of the space RPG's development to found his own studio, Just Purkey Games—because he's now essentially a solo dev. His first game, The Axis Unseen, is looking great so far, a heavy metal bowhunting horror game that plays like if you made a whole game out of Skyrim's stealth archer playstyle.
Today Purkeypile posted a trailer for The Axis Unseen on Reddit (embedded below), and opened up a little about not just why he left Bethesda, but why he left during the development of Starfield specifically.

Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred is live and there's no better time to jump in
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4-vessel-of-hatred-is-live-and-theres-no-better-time-to-jump-in/
Even as someone who has followed every major update to Diablo 4 over the last year, the release of Vessel of Hatred feels like the launch of a whole new action RPG. The bulk of the new expansion is like upgrading to a new phone: all the familiar stuff is still there but it's faster and easier to use. And the new campaign has plenty of moments that I wouldn't have ever expected to see in a dark fantasy story where you're hunting yet another demon from hell.

YouTuber hero-scientist reveals the hidden lie at Morrowind's heart: Its rivers aren't rivers at all
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/youtuber-hero-scientist-reveals-the-hidden-lie-at-morrowinds-heart-its-rivers-arent-rivers-at-all/
I have, in my career at this illustrious publication, covered my love for Morrowind exhaustively and exhaustingly. It's simply the best one. The best game in Bethesda's catalogue and, perhaps, the best videogame. Ever.
Or it was.
A damning investigation from an excellent YouTuber named Any Austin has shed light on a secret sickness at Morrowind's heart: The game's rivers are a lie. They're actually sloughs. Kind of. Except they're not. Look, the important thing is that Todd Howard has pulled the wool over our eyes yet again.

Paradox wants to get out of the RPG business: 'If Bloodlines 2, God willing, is successful, Bloodlines 3 [will be] done by someone else'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/paradox-wants-to-get-out-of-the-rpg-business-if-bloodlines-2-god-willing-is-successful-bloodlines-3-will-be-done-by-someone-else/
It's been nearly a decade since Paradox Interactive acquired White Wolf and the World of Darkness, and nearly as long since it started working with Hard Suit Labs based on its pitch for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. And boy has it been a rough time.  (***several paragraphs later***) "It is not in our strategic direction to make this kind of game," Lilja says. "So if Bloodlines 2, God willing, is successful, Bloodlines 3 [will be] done by someone else, on the licence from us. I would say it's the sort of strategic way this would work. So it's still an outlier from what we're supposed to do, we don't know that stuff, so we should probably let other people do it."
>> Not that surprising, You can’t make dozens of DLCs for a game like this.

Even after cancelling Life By You, Paradox would make another life sim, 'but in a different way'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/even-after-cancelling-life-by-you-paradox-would-make-another-life-sim-but-in-a-different-way/
Following a tumultuous period that's seen cancellations, delays, developer switcheroos and some rough launches, Paradox Interactive wants to return to its core, focusing on the kind of games it's best known for. RPGs like Bloodlines 2 are out—at least after it launches next year—but surprisingly life sims are still in, even after the problems with Life By You. 
>> Because they can sell dozens of DLCs for a game like this.

Cities: Skylines 2 launched too early, says Paradox deputy CEO, but early access wouldn't have been a solution: 'A dev team that thinks they're going to have a nicer ride on an early access game, I think fool themselves'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/cities-skylines-2-launched-too-early-says-paradox-deputy-ceo-but-early-access-wouldnt-have-been-a-solution-a-dev-team-that-thinks-theyre-going-to-have-a-nicer-ride-on-an-early-access-game-i-think-fool-themselves/
Cities: Skylines 2 should have been one of Paradox's safest sequels. The blueprint for success already existed, developer Colossal Order had been iterating on the original for years, and the sizable fanbase was buzzing with excitement over the prospect of a new one. It didn't quite work out the way everyone was expecting. 
>> I’ll leave it to you to read the rest.

In the wake of some of the year's biggest releases, the balance of power on the Steam top wishlists charts has shifted
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/in-the-wake-of-some-of-the-years-biggest-releases-the-balance-of-power-on-the-steam-top-wishlists-charts-has-shifted/
We've had a real run of big game releases recently, finally getting our hands on games that have long dominated the Steam top 100 most wishlisted games list—including Black Myth: Wukong, Frostpunk 2, and Space Marine 2.
So where do things lie now those games aren't topping the charts anymore? The results are actually pretty interesting.

A '90s-inspired action RPG made by one person has been funded on Kickstarter in less than 7 hours
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/a-90s-inspired-action-rpg-made-by-one-person-has-been-funded-on-kickstarter-in-less-than-7-hours/
Maple Forest is the newest addition to the trend of games that let you play as a heroic fox, and while it's not released yet it's had a very positive reception already. After being shared to Kickstarter on September 30, Maple Forest reached its funding goal of $36,000 in seven hours and has continued to raise an additional $26,000 in the meantime. I can see why: The game looks utterly adorable and everyone loves a fox protagonist after the success of Tunic. Plus, with a plushie of the cutesy protagonist up for grabs, no one in their right mind would miss out on that opportunity.