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

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Tuesday news, the second part:

Multiversus director addresses fans angered by its upcoming closure: 'You're entitled to what you say and think, but when there are threats to harm it's crossing the line'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/multiversus-director-addresses-fans-angered-by-its-upcoming-closure-youre-entitled-to-what-you-say-and-think-but-when-there-are-threats-to-harm-its-crossing-the-line/
Multiversus game director Tony Huynh says he knows the forthcoming end of development is "painful for everyone," players and developers alike, but while it's okay to express anger and frustration, "threats to harm" members of the development team are not.

'I cannot believe this': Composer Winifred Phillips was 'blown away' after winning a Grammy for a remake of a 44-year-old RPG
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/i-cannot-believe-this-composer-winifred-phillips-was-blown-away-after-winning-a-grammy-for-a-remake-of-a-44-year-old-rpg/
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord debuted in 1981 for the Apple II and very quickly became a hit, launching an acclaimed and influential series of RPGs that would persist throughout the 1980s and '90s. A remake of that game dropped in 2024, and to our great surprise it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Score Soundtrack for Videogames and Other Interactive Media" category. And last night, to our even greater surprise, it won.

While you're waiting for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, try this free Steam demo of a roguelike kingdom-builder where your peasants won't work unless you're looking directly at them
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/while-youre-waiting-for-kingdom-come-deliverance-2-try-this-free-steam-demo-of-a-roguelike-kingdom-builder-where-your-peasants-wont-work-unless-youre-looking-directly-at-them/
I can feel it poised to happen: Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance is gonna hit big on Steam tomorrow when it launches. It's the perfect storm of largely great reviews (including ours), the appeal of a sprawling singleplayer RPG in an age of live-service games, and maybe even the rush to play and finish it before Civilization 7 and Obsidian's Avowed come out in rapid succession over the next couple of weeks.
But what should we do in the handful of hours before Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance actually releases on Steam this Tuesday? Just sit around waiting? Nah. How about another game about a kingdom, only in this one you're the king? As an added bonus, the demo is free, and it's also seriously fun.
In the demo of The King Is Watching, you've got a kingdom to run: wheat to harvest, gold to mine, soldiers to train. And it's all possible thanks to your hardworking peasants—not that you would ever literally thank the peasants, naturally, 'cuz you're a king—who toil in the fields, labor in the mines, and do battle with swarms of goblins trying to breach your walls.

'I feel extremely insulted by this': Platinum removes most of its games from its website, erasing the last signs of life for Project GG
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/i-feel-extremely-insulted-by-this-platinum-removes-most-of-its-games-from-its-website-erasing-the-last-signs-of-life-for-project-gg/
The website for PlatinumGames has undergone an unexpected change: A page that previously listed the studio's game releases has been unceremoniously deleted, and with it some of the last remaining evidence of the Ultraman-inspired Project GG (via Eurogamer).
As https://www.platinumgames.com/games/">archived versions of the Platinum site show, it used to have a page titled "Games," listing 22 of the studio's releases dating back to its founding in 2006. Today, trying to visit that same URL redirects you to the site's homepage. In the Games page's place, there's now a page titled "Works," listing just eight of those 22 games and the recently-announced Ninja Gaiden 4, which Platinum is developing in partnership with Team Ninja.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's guns are very, very bad, but that's what makes them so fun: 'We knew it was going to be a meme weapon, but we were cool with it'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/kingdom-come-deliverance-2s-guns-are-very-very-bad-but-thats-what-makes-them-so-fun-we-knew-it-was-going-to-be-a-meme-weapon-but-we-were-cool-with-it/
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a game obsessed with medieval history—specifically the history of Bohemia, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire that's now part of modern Czechia. It's an RPG that is fascinated by the social structures, clothing, architecture, weapons and culture of the time.
(...)
Since big pitched battles weren't the focus of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, guns weren't a priority. You spent most of your time traipsing around the countryside getting into duels with knights or fighting small groups of bandits. And the same is largely true of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, but this time Warhorse wanted to show players "how firearms looked and operated".
"Just the idea that someone goes through the forest, he's attacked by bandits, and he takes out a boomstick—that's ridiculous," says Bittner. "So we knew it was going to be a meme weapon, but we were cool with it."

Destiny 2 is the latest game to feel the SAG-AFTRA strike as it warns Heresy will be missing an unknown chunk of voiced dialogue
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/destiny-2-is-the-latest-game-to-feel-the-sag-aftra-strike-as-it-warns-heresy-will-be-missing-an-unknown-chunk-of-voiced-dialogue/
Destiny 2: Heresy is set to launch today (February 4), concluding the Light and Darkness Saga and flinging players into the Dreadnought as part of its 3-player game mode, The Nether.
One thing it won't have a lot of however, is voiced dialogue. As part of the January 30 This Week in Destiny blog post on the Bungie website, the community team tempered expectations around voice lines amidst the continuing SAG-AFTRA strike.

Need for Speed is effectively on hold while Criterion musters entirely around Battlefield, but EA assures players the racer will return in 'new and interesting ways'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/need-for-speed-is-effectively-on-hold-while-criterion-musters-entirely-around-battlefield-but-ea-assures-players-the-racer-will-return-in-new-and-interesting-ways/
Need for Speed fans are in for a long wait before getting behind the wheel of a new game from the series. Developer Criterion Games, which has handled EA's venerable racer for years, has now shifted entirely over to work on EA's next Battlefield title. In a statement to Eurogamer, Battlefield's three-star general Vince Zampella explained that "The Need for Speed team at Criterion are joining their colleagues working on Battlefield."

Ugh! Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has a body-odour 'broadcasting' system where your stink can alert nearby NPCs
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/ugh-kingdom-come-deliverance-2-has-a-body-odour-broadcasting-system-where-your-stink-can-alert-nearby-npcs/
Stealth games typically prioritise avoiding causing a stink, but usually in a figurative sense. Keeping a low profile as you skulk around some elaborate mansion or military base is often essential to survival, as you evade or quietly eliminate guards to prevent the alarm being raised. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, however, makes being sniffed out a more literal concern, adding a fully simulated pong propagation system that enables NPCs to detect your encroaching stench.

Since Path of Exile's expansion has been delayed, players are instead getting a month-long event featuring 'whacky ideas that never quite made it off the brainstorm board'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/since-path-of-exiles-expansion-has-been-delayed-players-are-instead-getting-a-month-long-event-featuring-whacky-ideas-that-never-quite-made-it-off-the-brainstorm-board/
Path of Exile dev Grinding Gear Games bit off more than it could chew when it promised to maintain Path of Exile just like it had always done, even while it was dealing with the Path of Exile 2 launch. But reality is a killjoy and the studio has been reassessing things, resulting in a PoE1 expansion delay, which hasn't gone down well with the original game's stalwarts.
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Unsurprisingly, this announcement led to a lot of drama, with some players going so far as to call GGG's promise to support both games a "scam" just because an expansion has been delayed. But the studio is still planning to give PoE1 some love, in the form of a one-month event. GGG says it will feature "some of our whacky ideas that never quite made it off the brainstorm board".