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

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And of course, here’s the third part of the Monday news:

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced a Her Story-like game where you hack into Lady MacBeth's computer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-royal-shakespeare-company-has-announced-a-her-story-like-game-where-you-hack-into-lady-macbeths-computer/
Here's some videogame news you don't see every day. The Royal Shakespeare Company, known mainly for its contemporary adaptations of the Bard's plays, has announced a video game adaptation of MacBeth. Titled Lili, the game is a modern "screen-life thriller" in which players experience Shakespeare's bloodiest story through Lady MacBeth's personal devices.

Vermintide 2's still getting free maps added to it, with the latest being an elven temple and a warpstone nuke factory
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/vermintide-2s-still-getting-free-maps-added-to-it-with-the-latest-being-an-elven-temple-and-a-warpstone-nuke-factory/
While the big Vermintide 2 news last year was the addition of PVP in Versus mode, the PVE side of things is still being catered for. Its latest addition is Verminous Dreams, a campaign of linked maps that pits the Ubersreik Five against their old enemies the skaven once again.

ConcernedApe isn't ruling out future updates to Stardew Valley: 'Maybe even 50 years from now, I might add something'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/concernedape-isnt-ruling-out-future-updates-to-stardew-valley-maybe-even-50-years-from-now-i-might-add-something/
In a January 24 interview with NPR's All Things Considered, Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone discussed his debut game's legacy nine years on, including his famous propensity for interrupting development on the upcoming Haunted Chocolatier to put out patches and new content for his 2016 farming RPG.

A Warhammer 'live service RPG' made in Unreal Engine 5 was apparently canceled after three years of development
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/a-warhammer-live-service-rpg-made-in-unreal-engine-5-was-apparently-canceled-after-three-years-of-development/
Daniel Erickson, CCO of Thought Pennies studio, recently announced that staff had been laid off and an upcoming game canceled. "Over the last three years at Thought Pennies we built something amazing", he wrote on LinkedIn. "We never missed a milestone, our feedback was great, our partnerships strong. We went from two people and a PowerPoint to a team of almost sixty heavily-vetted, incredibly independent, passionate professionals. Our publisher changed strategic direction, however, and our previous project is now without funding."
That project was apparently a Warhammer game. It's tough to say whether it would have been set in Warhammer Fantasy or Age of Sigmar based on mentions in the LinkedIn profiles of its developers, but what they do call it is a "cancelled fantasy live service RPG in Unreal 5", a "3rd person ARPG", and a "Co-Op PvE Action RPG with a cast of unique heroes and playstyles".

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director says 'I respect the modding community' and uses mods himself, though he still thinks we shouldn't use ones that 'detract from the intended game experience'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/final-fantasy-7-rebirths-director-says-i-respect-the-modding-community-and-uses-mods-himself-though-he-still-thinks-we-shouldnt-use-ones-that-detract-from-the-intended-game-experience/
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director Naoki Hamaguchi caused a stir last December when he asked modders "not to create or install anything offensive or inappropriate" for the second part of the RPG's remake, which just launched on PC. While he didn't specify what was "offensive or inappropriate", such a broad statement would certainly cover nude mods, which are as inevitable in PC gaming as fiddling with your graphics settings.
Naturally, the PC gaming community responded "Sure, bro" before continuing to put, as one redditor so eloquently put it "a massive hog on Cait". Hamaguchi recently returned to the subject when asked by Automaton Media about his personal perspective on mods. This time, he offered a more detailed response, albeit one that doesn't necessarily reflect a vastly different stance than before.

Hyper Light Breaker gets a community-driven update that makes 'some pretty big changes' to the game's enemies and medkit system, following its debut to mixed reviews on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/hyper-light-breaker-gets-a-community-driven-update-that-makes-some-pretty-big-changes-to-the-games-enemies-and-medkit-system-following-its-debut-to-mixed-reviews-on-steam/
Hyper Light Breaker, Heart Machine's 3D follow-up to moody action-adventure Hyper Light Drifter, smashed into Steam early access earlier this month. But the initial response to it has been less than stellar, with players complaining about specific issues like frame rate drops, lack of keybinding, and problems with the parry system, while generally being divided over its unforgiving combat and lack of in-game direction.
All of this has led to Hyper Light Breaker garnering a mixed reception on Steam. But developer Heart Machine has taken these criticisms in stride, responding last week that it accepted the "risk of negative early reviews" and agreed many of the community's complaints are "extremely reasonable". It also promised to address the problems as quickly as it could.
After issuing a quick hotfix last week, Heart Machine has now released a second, more substantial update that targets several of the community's biggest bugbears, some of which have been worked through with the assistance of said community. "We made Hyper Light Breaker with Early Access in mind to have it grow and evolve with our community," wrote lead producer Michael Clark in the update's accompanying Steam post. "Today's patch represents that as we made some pretty big changes".

Firaxis celebrates Civilization 7's launch with the Civ World Summit, a live streamed five-way strategy showdown with 'an exciting announcement' planned
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/firaxis-celebrates-civilization-7s-launch-with-the-civ-world-summit-a-live-streamed-five-way-strategy-showdown-with-an-exciting-announcement-planned/
We're weeks away from the launch of Civilization 7, officially PC Gamer's Most Wanted game of 2025. We all intend to celebrate the game's release in our own way. Personally, I'm thinking about conquering a small nation. Luxembourg perhaps, or possibly Andorra.
Firaxis' own plans for marking the occasion are less megalomaniacal, though conquest will likely still feature heavily. On February 8, the studio will host the Civ World Summit—a live Civilization 7 tournament that will be streamed online.

Spacefleet fight sim Nebulous gets carriers in biggest update yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/spacefleet-fight-sim-nebulous-gets-carriers-in-big-new-update/
If you love the streaking torpedos, violent maneuver burns, and streaking tracers of semi-realistic space combat like you've seen in shows like The Expanse, then the best game for you just got better. Nebulous: Fleet Command is a simulation-heavy strategy game about spacefleets bashing each other to bits in engagements that have realistic radar, electronic warfare, and in-depth spacecraft movement controls. Its latest and largest update yet released this month, adding carrier craft stuffed with smaller fighters, lighters, scouts, and bombers.

Swamped with 1,500+ LinkedIn invitations in 24 hours, the manager at Palworld's new publishing arm 'underestimated how much interest there would be'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/swamped-with-1-500-linkedin-invitations-in-24-hours-the-manager-at-palworlds-new-publishing-arm-underestimated-how-much-interest-there-would-be/
Palworld's developer Pocketpair, not being slowed down by Nintendo's lawsuit, has gone and opened a publishing arm. Pocketpair Publishing, which already has a horror game made by Surgent Studios in the works, is up, running, and taking inquiries.
The studio's publishing manager and communications director, who goes by Bucky, recently posted to X that things were going well. Maybe a little too well—in around 15 hours, the poor blighter was swarmed with over 1,500 LinkedIn notifications and 68 email inquiries. "My inboxes were 0 before then… I think I might have underestimated how much interest there would be." I only dread to think what his inbox looks like now that small-time hopefuls have had a whole weekend to rustle up their elevator pitches.

Marvel Snap apologises for US TikTok outage by throwing a bunch of free stuff at its players
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/marvel-snap-apologises-for-us-tiktok-outage-by-throwing-a-bunch-of-free-stuff-at-its-players/
Marvel Snap—a cardgame I distinctly remember losing a month to in 2022 before I got a little tired of the typical TCG progression cycle—has made a downright generous apology to players who missed out during a recent outage, due to TikTok being temporarily banned in the US.