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

[JEMC]

Tuesday news, part two:

Fallout co-creator Tim Cain hasn't made sequels to his other cult classic RPGs because they didn't sell well: 'You should have bought it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fallout-co-creator-tim-cain-hasnt-made-sequels-to-his-other-cult-classic-rpgs-because-they-didnt-sell-well-you-should-have-bought-it/
Tim Cain's storied career includes a bunch of what are likely some of your favourite RPGs, including the first two Fallouts and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Some of the games he worked on became huge mainstream successes, while others—particularly the games developed by his RPG studio, Troika—became cult classics. And people are always asking him why he never made follow-ups to the latter.
"People regularly tell me, 'Why don't you make another game like Bloodlines,' or, 'Why don't you make a sequel to Arcanum?'" he says. "They're like, 'You made a cult classic.' And I'm like, 'The problem is the cult part.' They didn't sell well enough for a publisher to go, 'Oh yeah, we definitely gotta jump on a sequel to that.' So it's weird to hear people say to me, in some cases decades later, 'You should have done another one.' It's like, 'You should have bought it.'"

Black Myth: Wukong boss is bummed out about not winning Game of the Year at The Game Awards, but has high hopes for the future of the Chinese game industry
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/black-myth-wukong-boss-is-bummed-out-about-not-winning-game-of-the-year-at-the-game-awards-but-has-high-hopes-for-the-future-of-the-chinese-game-industry/
Black Myth: Wukong won a couple trophies at The Game Awards last week, including Best Action Game and the fan-voted Players Voice. But it did not win the big prize—Game of the Year—and Feng Ji, the CEO of developer Game Science, seems more bummed about the whole thing that you might expect.

CD Projekt knows why we're all really here: Gwent is coming back in The Witcher 4, and the devs 'don't think anyone will be disappointed'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/cd-projekt-knows-why-were-all-really-here-gwent-is-coming-back-in-the-witcher-4-and-the-devs-dont-think-anyone-will-be-disappointed/
As spotted by user CM_Escape on the Witcher subreddit, CD Projekt knows what we want and is gonna give it to us: The Gwent minigame will be returning in The Witcher 4, with the card game also presumably including an open world action-RPG to go along with it.

'The guns weren't doing what it says on the box': Johan Pilestedt reflects on Helldivers 2 balance changes that disrupted the positive vibes
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-guns-werent-doing-what-it-says-on-the-box-johan-pilestedt-reflects-on-helldivers-2-balance-changes-that-disrupted-the-positive-vibes/
When I think about the first year of Helldivers 2, I think about the 150+ hours of fun I had closing bug holes and scrapping Automatons with friends, and how Arrowhead put the "live" back in live service by never telling us what was coming next. But if you stuck with Helldivers 2 throughout 2024, you'll also remember a rough patch: Arrowhead implemented a streak of controversial balancing changes that ruffled the feathers of the game's loudest fans.
(...)
Calm feedback was eventually outpaced by frustration, review bombing, and outright toxicity toward Arrowhead developers for not tweaking the numbers the way some players would prefer. In a recent interview with PC Gamer before the surprise Omens of Tyranny update, chief creative officer Johan Pilestedt reflected on this turbulent chapter of Helldivers' debut year.
>> By the way, the Illuminate that were defeated yesterday are already back.

Borderlands 4 will cut back on 'toilet humor,' says Gearbox: 'If the word skibidi ships in the game under my watch I'm gonna cry real tears'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/borderlands-4-will-cut-back-on-toilet-humor-says-gearbox-if-the-word-skibidi-ships-in-the-game-under-my-watch-im-gonna-cry-real-tears/
Everything we've seen about Borderlands 4 so far, which to be fair isn't much, very strongly suggests that yes, it will be a Borderlands game. But some things are changing. As we said when the first Borderlands 4 trailer dropped at The Game Awards last week, the art style that made the previous games so visually distinctive appears to be fading into the background. And earlier today, narrative director Sam Winkler said on X that the "toilet humor" so prevalent in Borderlands 3 is going to be dialed back too—pretty dramatically, from the sounds of it.

Marvel Rivals is 'not considering' a role queue, no matter how annoying it is to get rinsed on a team of 6 duelists
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-is-not-considering-a-role-queue-no-matter-how-annoying-it-is-to-get-rinsed-on-a-team-of-6-duelists/
Marvel Rivals has a problem, one that every hero shooter since the invention of the concept—and every MOBA before it—has suffered from: People keep picking DPS. You rock into a game, expecting a balanced team makeup, but alas. Your crew is composed of Hawkeye, Black Widow, Magik, Psylocke, Spider-Man, and a Punisher. You proceed to die violently.
This has, predictably, led to cries for a role-based queue, where players have to commit to playing one of the three roles—Vanguard, Strategist, or Duelist—before entering a game. In theory, this karmically balances things. Sure, you can play your favourite DPS hero, but to do so you'll need to endure long queue times. Meanwhile, your tanks and healers get the VIP treatment and, crucially, all games are balanced as a result.
Unfortunately for these people, Marvel Rivals isn't getting a role queue any time soon, according to the developers in an interview with Dot Esports. Guangyun Chen, the game's creative director, says that "right now, we’re not considering a role queue. The team’s goal is to offer a wider variety of team composition through team-up skills and their own designs, to let people play their Marvel superheroes rather than limiting players to choosing a role."

Tiny Glade's winter update finally lets me turn my castles into that scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/tiny-glades-winter-update-finally-lets-me-turn-my-castles-into-that-scene-from-national-lampoons-christmas-vacation/
Even though castle doodling simulator Tiny Glade has a lot of flexibility in letting your imagination run wild, the game still features a few restrictions that can affect your builds. A prime example of this is the limitation on how many lights you can adorn your buildings with. Usually, you're stuck with a measly 32, but thanks to a new winter update, now you can add enough lights to make your builds visible from space.

Path of Exile 2 passive skill respecs will no longer cost Scrooge McDuck levels of gold
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2-passive-skill-respecs-will-no-longer-cost-scrooge-mcduck-levels-of-gold/
Grinding Gear Games continues to tinker away on Path of Exile 2, fixing some of the "key pain points" of the otherwise superb early access ARPG. Full patch notes for the latest set of upcoming changes are on their way, but in the meantime the developer has revealed some of the major improvements heading to Wraeclast—not least of which is a change to passive skill respecs.

Marvel Rivals is getting its first seasonal event soon, which'll let you run around as everyone's favourite land shark to play some legally-distinct Splatoon
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-is-getting-its-first-seasonal-event-soon-whichll-let-you-run-around-as-everyones-favourite-land-shark-to-play-some-legally-distinct-splatoon/
Marvel Rivals is off to a solid start, considering how many live service shooters have failed to hit the mark this year—and it's aimed to keep that momentum with its first seasonal event starting December 20, dubbed the "Marvel Rivals Winter Celebration", for which Netease released a trailer earlier today and, hold on, wait a minute, is that baby shark Splatoon?