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

[JEMC]

Thursday news, part two:

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 forum rules that banned racism, homophobia, and neo-Nazism walked back by the publisher, which now just asks everyone to please be nice
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-forum-rules-that-banned-racism-homophobia-and-neo-nazism-walked-back-by-the-publisher-which-now-just-asks-everyone-to-please-be-nice/
Less than a week after rolling out a new code of conduct for the Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 forums on Steam, Deep Silver says it has "listened to your feedback" and eliminated nearly all of it.

This 'physics-based survival city builder' stuffed all my favorite words into its title so I'm automatically psyched
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/this-physics-based-survival-city-builder-stuffed-all-my-favorite-words-into-its-title-so-im-automatically-psyched/
All Will Fall—going by the full legal name "All Will Fall: Physics-Based Survival City Builder" on Steam—is nearly all of my favorite videogame things. I'm a build mode girl at heart with a survival game fixation and a fondness for Valheim's physics-lite building. It was designed with me in mind. Despite the dropshipper style keyword-stuffed store page name, the reveal trailer for All Will Fall does appear to be delivering on all of those little subgenre tidbits.

Insomniac games founder Ted Price is retiring after more than 30 years of making games: 'It was simply time to step aside and let others pave the way'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/insomniac-games-founder-ted-price-is-retiring-after-more-than-30-years-of-making-games-it-was-simply-time-to-step-aside-and-let-others-pave-the-way/
After a career spanning more than 30 years, Insomniac Games founder and CEO Ted Price has announced that he is retiring at the end of March. Price said he made the decision to step down in 2024, as he "felt it was simply time to step aside and let others pave the way for our team."

Diablo 4 players pleasantly surprised to find the first boss of the new season is a challenge for once: 'it's nice to actually have to think and prepare for fights'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4-players-pleasantly-surprised-to-find-the-first-boss-of-the-new-season-is-a-challenge-for-once-its-nice-to-actually-have-to-think-and-prepare-for-fights/
The Diablo games have odd ideas about difficulty. If you played Diablo 3 on normal you probably didn't have to drink a single health potion until the end of act one. Cranking things up was the way to go, and plenty of people think the same is true of Diablo 4. Hard is the new normal—especially since, as well as offering slightly more of a challenge, it also rewards players with 75% more experience from monster kills and 75% more gold.
It's still not the difficulty you go to if you really want to feel the pain, since there's expert, penitent, and multiple levels of torment above that. In fact, players starting a brand new character to try out each new season expect to have a smooth introduction even on hard—which is why Diablo 4's seventh season, the Season of Witchcraft, is a bit of a shock.

Of all the Balatro-likes on Steam, I think I'm enjoying this Mahjong version best
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/of-all-the-balatro-likes-on-steam-i-think-im-enjoying-this-mahjong-version-best/
Every so often I'll be sitting on my couch playing Balatro on Steam Deck and have an unwanted thought: I should really play something other than Balatro once in a while. (...)
And there are quite a few! (...)
And arriving on Steam this week in early access, it's Balatro but it's Mahjong—and it has an actual name, too: Aotenjo: Infinite Hands. Of the various Balatro-likes I've played so far, I think I like it best. It's not trying to be Balatro in the most obvious ways: it's not slick or flashy, there's not a ton of animation, and visually it looks like it'd be right at home next to Solitaire on Windows 95. But I'm into that low-key vibe, free of exploding booster packs and flying tiles.

Sony gets people scratching their heads after region-locking purchases of Horizon Forbidden West, 10 entire months after its initial release
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/sony-gets-people-scratching-their-heads-after-region-locking-horizon-forbidden-west-10-entire-months-after-its-initial-release/
Despite it being a move that's 'almost tank your only real live-service success of the year' unpopular, Sony has region-locked another game a staggering 10 months after its initial release. Picked up by a ResetEra user, Horizon Forbidden West, as per SteamDB, is now unable to be purchased in a list of countries—a list that's consistent with its PSN availability, despite the game not requiring an account to play.
>> Sony joins the fight for the dumbest move of the year.

Mai in Street Fighter 6 isn't just good—she has me howling for Capcom vs. SNK 3
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/mai-in-street-fighter-6-isnt-just-good-she-has-me-howling-for-capcom-vs-snk-3/
Capcom has pulled off a hell of a feat with Street Fighter 6. First, it made an incredible fighting game that's both proudly trying new things and reverently faithful to its history. And now it's taken two fighting game legends from its '90s rival SNK and integrated them so lovingly, I'm tempted to say they're better here than they've ever been in their own games.