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

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Tuesday news, part two:

Dave the Diver creator says 'story DLC' is coming, jokes about expanding into a 'Dave cinematic universe' with new games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/dave-the-diver-creator-says-story-dlc-is-coming-jokes-about-expanding-into-a-dave-cinematic-universe-with-new-games/
One of last year's best surprises was Mintrocket and Nexon's Dave the Diver, a deeply charming and funny adventure that oscillates between deep sea exploration and being a sushi chef. (...)
"I want to expand Dave the Diver IP itself," Hwang told VGC at Gamescom Asia. "I think that’s every director’s dream, since we have a relatable character. But actually, we didn’t go really deep into the personal stories in Dave the Diver, because we wanted to keep the game very casual.
"So as a director, besides the story DLC that we’re working on right now, I also want to make separate games about each character to show how they met, what they did before coming to the Blue Hole."

'Please try not to binge it': Vampire Survivors finally releases a Castlevania DLC with 20 new characters, 40 new weapons, and 'a monstrously large stage'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/please-try-not-to-binge-it-vampire-survivors-finally-releases-a-castlevania-dlc-with-20-new-characters-40-new-weapons-and-a-monstrously-large-stage/
It's no secret that Vampire Survivors takes a hell of a lot of inspiration from Castlevania. In its early days, players even accused the developer, Luca Galante, of ripping off certain Castlevania sprites, which Galante later confirmed were actually from asset packs (even if they were almost like a mirror copy). So this latest DLC named Ode to Castlevania is probably a long time coming and is certainly one of the largest bits of extra content the game has ever offered to fans.

Hi-Rez Studios is closing 2 games as it continues to refocus on Smite 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/hi-rez-studios-is-closing-2-games-as-it-continues-to-refocus-on-smite-2/
Hi-Rez Studios has announced the upcoming closure of two of its games, Divine Knockout and Realm Royale Reforged, which will be taken offline in February 2025. The pending shutdowns come less than a month after the studio laid off an unspecified number of employees, saying at the time that the cuts were necessary "to ensure Hi-Rez's long-term success."

Call of Duty's most despised weapon is skipping Black Ops 6
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-dutys-most-despised-weapon-is-skipping-black-ops-6/
That Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 beta last month didn't totally sell me on the next 12 months of CoD, but the fact that Treyarch is leaving one of the most annoying, disliked weapons behind is scoring some points with me. For the first time in years, Call of Duty will launch without a riot shield (as noticed by Dexerto).

PvPvE is 'a holy grail of game design,' says Space Marine 2 director, and he's got no plans to chase it: 'A lot of studios are trying to find it and a lot of them fail'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/pvpve-is-a-holy-grail-of-game-design-says-space-marine-2-director-and-hes-got-no-plans-to-chase-it-a-lot-of-studios-are-trying-to-find-it-and-a-lot-of-them-fail/
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 supports co-op PvE combat for up to three players. It also offers 6v6 competitive PvP action, for those who are into that sort of thing. But never the twain shall meet, according to game director Dmitry Grigorenko, who said in a recent chat with MP1st that there are no plans for a PvPvE mode, for an eminently practical reason.

Helldivers 2 players have formed the 'Freedom Alliance' to organise their own community orders
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/helldivers-2-players-have-formed-the-freedom-alliance-to-organise-their-own-community-orders/
The secret sauce with Helldivers 2, outside of the excellent moment-to-moment blasting, is the game's overarching galactic war. Controlled by developer Arrowhead and game master Joel, this sees the Helldivers marshalled to various spots across the galaxy to fight for key objectives, with success often resulting in some sort of in-game reward (like mech suits) and failure setting back the cause of democracy an unspecified amount.
This is a top-down narrative, with the objectives set by the developers and players along for the ride. Well, mostly: The community did band together over the player-authored "Martale Gambit", to the extent even Joel had to acknowledge what was happening. The Martale Gambit ultimately didn't come off, though it got within a whisker, and now some foolhardy Helldivers are eager to try it all again.
Announced on the Helldivers subreddit and Discord, a whole bunch of players and prominent community figures have come together to form the Freedom Alliance. The goal is to bring together players for "recurring, large-scale events that last a few days," and basically the Freedom Alliance is going to set its own community major orders, with the first relating to the official ongoing effort to build the Democratic Space Station.

Caves of Qud, our favorite science fantasy roguelike where you can clone, befriend, and eat yourself, is leaving early access in December after 15 years of development
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/caves-of-qud-release-date-news/
Freehold Games, the developer duo who created Caves of Qud, is nearly ready for its deep future, science fantasy roguelike to molt its early access chitin and present itself, glistening and resplendent, to the world. After more than fifteen years in development, Caves of Qud will get its 1.0 release on December 5, 2024, culminating hundreds of updates and bringing a long-awaited final chapter for its main questline.
>> See? There’s still hope for Star Citizen.

Victoria 3 is marking its 2nd birthday with DLC, 'a new discrimination system' and famine, and isn't that nice?
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/victoria-3-is-marking-its-2nd-birthday-with-dlc-a-new-discrimination-system-and-famine-and-isnt-that-nice/
It has, somehow, been two years since Victoria 3 first landed on our shores, and to (kind of) mark the occasion Paradox is putting out a thoroughly subcontinental DLC and a hefty new update in the form of patch 1.8.